FIRST ANNUAL BANQUET. 119 



ders and beauties and riches of the kingdoms of Nature. 

 In that regard, too many professional and business men 

 must still be classed with the hero of "Wordsworth's poem, 

 of whom the poet says: — 



" In vain, through every changeful year, 

 Did Nature lead him as before. 

 A primrose by a river's brim 

 A yellow primrose was to him, 

 And it was nothing more." 



And yet, to understand and appreciate the beneficent 

 purpose and value of a trust like this, surely there is no 

 need of technical knowledge. No one need be urged to en- 

 joy the beauty of the flowers, the soft refreshment of the 

 green grass and the soothing murmur of the rustling leaves. 

 To the dullest eye new lustre comes, to the most unsym- 

 pathetic soul a new joy, with that annual miracle newly 

 wrought with each returning spring, the resurrection of Na- 

 ture from her wintry grave. If there is any knowledge 

 common to us all, it is that of the relations of the vegetable 

 kingdom to our daily life, in the matter of food and raiment 

 and refreshment of body and mind. To the most prosaic 

 mind a moment's thought recalls the infinitely various eco- 

 nomic uses of plant and flower and fruit and tree. The 

 romantic interest attaching to the daring exploits and 

 marvellous achievements of Stanley in the heart of Africa is 

 not lessened by the revelations he brings back of new fields 

 for commercial enterprise afforded by its tropical forests. 

 But it is obvious to the most careless mind that the true key 

 to all the boundless wealth and the exquisite beauty which 

 the goodness of God has so lavishly bestowed upon us in the 

 vegetable world must be furnished by Botanical Science. 

 For by Botanical Science, as I suppose, is meant that accur- 

 ate and extensive knowledge of the various productions of 

 the vegetable kingdom, which shall enable us, not only to 

 classify and arrange them in families, orders, genera and 

 species, but to determine their properties and value for the 



