260 



An Initiatory Discourse, delivered at Geneva, 27//i 

 JVovember, 1828, btfure an assembl;i,from WMch, 

 on thai dill/, was formed the Domestic Horticullural 

 Society of the iveslerii jiarts of the slule of J^ew 

 York. By Mtron Hoi.ley, Esq. 



friends and Felloiv Citizens : 



The impulse which has brought together, at 

 this place, so iiitelligent and respectable an assem- 

 bly, aft'orJs a happy omen for the instiiiitioii here 

 intenJeil to he formed. We are now making the 

 first attempt, in tliis ^ icinity, to associate numbers 

 in the work of informing, refining and extending 

 a ta^te for horticulture. And, while it is natural 

 for all of us who delight in the beautiful and use- 

 ful productions of the garden, and the orchard, to 

 rejoice in this public manifestation of favor for the 

 cultivation of them, it may be both agreeable and 

 appropriate to introduce the more specific business 

 of this address, by some references to the past. 



Forty years ago the country which we now oc- 

 cupy in such full and secure enjoyment, presented 

 a widely different scene. Then, the wealth of 

 nature, so profusely lavished upon this goodly re- 

 gion, lay all secluded and luivalued. In vain our 

 plains teemed with fertility, our streams ri[ipled 

 over their declivities, and our lakes stretched their 

 beautiful surfaces along the most safe and accessi- 

 ble shores. The rude and imbroken forest ; the 

 wild and lonely waters, covered and concealed 

 everything, and the whole land was shared by the 

 • deer, the bear, the wolf, and the panther, with the 

 savage man, who hunted, and fished, and fought, 

 and suffered in it, but who could not piopeily be 

 deemed either to possess, or to enjoy it. 



The Fathers of the Genessce Country are not 

 yet mentioned witli the same emphatic respect 

 which accompanies every allusion to the veneja- 

 ble pilgrims of Plymouth ; but by their high prac- 

 tical virtues, by 'heir brave enterjjrise, their under- 

 going fortitude, aiul their prevailing faith, they 

 in-oved themselves to be truly derived from tlie 

 same stock. 



Since the date of their bold advance into the 

 wilderness, we have become so familiar with new 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



March 6, 1829. 



torus of dissolution under the old confederation. 



Such wsre some of the repidsive circumstances 

 under which the small band of our adventurous 

 predecessors, in the fall of 1788, and, in this very 

 spot, first planted that broad and spreading tree of 

 life, which, by so many and such vigorous branch- 

 es, now adorns and gladdens the land. With 

 what unshrinking resolution, with what bold hope, 

 did they sustain themselves ! The character of 

 their undertaking, in their own estimate, included 

 much privation and personal hazard. These they 



met with wary prudence and manly firmness 



Continual and unmitigated labor they expected, 

 and cheerfully encountered. , They were often 

 subjected to hunger without food ; to sickness 

 without the aid of nurse or physician, and to 

 bloodshed from the savage. But they had great 

 and beneficent objects, and they succeeded. The 

 civil and social good which they intended, is made 

 certain. And though they had to struggle much, 

 and to endure much, they also enjoyed much. 



No associations among men create stronger ties 

 of friendly regard than those which necessarily 

 exist between the first adventurers into new and 

 dangerous settlements. And the sincerity and 

 constancy of this regard, in respect to real enjoy- 

 ment, often makes up, and more than makes up, 

 for all the loss of ease, and luxury, and formal 

 courtesy, which are usually found in long estab- 

 lished, populous, and wealthy conmiunities. This 

 was eminently the joy of our predecessors. But 

 this was not all their joy. Their spirits were per- 

 petually refreshed by glowing anticipations of the 

 future. They knew the importance of their exer- 

 tions. They labored, and suffered, in perfect as- 

 surance that they were laying the foundation of 

 the great blessings which we enjoy, and of yet 

 greater blessings to come. And like affectionate 

 Fathers, they rejoiced in the foreseen joy of their 

 descendants. 



And now, if in the land of their hopes,lheir trials, 

 and their toils, the most useful and creative arts 

 have set u|) their dominion, and are already ex- 



ibiting their most desirable trophies : if Agricul- 



Bettlements growing prosperously and secure, that ture has placed her axes, her ploughs, and her 

