MASS. HORTICULTURAL FESTIVAL. 



231 



(5.84 lar5d?3capes such as Pous^in could only copy. 

 Let me say, then, 



Marlkuhurt-: Its best exhibilions are in the village garden 

 and ilie cotta'-;e window ; and i'.s l)est festivals in the humble 

 homes which it adorns, and in the humble hearts wliich it re- 

 fines and elevates. 



The following song was sung by Mr. T. H. Bar- 

 ker, wiitten expressly for the occasion h}' Epes 

 S.-VRGKNT, Esq.: 



The Winter chill has pleasures still, 



And Spring is fair to see: 

 la .Summer's heat the groves are sweet, 



But Autumn bold for me ! 

 With Vine-Leaves on his honest brow. 



And Harvests in his arms, 

 He comes, with all of Winter's cheer, 

 And all of Summer's charms I 

 Chorus— Vol tiiere's nae luck about the house. 



There's nae luck at a'. 

 There's litlle pleasure in the house, 

 If Woman is awa'. 



The Flowers and Fruits that deck our board, 



To her a tribute owe ; 

 From her the Rose steals all its bloom, 



From her the Peach its glow; 

 The Lily in her purity, 



May see its own eclipse ; 

 And where did Cherries take their red. 



If not from Woman's lips ? 



Chorus — So there's nae luck, &c. 



The purple bloom upon the Grape, 



The Violet's modest hue, — 

 Who does not see they're borrowed, both, 



From certain eyes of blue .' 

 And if the Orange Flower is sweet. 



And if the Hyacinth fair. 

 Will ar.y one their lovely lints 



With those we sing compare? 

 Chorus — O there's nae luck, &c. 



And there be men of high renown, 



Who're welcome here to.day. 

 In church and state, who've garlands won, 



That will not fade away ; 

 And tillers of the soil have come 



To grace our festival ; 

 And Horticulture's peaceful chiefs ; — 



And they are welcome all' 



Chorus — But there' ■> nae luck, &c. 



Then while we show our Garden's wealth, 



And boast our Plums and Pears, 

 And while we welcome to our hull, 



Our Governors and Mayors, 

 Let's not forget, of all the charms, 



That grace our board, the crown, — 

 But eat a lusty Pippin each, 

 To Mother Eve's renovni ! 

 Chorus — For there's nae luck about the house. 



There's nae luck at a', 

 There's little pleasure in the house. 

 If Woman is awa'. 



The President then gave — 



The Massachusetts Horticultural Society : Her strides in the 

 advancement of Horticultural pursuits have been so rapid, 

 that it must be attributed to her having started on a good 

 Dearborn. 



Gen. Dearborn, the first President of the So- 

 ciety then responded: 



Mr. Pre-ident, and Ladies and Gentlemen: 

 Kone of you, I think have visited this Hall during 

 the last three days, without having become satis- 

 fied that Horticulture, however humble in its ori- 

 gin, has become one of the highest and m^st 

 refined ooeupations of man. Uncivilized man de- 



pended upon the beasts of the forest, and wild 

 fruits, for sustenance, until by the accumulation of 

 population, he was compelled to resort to the cul- 

 ture of the earth for subsistence, and he began 

 with the garden. It was to supply his immediate 

 wants, not furnished by his flocks and herds: it 

 preceded agrictjlture. We have it in the Scrip- 

 tures, that bread is not alluded to in the first ages. 

 The patriarchs of old were shepherds; their lives 

 were romantic ; until at last, means of support 

 were required beyond those which had been fur- 

 nished in former titiies, and the garden was re- 

 sorted to. Bread was not named until the time 

 of Abrtiham; it was first off"ered to the angels who 

 appeared to him as he sat in the door of his tent. 

 Ultimately, it became the primary consideration 

 with the increase of population. The flocks and 

 herds were not sufficient; the products of the gar- 

 den were too small; and the cereal grain was ex- 

 tended over the surface of the earth, and became, 

 what it ever since has been, the principal food of 

 the nations. In this country we do not fully real- 

 ize the old adage, that bread was " the stafl!" of 

 life," because here, animal food is so abundant, and 

 so cheap, that bread may be considered merely as 

 a condiment; while on the eastern continent, in 

 Europe and in Asia, it constitutes almost the only 

 food of a very large proportion of a large popula- 

 tion. 



Necessity, therefore, required first, that the im- 

 mediate wants of man should be satisfied; and the 

 garden was almost entirely abandoned. The me- 

 chanic arts, and even the fine arts, were introduced, 

 as sculpture and painting, before horticulture was 

 cultivated. Egypt, and Greece, and Rome, had 

 almost reached the culminating point of their 

 grandeur before their illustrious men bestowed 

 their attention upon the garden; and then it became 

 of so much consequence, that Cicero, Pliny, and 

 LucuUus, have transmitted names as respectable 

 and honorable, for what they did in the culture of 

 the garden, as for their eloquence in the forum, or 

 their literary attainments. 



In modern times — take the country of our pro- 

 genitors — gardening is even there a new science 

 and a new art, in the enlarged and comprehensive 

 signification of the term as it is now used; and a 

 little more than a century has gone by, only that 

 period, since a garden, that would now be consid- 

 ered even reputable, was not to be seen upon the 

 island of Great Britain. Bacon recommended it. 

 Milton most beautifully described a garden, and a 

 garden planned precisely upon the most approved 

 jirinciples of modern landscape gardening, though 

 he had never seen one ; showing the vast stretch 

 of his refined and mighty intellect. Looking over 

 the present, and to the future, he comprehended 

 the beauties of Nature, and the manner in which 

 they should be developed. Pope may be consid- 

 ered as almost the first man who introduced orna- 

 mental cultivation in that island, and such has 

 been its progress, so lucrative, and so important 

 has it become, that Agriculture has deigned to 

 take lessons for the extension of her own bounds, 

 for the increase of her own products, from that 

 species of tillage which was introduced in the gar 

 den. And now visit England, or read her workg 



