But what amusements should be recommended, or 

 tolerated, is a question on which there is far less 

 unanimity of sentiment. In this country, there is, I 

 believe, both a small amount and a smaller variety of 

 relaxation, than in most others. We are, at least in 

 New-England, emphatically, a grave people. The 

 simple manners and rigid morals which have de- 

 scended to us from our puritan ancestors, our rigor- 

 ous climate and stubborn soil, the equal distribution 

 of property by descent and its necessary consequence, 

 the small number of men of wealth and leisure, 

 have rendered us, though certainly not a gloomy, yet 

 a serious and practical community. Many amuse- 

 ments, which have prevailed in other countries, never 

 have, and we trust never will take root in our land. 

 Of those which are fashionable among us, there are 

 several, which are denounced, either as deleterious, or 

 at least perilous to our morals, by a large and respect- 

 able portion of our population. This is not the oc- 

 casion to inquire how far such sentiments are correct. 

 It is more to my purpose to observe, that there is, I 

 will not say, no ground, but no pretext, for such ob- 

 jections against the pursuit of Horticulture. He must 

 be a stern and astute casuist indeed, who can detect 

 any thing in this occupation, tending to inflame, to 

 debase, or to enfeeble the mind. You are well 

 aware, on the contrary, that a garden has been 

 selected by all poets of all nations, as the abode of 

 the virtuous in a future state ; that Horticulture has 

 often been recommended by the strictest moralists, 

 not only as a soothing, but as a most refining occu- 

 pation ; and that the wonders of creative power, with 



