From J. M. Jordan, President Society of American Florists: "Conventions are of great benefit to any one, and especially to the horticulturist; and I would most earnestly recommend the holding of an International Congress. I should advise that the Society of American Florists join in the congress. I am of the opinion that the move should be inaugurated by the Department of Agriculture : then the reports could be transmitted and circulated to the great masses of horticulturists.

From H. W. Johnson, President American Seed Trade Association: "So far as I am personally concerned, I think it would be a splendid idea to have a Horticultural International Congress in connection with the World's Fair, and have no doubt the American Seed Trade Association would be very favorable to the project and do all they could to assist in carrying it out".

From G.W. Hilliard, President Cider and Cider Vinegar Makers Association of the Northwest: "We are disposed to look upon the project favorably, and shall be pleased to do what we can to make the congress a success. We have intended to move in some way, to bring the subject of cider and vinegar-making more prominently before the people at the World's Fair".

From A. J. Rider, Secretary American Cranberry Growers Association: "I see no objection whatever to the holding of the meeting of American Cranberry Growers' Association in connection with the proposed International Horticultural Congress. We are looking forward to the time in the cranberry business when a foreign market for cranberries will be of great advantage, and it would seem that in a congress of this kind some public notice at least would be attracted".

*

THE LOVE of nature ! Who has felt it ? All have read of it, all know of it, many of us have sung of it. But how many of us feel it in the same manner as we feel the blood in' our veins, or the thrill of life in our nerves ? How many of us live in that sympathy with the out-of-doors which imbibes inspiration from the meadows and the trees ? We suspect that much of this vaunted love of nature is little more than strenuous resolution. We work ourselves into a rapture while yet we sit in our study, or, perhaps, it is oftener an overpowering awe or admiration for grandness, as of a mountain or the ocean. But love is not conjured up nor experienced afar off. It is borne of a sweetness and restfulness and sympathy of temper which always finds interesting company. Nature is near at hand. Here is a bit of green sward, shorn and tidy, a mere patch inside stone walks. But it is a most coquettish bit. Every hour it is different. Now it is gloomy, overcast like a leaden sky. A moment later it smiles like a ripple of sunlight, and the birds sing and the bees hum. Again it is restful, like the droning of a sleepy breeze. This morning it awoke with a burst of laughter ; yesterday it lay all the morning in tears and the spiders spun their crape over it. The bushes bent low to it, in sympathy.

Later it was rollicking in a frisk-ful breeze, and before noon it was in a flurry of scudding leaves.

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THIS IS ALL sentiment, you say ? Perhaps so. It matters not what you call it, so long as it eases the burdens of life and makes one happier. Who cares to live when he cannot be happy ? Of course one cannot subsist on it. He must have bread. But the bread has the same sentiment in it. The beans and corn and tomatoes somehow behave in the same manner as that bit of green sward. But they are even more interesting, for each plant has an individuality, and they are all a part of the earth, and the winds and the sunshine and the dews and the rains. In the cool morning one loves to see them awakening; at noon they are glowing, and at evening they are quiet in the long shadows and the fading light. Somehow there seems to be no difference between birds and winds and plants and sunshine ! The odors of the freshly turned soil and of the tomato vines are in some way a part of the same fabric. And the rustle of leaves and songs of birds and patter of rain are all from the same melody. And the clouds come near to one.

Then the mind opens and is inspired, and the true love of nature and reverence for nature's God have an abiding place in our hearts.

* *

YES, THIS may be sentiment; but sweet sentiment means contentment and health. And if there were more of it on our farms and in the gardens there would be fewer tired farmers and gardeners. There seems to be a systematic effort among farmers to crush out this love of nature because it is thought to be unprofitable ; and forthwith the spirit is crushed out of the boys and girls. It is the absurdest notion, that appreciation of nature can in any way conflict with the tilling of the soil ! One does not need to stop his work in order to admire his environments. Nature speaks while he labors, and the love of it flows into his life as the sunshine falls into the flowers. It runs as a golden thread throughout the fabric of life. And there is no reason why it should make the potatoes less productive or should interfere with the price of strawberries. But the lack of it has made the farmer the least appreciative of men.

*

ALL THIS fineness of feeling is not borne of knowledge. Facts intensify it and sometimes give it substance, but they do not give it birth. But education is the mother of it, whether the education is college-bred or home-spun. Education is culture of mind and heart; knowledge is mere filling. Yet the two are commonly confounded; in fact, they are thought to be one. So the farmer sends his son to college and expects him to learn only practical facts - and by practical he means dollars ! Perchance the boy imbibes the germs of education, and then the farm may become distasteful because his feelings have outgrown its narrowness. But he still has a farm in his mind's eye - an ideal farm This is not a "fancy farm," but a plain, substantial, honest affair; but it has love in it. But it comes hard to love it and to love nature in these pinching times. Yet this is reason enough why we should love it the more. The present days are driving the dullest to the wall; they are refining our agriculture. So we must look to the children.