'24, 



they may answer the inquiry. Let us emulate their zeal ; and 

 let us not value at a lower estimate than others, those rare gifts 

 which the great God of nature hath put into our hands. Let 

 us co-operate in the attainment of our interesting purpose ; let 

 us tie together our rods in the manner of the Roman/asces, and 

 this union cannot fail to give us permanence and power. 



Replenished with indigenous attractions, our proposed gar- 

 den will be esteemed abroad " a garden of delights." The hand 

 of many a distinguished foreigner will soon beckon for an inter- 

 change of precious plants ; and by the winds, that swell the sails 

 of our commerce, will be wafted to us the best offerings of the 

 remotest realms. We may even rival in celebrity the paradises 

 at Copenhagen, Kew and Malmaison ; at Schonbrun and Ber- 

 lin. Let us then appreciate our natural inheritance. It is our 

 bald-eagle, that in full view of Niagara's sublimity, soars beyond 

 the flight of his companions, 







" sailing with supreme dominion, 



" Through the azure deep of air." 



i :vi 

 The forest hears the minstrelsey of the whole feathered throng, 



in the delightful musick of a bird,* that in its native beauty and 

 perfection is our own. And, as the youthful Otaheitan, who 

 " sprang forward at the unexpected sight of a banana tree, in 

 the Jardin des Plantes, and embraced it, while his eyes were 

 bathed in tears ;"t could we, within the confines of some distant 

 land, but scent the gale that bore upon its wings the perfume of 

 our Magnolias, as we imbibed the fragrant offering, with the 



* See Wilson's glowing description of the Mocking-bird, in his Ameri- 

 can Ornithology. 



t Phillips' Syl. Flor. Vol. I. Introd. 



