296 NORFOLK SOCIETY. 



Fruits and Flowers. 



The committee cannot refrain from expressing their approba- 

 tion, of the manner in which the horticultural products were 

 arranged, and to acknowledge how much the society is indebt- 

 ed, for success in this department, to the ladies, for their contri- 

 butions of the beautiful gems of nature, and their untiring ef- 

 forts to place them in such a position as to command attention. 



They would also solicit the attention of the society to the 

 Diana grape, raised from seed, and presented by Mrs. Diana 

 Crehore, of Milton. This variety, in the opinion of the com- 

 mittee, will be found equal, if not superior, to any native grape 

 in this country. 



The committee would further state, that much, very much, 

 remains to be done, in this department. The beautiful must 

 be blended with the useful, the elegant with the profitable. 

 The time will come, — it must come, — when the question, now 

 so often asked. What is the use of flowers ? shall be exchanged, 

 and the interrogation will be in the language of another. Who 

 would wish to live without flowers ? Where would the poet fly 

 for his images of beauty, if they were to perish forever ? Are 

 they not the emblems of loveliness and innocence ? — the living 

 types of all that is pleasing and graceful ? We compare young 

 lips to the rose, and the white brow to the radiant lily ; the 

 winning eye gathers its glow from the violet, and the sweet 

 voice is like a breeze kissing its way through the flowers. We 

 hang delicate blossoms on the silken ringlets of the young 

 bride, and strew her path with fragrant bells, when she leaves 

 the church. We place them around the marble of the dead, 

 in the narrow coffin, and they become symbols of our aff"ec- 

 tions ; of pleasures remembered, and hopes faded ; of wishes 

 flown, and scenes cherished the more, that they can never 

 return. Still, we look to the far off" spring, in other valleys, — 

 to the eternal summer beyond the grave, — where the flowers 

 which have faded shall again bloom in starry fields, where no 

 rude winter can intrude. They come upon us in spring, like 

 the recollections of a dream, which hovered above us in sleep, 

 peopled with shadowy beauties and purple delights, fancy- 



