STATE HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 193 



lovers of the garden. Longfellow and Bryant, — how much and 

 how aptly we could quote from them ! — and he whose quaint fan- 

 cies pictured Hulda and 



" The apples she was peelin' " 

 and to whose mind as he thought of this nice country girl, 



" The dogwood bhishin' by the brook 



Weren't modester nor sweeter,'' 



has recently had bestowed upon him the highest literary honors 

 yet conferred on any American citizen in a foreign country. 



Were you to seek our greatest American historian in the sum- 

 mer season, you would find him in one of his rose gardens at New- 

 port or Washington. A new fact in history would be hardly more 

 interesting to him than a new beauty or an improved fragrance in 

 a rose. 



Finally, what is the sweetest dream of the man of affairs as he 

 looks forward to the close of his struggle for fame or wealth and 

 prepares for the quiet and peace of declining years? Is it not to 

 retire, and amidst rural employments wherein the garden and the 

 companionship of books and chosen friends shall occupy his time, 

 repay himself for the mental starvation of years of enforced and 

 ill-assorted toil. Happy for such a man if he join the Horticul- 

 tural Society and learn how to take care of his garden while there 

 is yet time. To such a man, equipped by the study of nature — 

 and here I quote again from our old friend Solomon — 



"To know how the world was made and the operation of the elements; 



The beginning, ending and midst of the times; 



The alterations of the tmnings of men, and the change of seasons; 



The circuits of years and the positions of stars; 



The nature of living creatures, and the furies of wild beasts; 



The violence of winds, and the reasonings of men ; 



The diversities of plants, and the virtues of roots; 



And all such things as are either secret or manifest; 



Loving the thing that is good;" 



Becoming by the influence of these employments and these 

 studies, 



" Kind to man, steadfast, sure, free from care," 



Life must proceed to its close as calmly as the current of the 

 gently flowing river; and the flnal transition to that undiscovered 

 garden where fruits and flowers immortal grow, be but the passing 

 into the peaceful slumber of one who 



" Wraps the drapery of his couch around him 

 And lies down to pleasant dreams." 



13 



