THE INFLUENCE OF HORTICULTURE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 18, 9 June 1914, Page 3

THE INFLUENCE OF HORTICULTURE.

ADDRESS AT THE BROTHERHOOD. At the meeting of the New Plymouth Brotherhood on Sunday afternoon, tho chair was taken by Mr W. W. Thomson. The newly-formed ohoir and orchestra added to the effect of the sinking. Mr T. G. Ellis, agricultural inspector to the Education Board, delivered an interesting address on the influence of horticulture. He introduced his subject by remarking that a study of any of the practical sciences would introduce the student in to a new world which was well worth exploring and the conquest of which would be of material advantage. In speaking of horticultural science he was bringing tnder the attention of his hearers a science which stood upon the same plane as geology and astronomy, and one of which lie had had upwards of twenty [years' practical experience and observation. It was, perhaps, because it was more readily accessible than the others that it had more char mfor the lecturer, for though a man could not grasp the heavens or unravel the decpost meanings of the vast circle of creation, he could descend to the things thatflay at his feet, to the common motWr earth which is as full of wonders as the stars and prizo and study what Wordsworth calls "the Stars of Earth."

There were two things which a careful and diligent study of horticulture did for the student. First, it widened the outlook and added to the sum total of acquired knowledge, and in the second place it cultivated certain moral qualities which were the attributes of education and the marks of the cultured gentleman. Besides these, the pursuit of'horticulture, was physically beneficial, and tho use of garden tools was sometimes better than medicine. It was these moral and intellectual influences that he proposed to discuss. Horticulture, more than any other science he knew of, developed the spirit of generosity. In every garden there was year, by year a surplus quantity of plants and produce which the true horticulturist would prefer to pass on to some other person to cultivate .than throw upon the rubbish heap. Amongst the horticulturists there existed a system of exchange, and very frequently it was like that of an old world hero who in exchange for nine oxen which he sent to a contemporary chief received ninetynine. He expressed the opinion that the school gardens in the educational district _ would l)e materially benefited ) by the "application of this principle— I when lie became better acquainted with the horticulturists in the province. Another moral quality which was developed by the practice of the .science was patience, of which it was said mankind jliad not too great a stock. TV horticulturist was taught "to labor and to Wait." It was only in the very early stages of one's experience in the lield that he pulled up the cutting to discover if they were rooted, and it was one of the mos't interesting phases to watch the development of the plant from seed to flower, to carefully note what came at liis't to reward the toil of the -over. A great deal of patience was essential in the "rowing of narcissi from seed (Mr. "Ellis, is one of the recognised authorities in the Dominion 011 the culture of the narcissi). As many as seven years were 'passed before a flower was -ven. Hopefulness and contentment were also cultivated in the student of the science, i and there was nothing comparable to the diligent study of the workings of nature in producing the cheerful 1 spirit, and forgetfulnciss of the worries of life, and the ills' that "flesh is heir to." The idea has been beautifully expressed by Bryant: "Enter this wild wood and view the haunts of Nature. The calm shade shall bring a kindred calm and llie sweet breeze that makes the preen leaves dance shall waft a balm to thy sick heart." The lirst of the educative influences exercised bv the science was the faculty for selection. Many persons who grew things but who knew little about them and cared less grew all sorts of thimrs ami perhaps most people did that at first, but when thev become better acquainted with the science they recognised that only the best was worth growing and horticultural shews were held to disclose how much superior the best things were. In the school gardens (and for (he matter of that in every garden) it was a decided mistake to grow inferior things. The work of Ihe hortieulturalist was to select. Much hail been written of Mr Luther Hurbank. the celebrated American bvbridiscr, but the was only one of hundreds who practiced the art of selection and kept steadily improving the products of Nature. I'Slress should he laid upon the second Ipart of the word used to designate, the science. Tn the words of a poet.

The grapes which dye thy wine are richer far Through culture than the wild wealth of tlie rock. '""'■ c sauve plum that the save tasted .kupe, li .ii' pastured honey-bee drops choicer ■MV.uct The Mowers turn double and the leaves turn llowcrs.

Ilie sillily of horticulture also developed the powers of observation. Jiotiinv was no longer a mattci' of counting stamens mill pistils, and expressing die das.->ilic,d result in a <jlri'i'k derived iiomeJt .no 'longer consists in merely collecting as .main' kinds of plants as passible ivJjosc .dried and shrivelled remains were .too often only tlie caricatures of llu'ir once living liei'.nty. It has now become a science in which they are recognised us Jiving things with histories anil Hi Jii.evwnenls. .villi vicissitudes and wants akin U> .our own. Modern botany has brought us to regard the members of the vegetable kingdom a-< fellow creatures rcg'jla.lcd by the same law., of life as those' all'ectiug Imman beings. In I he words oT llie late Crant Alien, "They eat and marry ar.d get fertilized, produce their Iraii e.ial set their .-ceils,'' and tints yen'orm the | round of their existence, isorliculturc I ivcogniseil the presence of t)ic = e laws and these functions and by en;r,»l'ul culture and ailaptatinns in ennniiiment helped the plant to do its best. To trace the life history of the plant lliroii«Ji all 1 the vicissit'iides and triumphs, f.oni the : cradle ti> the f.rave was extivniely i limiting; to r.-ark i!~ needs ami to furl ni-h assistant • and to note how it n- | sponds tlici'ito Wi's even more so. The practice of horticulture develops the rej cognition of the relationship of the kingdoms and their interdependence, l.inuaes said mini nils grow, vegetables grow and live, animals grow and live, and have feeling. The careful student of

| botany could not long be satisfied with any euch definition. It was anothei one /which was sometimes given, "The animal, is mobile, the plant is immobile." Some plants could not be said to be immobile, but were furnished with little deviccß to help them to move about. It could be very gravely questioned whether plants were devoid of feeling. It was only comparatively recently, since botany has been studied from its biological side, that we had wakened up to understand what wonderful things plants were. In all the works of the great writers, Darwin, Lubbock, Muller, Wallace, Kernel', Allen, Dyer, and others, plants were spoken of as adopting this habit or performing that device, always, and only when such habits and devices were beneficial to them, as if they did it of set and intelligent purpose. The life of a plant, like that of an animal, was a series of constant adjustments between internal structure and organisation and external surroundings. These surroundings were so varied and variable that we could not wonder that the. adjustments —that is what we call the habits of the plants—were so infinitely numerous. We could not doubt the act of the plant ill the effort towards correspondence. It was seen too plainly to doubt it (such as the twisting of the stein, the putting forth of a tendril, or the development of a, spine. We could only question whether the act is an intelligent one or an automatic one. Tho theory that vegetables were endowed with the sensation liad been referred to by many, amongst whom Wordsworth, who said: "It is my faith that every flower enjoys the air it breathes." Many persons could net doubt it breathed but questioned the enjoyment. The physical basis of life — protoplasm—was the same for plants as animals, and perhaps there could be no life, animal or vegetable, unaccompanied by consciousness. Whatever views a person might hold respecting this problem he could not get away from the fact that certain plants are capable of certain actions which appear to be prompted by consciousness and which, if performed by an animal (say for instance a mere man) would be considered intelligent. The closing of the leaves of certain plants when night came on was at first supposed by some botanists to be occasioned by the difference in the temperature but when these plants were transferred into a house where there wan no change of temperature it was found that they still closed at Bunset. It was bed time and they knew it. There was no student of' the science hut whose faculty for observation and whose powers to reason from the observations 'he made was developed more and more as he was led deeper and deeper into the science. It was thus that scientists were made, so the advice of the lecturer to his audience was to begin a careful and systematic study of some science—preferably his own.