JUNE MEETING, 1877. 81 



story of our aims iiud ends, our designs luid objects. Pomology was the pio- 

 neer, — all honor to it I Horticulture is a full-grown structure, — not rough and 

 gigantic, but gradually assuming and developing a style of Grecian and classic 

 form and elegance. We notice that nearly all the States have Iniilded this 

 ■way. First the seed, then the tender stalk, and gradually the spreading, bloom- 

 ing bearing tree, grand in form, and perfect in symmetry. In the remarks I 

 shall make, I shall include not only what we preach but what we practice, at 

 our meetings and at our fairs, a broad system of Horticulture. 



THE MAIN OBJECT 



of such a society as this, then, was and must bo educational. We first discov- 

 ered the fact, tlic seed of trutli, that tliis was a State ada]:)ted to horticulture 

 and to its branches, one of which is pomology, or fruit culture. Having de- 

 termined the fact of adaptation and congeniality, wc then sought to develop it. 

 In the farm garden, as well as in the kitchen garden ; in the flower garden, 

 in the conservatory, and in the greenhouse ; in the orchard and in the vitie- 

 yard, by amateur and professional ; for landscape, for protection, for the 

 highway, for tlie forest, for the railway; for the country, for the city; for 

 the cottage and for the palace. For if this is a horticultural State then have 

 we some advantages over other portions of the earth. Even if this is a fruit 

 producing State, capable of growing in their perfection the fruits of the tem- 

 perate zone, then are we the favorites of earth and sky. It is not necessary 

 to ask, What is horticulture? What are its influences, its tendencies and its 

 teachings? I shall not refer to its commercial advantages, though these be 

 of great importance. 



THE TRUE YALUE. 



But horticulture affects the innermost character of a people. Its whole 

 tendency is of a conseryative and refining character, which attaches a people 

 to the land in which they dwell. It not only adorns but it builds up and estab- 

 lishes the country. Its special mission is to beautify and ornament and make 

 attractive country life. It takes hold of the social, the intellectual, and nour- 

 ishes, while it gives rest and peace to tlie head and heart. It attracts from the 

 city to the country the very best elements of the city. The devotees of politics 

 and the professions turn to it for solace and refinement. Sir, much ridicule 

 was made of Horace Greeley's farm, but if he had abided by its chastening 

 influences he might be living to-day. It is said that the salary of our Secretary 

 of State is inadequate to support his country place in Vermont. Mr. Evarts 

 Avill tell you it is the best investment he makes. We have seen no reference to 

 the horticultural attainments of the lamented and distinguished jurist, Judge 

 Emmons, but it is a well-known fact that he built up and sustained an estab- 

 lishment which, in his prime, was an honor to him and to the county and State 

 in whicii he lived. 



THE ADVANTAGE TO THE CITY. 



And it was found that it was a charm added to citv life, and that the influ- 

 ence of trees and flowers, of fountains and parks, was purifying and restraining, 

 and the bringing of fruits and flowers to the city table, at all seasons of the 

 year, was combining the advantages of city and country life, and throwing these 

 advantages open and into the hands of the rich and the poor. 



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