 we can hardly estimate the disregard of ease, and 

 all the soft enjoyments of life, which they must 

 necessarily have entertained. For, since that pe- 

 riod, what transformations have we witnessed ! — 

 How far beyond us the tide of cultivated popula- 

 tion has flowed ! How many new and powerfid 

 states have been founded, in place of the gloomy 

 woods, and their fierce ])Ossessors ! Then, the In- 

 dian title to our countr)' was lirst extinguished, 

 though it still remained in full and acknowlsdgeil 

 force, to an extensive territory between us and 

 the nearest limits of civilization. Then, a foreign 

 nation, recently at war with ours, was in posses- 

 sion of all the military posts within our limits, as 

 well as its own, upon our northern frontier; where 

 it kept strong garrisons, and maintained an inter- 

 course with the Indian tribes which inflamed their 

 barbarous [)ro])eiisities towards om- citizens. And 

 the Indiaus themselves, having been arrayed on 

 the side of our enemy, in the same war, and 

 having seen their crops destroyed, their orchards 

 cut down, and their dwellings given to the flames 

 by our successful soldiery, were unusually prone 

 to vengeance. Then, too, our own government was 

 notable to interpose the ample shield of its estab- 

 lished power, for the protection of the dissevered 

 settlements of hs remote interior; for it was tot- 

 tering with debility, and showed frightful symp- 



flails into the strongest hands for our advance- 

 ment, and made the fertility of our plains to fill in- 

 numerable granaries : if Manufacture, with her 

 wheels, her lathes, and her spindles, has alreatly 

 jteopled the banks of our streams, and is rapidly 

 drawing all the weight of their waters into our 

 service : if Internal Trade, with her hosts of ac- 

 tive, clear-sighted, and diligent agents, is filling our 

 lakes with her various and ingenious craft : Then, 

 while with devoted homage, and pious gratitude, 

 we ascribe the praise and glory of these results to 

 our Heavenly Father, let us also often recall, to 

 the most respectful memory, the distinguished 

 men who first opened the great theatre on which 

 they are dis])layed. 



Holding such views of the character and de- 

 serts of those who have gone before us, and de- 

 siring the continued advancement of the country 

 which they left us, so exid)erant in the bounties of 

 physical nature, and so replete with all the substan- 

 tial comforts, and many of the elegancies of life, 

 some of us have supposed that a Horticultural So- 

 ciety might 1)0 rendered one of the ineans of its 

 further improvement. And, conscious that such 

 an institution would increase our Own enjoyment 

 of one of the most appropriate and delightful of 

 human occupations, we gave the notice which has 

 been the occasion of this assembly. 



Horticulture is the most ancient of the useful 

 arts. It was tlie great employment assigned to 

 man by his omniscient Creator, before guilt had 

 invaded his heart, or sorrow had wrinkled his 

 brow. In the first freshness of the world, as it 

 was called into being, clothed with every ornament 

 of which it was susceptible, when every herb and 

 tree that grew u|)on it, every bird that flew in its 

 air, every fish that swam in its waters, and every 

 animal that walked upon its earth, was pronounced, 

 by perfect Wisdom, to be " very good," — then a 

 Carden was the crown of its attractions, and " to 

 dress it, and to keep it," was an employment wor- 

 thy of its only rational inhabitants. 



An employment suitable to the jjure enjoyments 

 of Paradise before the fall, has always been es- 

 teemed useful and desirable since. And it is prob- 

 able that Adam, after he was sent forth from the 

 garden of Eden, to till the ground, and had sought 

 to regain the favor of his Maker by re])entance 

 and submission, still cherished a fond attachment 

 to it. It is certain that a taste for it has been 

 nearly the imiform inheritance of his children. — 

 For, in every age, those nations which have been 

 most conspicuous for knowledge, and power, and 

 refinement, have been most remarkable for their 

 love of Horticulture. 



During their Egyptian bondage the Jews were 

 accustomed to an abundance of garden vegetables: 

 for, in the book of Numbers, we find them in the 

 wilderness, complaining for the want of " the cu- 

 ciunbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the 

 onions, and the garlicks," which they were ivont 

 to eat in Egypt. If the Jews, in their servitude, 

 were habituated to the enjoyment of these articles, 

 which have always been among the most prized 

 garden escidents in warm climates, we may rea- 

 sonably infer that the state of Egyptian Horticul- 

 ture was far advanced. Moses himself, in setting 

 forth the attractions of the land of Canaan, for the 

 purpose of more effectually exciting his nation to 

 obey God, represents it as producing vines, fig 

 trees, and pomegranates, jjlants of the garden ; as 

 well as wheat, barley, oil, and honey. And he 

 directs, that, when they shall have jilanted all 

 maimer of trees, for food, they shall not partake 

 of their fruits until the fifth year, the fruits of the 

 fomtli year being devoted to the Lord, and the 

 earlier fruits not being permitted to ripen ; doubt- 

 less for the benefit of the trees. 



In later times tlie Jews are represented, in the 

 scriptures, as having delighted themselves with 

 eating in gardens, under bowers and shady places. 

 And the most striking images by which they ex- 

 pressed a state of great national security and pros- 

 perity, are drawn from a garden, where every one 

 ate and drank under his own vine and fig tree, 

 with none to molest him. In the Song of Solo- 

 mon, the wisest of men is addressed as having a 

 thousand vineyards, with two himdred persons to 

 keep their fruits ; and as dwrlling in the gardens. 

 In the first book of Chronicles, those who wrought 

 fine linen, and potters employed by tife king, are 

 mentioned as having lodged in his gardens. 

 To be continued. 



Ferundity of Rats — Rats multiply so prodigious- 

 Iv, that were it not that they are universally a 

 proscribed animal, and receive quarter from nei- 

 ther man nor beast, nor even from one another, 

 it is calculated the world itself could not contain 

 them. From one pair, 1,000,000 may be pro- 

 pagated in two years. Vide Buffon, Querhoent, 

 &c. 



