438 Prof. Schultes on the 



a manner as useless as it is mean ; and this too, when the gar- 

 dens of the other Universities of Germany have been lately 

 doubled and trebled in extent. As President of the Botanical 

 Garden at Landshut, it becomes me thus publicly to declare 

 this matter, in order that the disgrace which must accrue to 

 the Universit}', which is so far behind her German sisters, may 

 not fall upon me, but on those who, contrary to the wishes of 

 those wise promoters of good, — the Bavarian government, — 

 have brought this stain upon Landshut, and w-hose names will 

 be pronounced by posterity with the contempt they deserve. 

 Let us only consider what a multitude of people are employed 

 and maintained in London alone by these nurseries : not in 

 labouring the ground and tending the plants only, but in 

 making the millions of pots, of which the smallest costs a half- 

 penny (a grosc'ien of our monej'); in manufacturing the im- 

 mense quantity of glass which is used ; in executing the smiths' 

 and carpenters' work ; — and it must then be readily confessed, 

 that the improvement of a people has attained a high pitch, 

 w hen the most pure, noble, and innocent kind of pleasure and 

 taste, namely the enjoyment of the beauties of vegetation, has 

 become a necessary ; and thereby bestows food, clothing, and 

 comfort on thousands of individuals, who must otherwise be 

 a burdien to society. The nurserymen of London, from their 

 great business, several of which annually return half a million, 

 are obliged to have counting-houses of their own. Many of 

 them keep travelling botanists in their pay, who from the most 

 remote parts of the globe must send them seeds, roots, and 

 living plants. Li China, the East Indies, the Cape of Good 

 Hope, at Sierra Leone, New Holland, New Zealand, Para- 

 guay, Chili, Mexico, and the most northern parts of America 

 and Siberia, many of these enterprising individuals have collec- 

 tors ; so that Geography is often improved by the trade of 

 horticulture. How reprehensible therefore is the conduct of 

 those who, — instead of promoting the culture of gardens and 

 the love of plants, by which, according to the immortal Bacon, 

 the mind and heart are alike improved, — endeavour to sup- 

 press and stifle all industry; and whilst they instruct youth 

 in such detestable maxims, as that " sin alone is the road to 

 God,"(!) corrupt the rich and demoralize the poor. Li Ba- 

 varia we have only one great person who possesses a garden 

 that deserves the name (except that at Irlbach); and this no- 

 bler personage than Bavaria ever numbered among her mag- 

 nates, is also the friend of that first ruler of Bavaria under 

 whose happy government Botany and Horticultui'e began to 

 be known. Is it not mortifying to behold the nurserymen of 

 England displaying more taste and wealth than our nobility ? 



Perhaps 



