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HOR TICUL TURA L MEE TINGS. 



mon interest, and sharing each one his talent with the 

 other, new thoughts are developed ; theories are pro- 

 pounded for test, and being tested, are either resolved 

 into facts, or rejected as useless. Intelligence in one 

 branch rubs against intelligence in another, and the 

 friction is beneficial to the whole body. But, in order 

 that this may be accomplished, our hearts must be in 

 the work, for, as Longfellow has beautifully expressed it, 



" His heart was in the work, 

 And the heart 

 Givetb grace unto every art!" 



It has seemed to me, a very important — I think I may 

 say the essential thing to secure interest in, and good 

 attendance of these meetings, to have good presiding 

 officers, those who are themselves horticulturists in heart 

 and practice, whenever such can be secured ; who will at- 

 tend our meetings regularly, and enter interestedly into 

 the work before them. "Like begets like," and the 

 president of a society can do much with his own enthu- 

 siastic interest towards kindling the latent fire of enthu- 

 siasm in the members. 



I do not thing it essential to offer premiums in our 

 meetings, thus, in a measure, buying our membership. 

 He who will not. for the love he bears this science, 

 cheerfully attend his local society and there exhibit 

 whatever result of horticulture he has produced that is 

 worthy of notice, is not, at heart, a horticulturist. 



"But," you may say, "it has taken his time and his 

 thoughts to produce it !" I grant it. But has not his 

 competitor expended a similar amount of time and 

 thought ? Is not the superior quality of the fruit a fair 

 equivalent for his labor ? And will he not realize 

 thereon in the markets ? There may be, and most 

 probably there are, cases where premiums are justi- 

 fiable, but in a large proportion of the cases " the ends 

 do not justify the means. " ' ' Dollars and cents " is but 

 a sordid principle on which to base one's regard for any 

 society that is formed to advance the knowledge and 

 interest of mankind. 



It is claimed that only an educated man should be 

 placed at the head of a horticultural society, and I grant 

 it is far more agreeable to listen to one who understands 

 the ' ' Rules of English Grammer ", than to hear him say 

 "he has went" — and "I haven't saw him", but after 

 all we must acknowledge that a man with a great, gener- 

 ous nature, brimfull of energy and vim ; who can grow 

 fine fruit and can tell you how he grew it ; whose heart 

 is full of love and sympathy for every fellow fruit-grow- 



er, and vibrates in unison with the great pulse of nature 

 all about him, can do more to secure and keep an in- 

 terest in a meeting, than can his college-bred neighbor 

 whose horticulture is only a theory ; — for his very ear- 

 nestness causes you to overlook the grammatical errors 

 he has committed. 



A few more questions, and my interrogatories are end- 

 ed. Can you give me one instance of an atheistic horti- 

 culturist ? It seems to me it would be impossible for 

 anyone to watch the transition from apparent lifeless- 

 ness to leafage, from leafage to bud, from bud to flower, 

 and from fiower to fruit, and not bow his head in rever- 

 ence before a Power, mighty in His intelligence ! Who 

 can explain to me just how this marvelous process is ac- 

 complished ? And who can tell me just how the lovely 

 color is given to apples and the flowers, so charmingly 

 displayed before us ? Can he who grew those apples, 

 demonstrate at just what time in their formation, and 

 how, some were produced with the tint of the sunset and 

 the beauty of the after glow, while on others the color 

 out-rivals ruby ? Can he look upon this blended color- 

 ing, which no artist's brush can exactly re-produce, and 

 not acknowledge that only the hand of the Divine Arti- 

 ficer could have performed this wondrous thing ? 



Can he tell me, also, why the fragrance of the native 

 crab-apple exceeds all other blossoms in the exquisiteness 

 of its perfume, when the odor of the wild rose cannot 

 compare with that of the highly cultivated tea rose ? 



One thought is uppermost in my mind to-day, that in 

 all the wide universe so beautifully planned and furnish- 

 ed' there is no more beautiful trio than this — Horticul- 

 ture — Agriculture — Floriculture — each one a science ; — 

 bound close together by one common tie of sisterhood ; 

 — so nearly allied that to most minds — one must needs 

 suggest the others ! Herein exists the beautiful and the 

 useful, united in the flowers of the fruit-bearing trees 

 and of the grains — and the fruit of the flower bearing 

 plants. And he, who earnestly and with honest purpose 

 devotes his life to any one of the three, is a benefactor 

 to his fellow man, a credit to his neighborhood, and an 

 honor to the parents whose name he bears ! 



Let me urge the study of this subject of Horticulture 

 more and more until we have thoroughly practical Horti- 

 cultural meetings, whose praises shall be a household 

 word, and whose benefits shall reach to our own and 

 future generations. — Miss Mary Parav, before Indiana 

 Horticultural Society. 



