AGRICULTURA.L MUSEU5I. 24)^ 



aid and that patr.)nai^e less necessary her*?, w!iere we 

 possess ahnost unknown regions, and relv for our 

 commercial prosperity in a or-eat measure upon tiie 

 productions of the soil. We possess a countless 

 number and viiiiety of forest trees, nutritious ro<»ts, 

 fiuits, grain, herbs and med cinal vegetables, of the 

 advantaoes and value of which we are ahnost entuely 

 ignorant. What can be more laudable, more useful, 

 or more patriotic, than the collection of them into one 

 focus, where thoy may be submitted to the test of science 

 and a knowledge obtained of their qualities, their ha- 

 bits, their eullure and th-Av value, where plants and 

 s. eds can be raised, and distributed over our country. 

 Besides a^certiiining the value of our own natural 

 riches, we should receive the useful vegetables of every 

 other region of the globe— the best mode of culture for 

 each would by fair experiment be ascertained, and our 

 farmers, planters, &c could at once cutev upon the cul- 

 ture of what ap|)eared useful and profitable, without 

 individually hazarding the expence and delay of experi- 

 ment. The seeds and plants sent from the botanic garden 

 and agricultural farm and nursery of the society could be 

 depended upon, and those disappointments which so 

 often check the spirit of improvement avoided. Our 

 fruits would soon be all of the most valuable kinds, 

 our garden vegetables good, our staple ai tides of cul- 

 ture for manufacture, for dying, for medicine or for 

 food, increased in number, and of the best kinds, whilst 

 our dwelling houses would in a few years be embosomed 

 in the most agreeable shades, and surrounded b- the 

 most elegant of the tloweiing trees, with which nature 

 has adorned the earth. 



In point of situation for this Institution, the United 

 States possesses none which can be compared to the dis- 

 trict of Columbia. In a fine climate, and on a navigaHc 

 river, which admits the reception of sea vessels of almost 

 any burthen, it can receive from all other parts of the 

 world, their choicest productionj — the United States' 



