Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 79 



The period of time that has elapsed since the formation of this society, 

 has been marked by ^eater changes, has witnessed more discoveries and 

 the introduction of more improvements in all those arts that relate more 

 particularly to the advancement, the enjoyments and the comforts of life, 

 than probably any period of like duration in human existence. That the 

 art to which this Society is dedicated has not escaped the influence of these 

 changes, discoveries, and improvements, is evidenced by a more cultivated 

 taste for it, by its practice upon more scientific principles, by the introduc- 

 tion into that practice of labor-saving improvements — by a better general 

 mode of cultivation — by the application to the soil of new agents of fertility, 

 and by the introduction and production of a vast variety of new fruits and 

 flowers. In bringing about such results, by the zeal and spirit of generous 

 emulation that has been excited among its members, by the facilities it has 

 afforded for disseminating knowledge to the various discoveries and im- 

 provements alluded to, and by the means that it has provided for procuring 

 the new and varied productions, not of our own country only, but of Europe, 

 and indeed of the whole world, this Society has been by no means an ineffi- 

 cient agent. 



But, gentlemen, you should remember, that though perhaps something has 

 been done towards carrying out the objects for which your society was in- 

 stituted, that you have as much as ever, yet to do ; that here, as in most 

 cases, a movement in advance is but a step in a progress that is, as it were, 

 never ending ; that the end to be always aimed at if never reached, perfec- 

 tion, is ever unattained, perhaps ever unattainable. 



Horticulture, an art relating more particularly to the comforts and enjoy- 

 ment — perhaps, too, to the refinements and luxuries — of life, must, when 

 compared with its sister art. Agriculture, essential almost to our very exist- 

 ence, sink in importance ; but though of less importance than Agriculture, 

 Horticulture can hardly be considered of a secondary consequence to any 

 art, that concerns the enjoyments and pleasure of life — satisfying, as it does, 

 at once our sense of the beautiful, both in nature and art, the first as exhib- 

 ited not in the grand and sublime alone, but in the tamer beauties of the 

 domestic scene — alike as in the exotics of the greenhouse and gaudy orna- 

 ments of the parterre, in the humble flowers of the forest and the field — 

 and the last in the application to the improvement of the landscape, of the 

 creation of a refined taste, guided by an artistic skill — and at the same 

 time ministering to a gratification, if sensual in its character, innocent, 

 healthful, and not wholly unrefined. Upon the members of a Society de- 

 voted to an art so important and useful as this, for what concerns the inno- 

 cent and harmless pleasures of life cannot be deemed useless or unimpor- 

 tant — it is incumbent to expect all their energies to carry out, so far as 

 they can be carried out, the designs of its founders, by its institution. 



The recommendation of measures for administering the affairs of the So- 

 ciety, different from those heretofore pursued, is not now felt by me to be 

 necessary. Should occasion for such hereafter arise, I shall avail myself of 

 opportunities that will be afforded me to submit to your consideration what 

 may seem to me necessary and proper. I cannot, however, refrain from ad- 



