llU TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 



richer profusion along the waysides of life ; to improve their quality, and 

 coloring, and fragrance, wherever it was possible to do so ; this, the great 

 poet of Nature would have been the last person to call wasteful. Its util- 

 ity would only be questioned by those, who counted it useless, to extend 

 the range of innocent recreation and virtuous enjoyment ; unless to 

 brighten and strengthen the chain of sympathy which binds man to man ; 

 or unless to excite a fresher or more frequent glow of grateful admiration 

 in the human breast, towards the Giver of all good ! No one could take 

 an afternoon's ride along any part of our environs, and witness the beau- 

 tiful lawns and flower gardens which encircle, as with emeralds and rubies, 

 the neck of our beloved city, without feeling that he was inhaling some- 

 thing better than mere fresh air and fragrant perfume, and physical health ; 

 nor without mingling, with other and holier feelings, a tribute of gratitude 

 to the skilful cultivators by whom these improvements had been carried on. 



]Mr. Winthrop concluded by offering the following sentiment, which he 

 trusted the late Minister to the Celestial Empire, at his elbow, would not 

 construe into any depreciation of his successful services : — 



Horticulture, — It has done what diplomatic negotiation and desperate 

 valor have attempted in vain j it has penetrated to the very heart of the Cen- 

 tral Flowery Kingdom, and brought avvaj^ its richest spoils. (Great applause.) 



The President then gave, — 



The Central Flowery Nation of China, — We welcome the man who 

 has united by closer ties the gardens of the East and the gardens of the West. 



The Hon. Caleb Gushing replied as follows : — 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — I pray you to accept my most 

 hearty acknowledgments for the favor and indulgence with which you 

 have given and received the sentiment just announced, still more for the 

 privilege I have enjoyed of witnessing your beautiful exhibition, and above 

 all, for the opportunity you have afforded me of being present at this in- 

 tellectual feast, and of joining with you in your cordial and affectionate 

 welcome of our eminent countryman and your fellow townsman, — to whom 

 allow me to embrace this opportunity, the first that has offered, of tender- 

 ing my warmest thanks for important and even indispensable services, 

 which, in the midst of his own important and almost overwhelming ofiicial 

 duties, he found time to extend to me at the antipodes. 



I am also, Mr. President, most thankful for the opportunity of gazing on 

 a spectacle like this, on the delicate and beautiful fruits and flowers before 

 us, and on their introduction on an occasion like this. All our associations 

 of beauty and taste are blended with flowers. They are our earliest tokens 

 of afi'ection and regard. They adorn the bridal brow at the wedding, they 

 are woven in garlands around the head of the conqueror, they are strewn 

 on the coffins of the dead. And here is another of their most grateful and 

 beautiful uses, — ornamenting the table at a festival, enlivening the scene 

 and enchanting the eye. 



