Review of an Address before the Col. Hort. Society. 183 



REVIEWS. 



Art. I. An Address delivered before the Columbian Horticultural 

 Society, at the first annual exhibition, June (ith, 1834. By George 

 Watterston, Esq. Pamphlet, 8vo. pp. 33. Washington, 1834. 



By the kindness of the author we have received a copy of this 

 very interesting and eloquent address. It is with great pleasure that 

 we read the addresses which are delivered before the various Agri- 

 cultural and Horticultural Societies throughout the country. They 

 not only afford gratification and delight to every lover of Horticul- 

 ture, but they are greatly instrumental in promoting the spread of a 

 taste for its agreeable and innocent pursuit ; creating a more lively 

 interest in its advancement and future progress, and exciting a greater 

 desire for the possession of the beautiful, as well as the useful pro- 

 ductions of the vegetable kingdom. 



The address by Mr. Watterston was the first delivered before the 

 Columbian Horticultural Society, of which he is Corresponding Sec- 

 retary. We have been highly entertained with a perusal of it, and 

 we have made a few extracts which will, we think, be exceedingly 

 interesting to our readers. Mr. Watterston commences by passing 

 a just encomium on the pleasure, as well as the benefit to be derived 

 from a love of Horticultural pursuits. Its salutary and good effects 

 upon the young — the agreeableness and pleasure it affords in man- 

 hood — and the charms and attractions it presents to old age — are 

 described by him in a very felicitous manner. 



Mr. Watterston proceeds : — 



"To none, however, is the garden a source of higher and purer enjoy- 

 ment than to the feniale sex. Their senyil)ilities being more acute, tliey 

 relish, with greater intensity the beauty which snnoimds them, and which 

 they cannot fail to behold in every border, and flower-woven arbor — in 

 every plant and shrub and tree over which the eye glances as it roams 

 amidst tlie varied heanties of a well cultivated garden. To them the floral 

 department is an object of es|)ecial atU'action. The exqnisitt! coloring, and 

 the delicate and graceful forms of the productions of Flora, are nicely 

 adapted to the fine perception of beauty which exists in th(! female mind. 

 In what region of the world, in wliat condition of life, does not the love of 

 flowers prevail among females? In tlie lowly cottage, as well as the mag- 

 nificent palaee, it displays itself in the floral wreath, and the woodbine, and 

 jessamine, and rose, that difl^use their fragrance and decorate the latticed 

 whidow of the humble dwelling of innocence and poverty. In the popu- 

 lous city, where the want of ground prevents the indulgence of tlicir favor- 

 ite projiensity in its full extent, the windows and parlors of their habitations 

 arc often found ornamented with the rose, the mignionette, and the gerani- 

 um. 'But who,' SMys Boursaiilt, 'does not love flowers? They embellish 

 our gardens; they give a more brilliant lustre to oiu- festivals; they are the 

 interpreters of our affections ; they are the testimonials of our gratitude. 



