386 Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



"Ladles ami gentlemen, the exhibition here to-night, altogether, is 

 the best proof that can be presented of a high state of civilization and 

 refinement, and, as a member of this Society, I confess I am proud of 

 the scene before me. It is only by comparing one period with anoth- 

 er that we mark the improvement in the production of fruits and 

 flowers. I have never any where seen an e.\hil)ition of fruits to com- 

 pare with the one just held, in richness and variety. Who would have 

 ventured but ten years since, to have predicled that, at this time, we 

 should have seen, in our good city, an exhibition like the one upon 

 which we have feasted our eyes for the last three days, and this even- 

 ing have a realizmg sense of something better than sight.'' 



"Mr. President — the cause of sound religion and pure morals ia 

 promoted by the cultivation of fruits and flowers; perhaps there is no 

 occupation that tends more to harmonize and humanize the heart of 

 man, and elevate it through nature up to Nature's God. 



"I shall say no more, but, with your leave, offer a sentiment: — 



Eural Ecnnomy. — May the people of the United States become as distin- 

 guished for lis cultivatioD and advancement, as they have been for the es- 

 tablishment of civil and religious liberty. 



The next toast was — 



Roil-roads. — Modern sources of travel, which lessen space— annihilate time 

 — and develop the wealth of nations. 



This sentiment called up the Hon. Josiah Quincy, Jr., who made 

 some very apposite and beautiful remarks in relation to the festival. 

 Mr. Quincy stated that this was not the first dinner party at which 

 the ladies were present, and he would proceed to show that an en- 

 tertainment of this kind was one of the oldest on record. To do this, 

 he read extracts from Milton, which proved that the ornaments of the 

 hall, the fare upon the table, the after dinner speeches, and, above 

 all, the presence of the other sex, were precisely the same at the last 

 as they had been at the first dinner party. He concluded with the 

 following sentiment: — 



The first and the last Dinner Party. — Fruits and flowers, graced by the pres- 

 ence of the fair. At such an entertainment, well might an angel exclaim — 

 "Though in heaven the trees 

 Of life, ambrosial fruitage bear, and vines 

 Yield neclar; though from olf the boughs, each morn 

 We brush inellifluous dews; yet Ood hath here 

 Varied his bounty so with new delights. 

 As may compare with Heaven." 



The next sentiment from the Chair was — 



Our Young Men. — " Just as the twig is bent the tree's inclined." 



"If prone to earth, the infant stall? we train. 

 Nor height, nor glory, will it ere attain; 

 But if its tender years erect we guide, 

 'Twill be the Gardener's or the Forest's pride." 



Horace Mann, Esq., the Secretary of the Board of Education, ad- 

 dressed the Chair, and we regret we can only give a part of his re- 

 marks. 



"Mr. President, the venerable gentleman at your left has told us, 

 that twenty years ago, when the first attempts were made in this vi- 

 cinity for horticultural improvement, there were but four or five kinds 

 of cherries, about as many of pears, and so of other fruits — and he 

 has contrasted the poverty of the orchards and the gardens at that 



