462 Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



Society will cause a tlirill of joy and pleasure until this heart shall cease to 

 beat; and, should I be so fortunate as to retain, in your hearts, an affec- 

 tionate remembrance, it will be my highest honor, my richest reward. 



Ladies and gentlemen, in conclusion, allow me to propose, as a senti- 

 ment : — 



The Massachusetts Horticultural Society: — Its objects have the diTine sanction in the first duty 

 assisand to the first man, "to dress and to keep the garden." In the Talleys and on the hill- 

 sides of New England, it has produced many an Eden without a Serpent. 



The President then announced the following sentiments : — 



New England: — The seed of the " Mayflower" " fell in stony places, and had not much earth, 

 but the plant that sprung from it still endures — may it flourish forever, a noble instance of the 

 triumph of culture over a poor soil. 



The City of Boston — Among her varieties of fruits, she has two Quincys, { Quinces,) which 

 she intends to preserve — one la " granite," the other in " pure water." 



His Honor, Josiah Quincy, Jr., replied to this sentiment : — 



Mr. President, — I thank you for the compliment that is conveyed in the 

 last sentiment, so far as it refers to me. But, before replying, I should like 

 to inquire whether, in the opinion of horticulturists, a stone fruit should not 

 take precedence of a mere water plant ; for, in that case, the gentleman 

 who is to be preserved in granite, ought to reply before the one who is to 

 live in water. As, however, he has answered for me on many occasions, 

 it may be but fair that I should respond for him on the present. 



If I were inclined to cavil, I might question the existence of these two 

 new varieties of an old fruit ; or, at least, doubt whether the best mode of 

 preserving it is to put it in such a pickle as your unlooked for pun has pre- 

 pared for me. 



I am, however, sensible, that I owe the honor of the allusiou to my offi- 

 cial position as the head of a city that is distinguished, more than any other 

 in this Union, for the beauty of its environs. And the public unite with 

 me in attributing a great part of that beauty to the labors and influence of 

 this society. I will give you, as a sentiment : — 



The Environs of Boston; — Famous in history as the battle-grounds of freedom ; famous at pres- 

 ent as the abode of taste and refinement, where, as in Eden, woman watches over the flowers, 

 and man finds his most innocent employment in the culture of the soil. 



The President stated they were honored by the presence of Ex-Governor 

 Seward, from the state of New York, and proposed a sentiment : — 



The Empire State: — Favored by nature, but 7nore favored hy the energy, intelligence, and 

 enterprise of her citizens. 



Ex-Governor Seward responded to this sentiment : — 



Mr. President: There has been a felicity in my life, which assigned to 

 me the duty of personating New York at every renewal of her fraterniza- 

 tion with Massachusetts. I joined hands with her chief magistrate, in the 

 valley of the Connecticut, when we riveted the iron bands that bind the 

 banks of the Hudson to the shores of Massachusetts Bay. I brought in my 

 hand the cypress wreath which New York sent to grace the tomb of the 

 statesman of Massachusetts, who sleeps beside his horored sire at Quincy. 

 There may have been a fitness in my part, on these occasions, but I feel 

 that there is none now. 



