192 Address delivered before the 



Weston's address before the Massachusetts Horticuhural Society, 

 on its eighth anniversary. This gentleman has happily alluded to 

 the importance of horticultural pursuits, independent of their 

 claim as a means of innocent amusement. He conceives that 

 the generous spirit manifested in the weekly exhibitions before 

 alluded to, has had a good moral effect, not only on those who 

 contribute, but upon those who frequent them as casual specta- 

 tors; that such should be patronized for their intrinsic merits, as 

 affording equally the man of business and of leisure a source of 

 improvement and pleasure; that upon the public mind they are 

 capable of exercising a similar influence as a gallery of paintings 

 or statuary. 



Digressing from the usual track of these addresses, necessari- 

 ly confined in their character to the peculiar bearings which the 

 subject holds with the pursuits of their several authors; and pro- 

 fessing neither an extensive practical or theoretical knowledge, 

 yet deeply interested in the good and beautiful of this department 

 of science, Mr. Weston has contrived to introduce to our notice 

 some of the more remarkable facts and discoveries in vegetable 

 physiology which have distinguished the present age. Claiming 

 no originality of his own, he has conferred no small benefit, in 

 the dissemination of correct principles of others, by giving to an 

 extended circle of readers a condensed and clear exposition of 

 what might have been otherwise difficult to obtain. This modest 

 eulogium on the distinguished services of Sir Joseph Banks, Mr. 

 Knight, and lastly, the venerable Van Mons, was peculiarly an 

 appropriate subject for such an occasion, and before such a Soci- 

 ety. We consider it a happy effort to introduce to the notice of 

 its members and of the public, and to interest them in behalf of 

 science, some of the most curious and attractive subjects con- 

 nected with horticultural pursuits. 



In the address, reference is made to the efforts of Mr. Knight 

 in producing new fruits by cross impregnation. " This method," 

 observes ]Mr. Weston, " is complicated, and he never appears 

 to have carried the experiment to much length, and it is also a 

 method somewhat uncertain." In the succeeding remarks, he 

 shows, from the direct testimony of Sir Joseph Banks, and the 

 universal testimony of experience, that the best fruits have been 

 raised from seed carefully selected. This fact serves as an intro- 

 duction to his exposition of the beautiful experiments of Van 

 Mons, instituted on the very same principle; which experiments, 

 continued for nearly half a century, under almost every possible 

 discouragement, have conferred an immense benefit to this coun-^ 

 try and to Europe, in the origin and increase of the finest fruits. 



We have thus introduced this sketch of the address, because 

 we fear the language above quoted has been misunderstood. la 

 justice to the writer, we add our own conviction of the perfect 



