122 TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 



say, that although he was not much accustomed to cultivation, as all his 

 digging had been upon a plate of metal from three inches to three feet 

 square, he had never raised a crop that satisfied his ideas. He congratu- 

 lated them that they appeared destined to awake, in the minds of those 

 around them, the sentiment of the beautiful, that seemed to have been im- 

 planted by the Creator in the human breast as the great secret of happi- 

 ness. He remembered that in the days of his youth the farmers had a 

 distaste for ornament, and thought that a flower garden was not in place 

 on a farm. But the girls always insisted on a place for their posies. He 

 would not say for the world that they would have their own may, but they 

 did get their gardens ! and they had Sweet "Williams in them and violets, 

 and forget-me-nots, and bachelors' buttons, and cupid's delights, showing 

 the delicacy and refinement of the female taste. Apple orchards were fre- 

 quent, for farmers would have their cider in those days ; but he well re- 

 membered the first cherries that he saw, — except the common red cherry 

 of the country, — and that was when he was nine years old, forty years 

 ago, and a great rarity they were. Mr. Smith closed with the following 

 sentiment : — 



The Sentiment of Beauty, Moral, Physical, and Intellectual, — Im- 

 planted by the Creator in the human mind. It is our duty, as well as our 

 privilege, to cultivate and improve it. 



Mr. W. R. Prince, delegate of the Queen's County Horticultural Society, 

 sent to the Chair the following sentiment : — 



The Flowers of Rhetoric and of the Floral Domain, — Entwined in 

 perfect union : the one adds permanence, and the other imparts beauty to 

 this glorious fabric of freedom. 



Mr. Prince, of Flushing, L. I., made some remarks upon the difference 

 of floriculture in the two hemispheres, and the improvement universally 

 made in those from the east, by transplanting them to the west. The prin- 

 ciple held in the animal, as well as the vegetable kingdoms ; and we ought 

 to remember that the Saxon race was only here in a state of progress, and 

 was destined to spread the blessings of civilization and her institutions 

 over this whole wide-spread country. He closed with some remarks upon 

 the beneficial effects of horticulture, both physically and morally. 



Dr. R. T. Underhill, of New York, then gave, — 



The people of New England prove their title good as the lineal descend- 

 ants of the Pilgrim Fathers, by their energy in subjugating an ungenial 

 soil to all the useful purposes of life, their love of liberty, and by the tem- 

 ples of their mechanical genius. 



Hon. S. Fairbanks gave, — 



Agriculture, Cojlmerce, and the Arts, — Whilst they are the best 

 means and marks of civilization, they give to polished society its wealth, 

 conveniences, respectability, and defence. May the American people be 



