316 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I will close, in the language of another: " Horticulture, the 

 study of the Book of Nature, makes men better, more benevolent, 

 more friendly, more honest, more industrious and frugal, and 

 happier, than devotion to the subtleties of trade, the wily and 

 crafty intrigues of politicians, or the gambling calculations of the 

 speculator. A close intercourse with fieUl, forest, and garden in 

 boyhood and youth lays the foundation for a better character and 

 for nobler aspirations in approaching manhood : and, as one com- 

 munes with Nature in old age, the language of his heart will be, 



' Nearer, my God, to Thee, 

 Nearer to Thee."' 



