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Such a proficiency is only attained among farmers by a certain class here and there, who have been educated to study the principles of their profession, precisely as the lawyer, the physician, and the divine study the principles of theirs. Associations of these learned professions have long been diligently employed in debating the various means of advancing their interests, and otherwise educating themselves to their respective callings, while agriculture has been, comparatively, standing still.

"The Wealth of Orchards," etc.

With horticulturists so situated that they have been able to avail themselves of the benefits of discussion, the attrition of mind against mind has made business men of them; has enlarged their ideas in various ways; and has led them to examine the principles and details of their aft, and the studies relating thereto. They have made themselves especially conversant with botany and vegetable physiology, the effects of root and twig pruning, the circulation of the sap, fungous and other parasitic growths, the relation of the leaf and bark to

the woody parts of the plant, cell growth, the effects of heat and cold on various portions of plants, acclimation, and the influence of the scion on the stock, with a great variety of similar practical details. The Transactions of the various Horticultural Societies existing in the United States constitute a compendium of knowledge relating to the arts in question that will compare favorably with those of any other societies extant.

Horticulture has been especially fortunate in securing the services of many scholarly minds, who have applied their scientific training to the elucidation of important questions that otherwise might have remained hidden for generations. It is a fact that among the leading horticulturists of today, a large proportion are men who have left the so-called learned professions to follow this fascinating branch of agriculture, where they have become actual life-workers. Thus it holds in its ranks teachers, physicians, clergymen, and painters, in about the order named. It is especially taken up by medical men, probably from the fact that their knowledge of anatomy and physiology in animals points them in the same direction as regards plants.

GARDENING OF OLD AND ITS PROGRESS.

Twelve years ago I wrote for the Transactions of the Illinois. Horticultural Society an essay on gardening, in which I used the following language:

"It is more than probable that a higher state of systematic science has been attained within the last hundred years than had before been known since the foundation of the world. It is said that Egypt, 'the cradle of civilization,' so far perfected her tillage that the banks of the Nile were adorned with plantations, from the Cataract of Syrene to the shores of the

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Delta; but this was not until Thebes, with her hundred gates, and the ancient cities of Memphis and Heliopolis were rising in grandeur, and the stupendous pyramids, obelisks, and temples of Egypt had become the wonders of the world. "Solomon had not delighted to dwell in gardens, nor planted the 'vineyard of Baal-hamon' until after the Queen of Sheba had heard of his power and glory. The hanging gardens of Semiramis were works of art rather than of scientific culture, and the villas of Rome and Greece were more noted. for their sculpture, statuary, and paintings, than for the extraordinary culture of their gardens.

"With the Dark Ages came the destruction of the arts and sciences, and the obliteration of almost every trace of agricultural and horticultural art as it had theretofore been taught. As returning civilization began to spread over Western Europe, gardens were again cultivated. And yet so gradual was the progress of horticulture, that, until the reign of Henry VIII, scarcely any kitchen vegetables had been cultivated in England. Since that time, with the increased facilities for knowledge, by means of cheap printing, it has made rapid strides toward that perfect science which it may ultimately reach..

"Kitchen gardening will not receive the attention it deserves from the farmer until scientific agriculture has become widely practiced. And yet a single half acre, well cultivated, will produce, from year to year, half the suste

nance of a large family. Horticulturists, as a class, are intelligent, thinking people. Why? Because the products of the garden are better sustainers of the brain than hog and hominy. Show me a country without orchards and gardens, and you will there find a stolid, embruted race. But where the trees drop ripe fruits, and well-tilled gardens are swelling with vegetable wealth, and casting their sweet perfume of flowers over all, there we may be sure dwells an intelligent, thinking, onward-moving people, whose motto is Excelsior.

"Let one or two individuals in each neighborhood set the example, and it will not be long before others will follow, and soon gardens will be planted by all. Why, then, will not all decide to do something more for the next year than they have already done in the past, that our homes may be made more smiling and happy, from season to season? It is neither a small business nor unprofitable. Do you lack knowledge? Learn from books and other products of the teeming press-the depositories of all knowledge."

THE FUTURE INFLUENCE OF HORTICULTURE.

The words above, written twelve years ago for Illinois, would apply, in many situations, with as much force now. With wealth comes the desire for all that can make life comfortable and smooth. The road to wealth lies as much through the garden as the farm. That farmer who neglects this branch of his profession does justice neither to his God, his family, nor himself; for the garden gives health, and with health, thrift and economy; if wealth do not follow, certainly the man has but to blame himself.

Where once the painted savage lived by rapine and plunder, the cabins of the peaceful pioneer have been built.

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These again have given place to comfortable dwellings, occupied with happy and intelligent faces. Begirt with welltilled fields, prosperous farms have grown up all over our favored land. The lack yet remaining is orchards and gardens. Add but these, and it will not be long until flowers will blossom and stately trees grow up, shading smooth

lawns, and the next generation will bless the fathers who left them the inheritance. Each home will possess its garden, and this country, for which the All-Giver has done so much and man so little, will become the paradise and glory of the world-a country such as the ancients never knew.

It is a fact which can not be controverted that until horticulture is successfully practiced, high farming can not flourish, or rather high farming or improved agriculture follows, and is the result of, progress in horticultural art. The lessons learned through a study of the details of horticulture are found to apply as well to husbandry, and the