116 



Address of Dr. William Darlington, SfC. 



Vol. XL 



degree inspired by the contemplation of its 

 charms, must be 



* * "duller than the fat weed 



* * * on Lethe wharf." 



I shall therefore venture to trespass on 

 your good nature, by submitting a few de- 

 sultory remarks which have occurred to me, 

 in reference to the objects of this Society. 



Horticulture, in the comprehensive sense 

 in which the term is now understood, is un- 

 questionably one of the most elegant and 

 refined — as it is one of the most interesting 

 — of earthly pursuits. It has for its especial 

 objects, the production of the choicest fruits 

 and vegetables — the training of the most 

 ornamental trees and shrubbery — the cul- 

 ture of the sweetest and most beautiful 

 flowers — and the arrangement of the whole 

 in accordance with the principles of a re- 

 fined, disciplined, unsophisticated taste. It 

 involves, in short, all that is connected with 

 comfort and beauty around our dwellings — 

 all that can gratify the palate, delight the 

 eye, or regale the most fastidious of the 

 8 3nses. As an enlightened Agriculture in- 

 dicates a superior stage of civilization, in 

 the march of human society — blending, as 

 it does, scientific illustration with every 

 utilitarian process, — so a perfect Horticul- 

 ture may be regarded as the crowning at- 

 tainment of an intellectual and polished 

 people. To borrow a simile from one of the 

 noblest of the arts, — the employments of 

 man in the successive stages of his ad- 

 vancement, may be compared to the princi- 

 pal orders of ancient architecture. In the 

 savage or hunter state, we find the rude un- 

 polished strength of the Tuscan order. The 

 same rude vigor, with the higher finish and 

 symmetry of the Doric, is seen in the pas- 

 toral stage. The combined strength, state- 

 liness, and graceful tournure, of the Ionic 

 order, may be considered as the type of the 

 enlightened Agricultural stage; while the 

 elegant science of Horticulture — the em- 

 ployment and the recreation of man in his 

 most elevated condition — may be regarded 

 as the finishing accomplishment of society — 

 ghe Corinthian order of human attainments 

 nd pursuits. Dedicated to the culture and 

 improvement of the choicest productions of 

 he vegetable creation, it is a pursuit which 

 ''equires the united qualifications of practi- 

 cal dexterity and scientific skill — with a 

 correct perception of the appropriate and 

 beautiful. And while it thus exacts and 

 promotes the highest mental accomplish- 

 ments, it at the same time represses the 

 more sordid or grovelling passions, and che- 

 rishes the purer aspirations of the human 

 heart. What can be more propitious to 



elevation of thought, or more congenial 

 with purity of mind — when rightly consi- 

 dered — than the varied attractions of an 

 elegant garden? It is the place of all 

 others, of a temporal character, best fitted 

 to refine the feelings and sublimate the 

 affections. A garden was the spot selected 

 by Divine Wisdom as the appropriate resi- 

 dence of man, while in the state of primeval 

 innocence : and if ever, on this earth, man 

 should so far improve as to qualify himself 

 for a Paradise regained, we may fairly infer 

 that the scene of his terrestrial bliss will 

 again be a perfect and beautiful garden. 



That the habitual association with inte- 

 resting plants and flowers exerts a salutary 

 influence on the human character, is a truth 

 universally felt and understood. No one 

 ever dreams of any possibility of mistake, 

 in estimating the disposition of those who 

 delight in gardens, rural walks and arbours, 

 and the culture of elegant shade trees and 

 shrubbery. Who ever anticipated boorish 

 rudeness, or met with incivility, among the 

 enthusiastic votaries of Flora? Was it 

 ever known, that a rural residence, taste- 

 fully planned and appropriately adorned 

 with floral beauties, was not the abode of 

 refinement and intelligence'? Even the 

 scanty display of blossoms in a window — or 

 the careful training of a honey suckle round 

 a cottage door — is an unmistakeable evi- 

 dence of gentle spirits and an improved 

 humanity within. There may, possibly, be 

 natures so gross, as to be incapable of per- 

 ceiving the beauties of the vegetable crea- 

 tion, and altogether inaccessible to the influ- 

 ences of genuine taste, — as it is said, there 

 are persons insensible to the charms of the 

 sweetest music. But I can only imagine 

 the existence of such unfinished specimens 

 of our kind, as the rare exceptions, which 

 logicians say are the strongest proofs of the 

 general rule. They must, indeed, be the 

 veriest clods that ever fell, untempered, 

 from auld Nature^s ^prentice han*. Shaks- 

 peare, as you know, tells us — 



"The man that hath no music in himself. 



Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds. 



Is fit for treasons, stratagems and spoils." 



Now, if such be the character of the man 

 who is so unfortunate in relation to the plea- 

 sures of a single sense, what shall w'e say 

 of him who cannot appreciate the delights 

 of a rich and beauteous garden? delights 

 which appeal so directly to each of the 

 senses — and minister so exquisitely to all 

 the Jive ! I should say, he was not fit even 

 for ^'■spoils,'''' — which, I believe, is the low- 

 est qualification recognized at the present 



