DISCOURSE. 



Mr. President} 



AND Gentlemen of the 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society,— 



On this returning Annual Festival of Horticulture 

 in Massachusetts, it falls to my lot to congratulate 

 you on the progress of our favorite pursuits. I stand 

 here, then, honored by the choice of this Society for 

 that purpose, on an occasion, hailed with pleasure, 

 by every member ; and younger in years, if not alto- 

 gether in experience, than those who have preceded 

 me in the same duty. In these relations, I therefore 

 anticipate your sympathy and attention. 



The science of Horticulture is based on the knowl- 

 edge and uses of plants, as conducive to the physical 

 wants or more remote luxuries of man. It therefore 

 pre-supposes the study of those living beings, and em- 

 braces the science of Botany. The first rudiments 

 of that science may be traced to the primeval ages, 

 when the wants of men were of the most simple 

 kind, confined to mere subsistence. Amid the luxu- 

 riant productions of a tropical climate, and in the 

 comparative infancy of the world, it must have re- 

 quired little else than an almost intuitive knowledge of 

 noxious or wholesome food to supply every want. 

 Thus we read, that the progenitors of the human 



