118 



Address of Dr. William Darlington, 6fC. 



Vol. XL 



unringed swine are either wallowing in the 

 drain of the kitchen, or wantonly rooting up 

 the footway at the very entrance to his 

 domicil ! 



How repugnant is such a scene to every 

 idea of refinement and comfort ! How of- 

 fensive to every corporeal sense — as well as 

 to every sense of moral fitness and proprie- 

 ty! What can be expected from a family, 

 raised under circumstances so unpropitious 

 to the formation of a correct taste, or the 

 cultivation of the finer feelings'? The chil- 

 dren so brought up, may, indeed, be fitted to 

 migrate from such a home, and be prepared 

 to exchange it, without regret, for the rude 

 accommodations of our wild frontiers: but 

 they can have no conception of the senti- 

 ments inspired by lovely scenery around the 

 paternal mansion. They can know nothing 

 of the charms and abiding moral influences 

 of a pleasant homestead upon the suscepti- 

 ble minds of the young. Their early years 

 being thus destitute, they will necessarily 

 be strangers to those precious associations, 

 by which memory renews the delights of a 

 happy childhood, and links the dreamy en- 

 joyments of youth with the sober realities 

 of after life. But, at the present day, there 

 is really no excuse for any such culpable 

 improvidence — such boorish negligence of 

 all that can adorn a country residence, or 

 afford the comforts of a rural home. 



There is no necessity in this climate and 

 country, for any family to be destitute of the 

 luxuries derived from the garden and the 

 orchard ; and consequently no apology can 

 be offered for those sluggards, who neglect 

 to plant for themselves — and yet, in the sea- 

 son of fruits, have the assurance recklessly 

 to trespass upon their more provident neigh- 

 bours. Such persons do not merely violate 

 good manners by their rudeness ; they train 

 up those about them with exceedingly loose 

 notions of moral honesty. It is high time 

 there was a reformation wrought among 

 such people; and I firmly believe there can 

 be no agency devised so efficacious in pro- 

 moting that reform, as institutions of the 

 kind which I have now the honour to ad- 

 dress. They propose, by a general co-ope- 

 ration, to make the culture of vegetable 

 delicacies so universal and so productive, 

 that there shall be neither pretext nor mo- 

 tive for the plundering of orchards and gar- 

 dens. They demonstrate the practicability 

 of their generous purpose, by the most en- 

 couraging examples; and good examples, 

 happily, are sometimes contagious, as well 

 as those which are evil. We may, there- 

 fore, reasonably hope to see a decisive move- 

 ment among our people in reference to gar- 



dening and the cultivation of choice fruit. 

 I hold that every farmer, great and small, 

 every occupant of soil, whether he reckon 

 by acres or by perches, is bound to plant and 

 provide the products of the orchard and gar- 

 den, in justice to his neighbours, as well as 

 to his own family: and they can all perform 

 that obvious duty, if they choose. There 

 is nothing wanting to efl^ect that desirable 

 object but the to ill ; and a correct public 

 sentiment would avail much in controlling 

 and regulating the volitions of the inconsi- 

 derate. There is scarcely a householder in 

 the community, who does not occupy a lot 

 sufficient for a garden, or who has not room 

 for a few select fruit trees. It is a mere 

 idle pretext, for any one to allege that he 

 has no space, nor leisure, for their cultiva- 

 tion. I doubt whether there be a tenement 

 in the land — there surely need not be — which 

 has not ground enough annexed to admit, for 

 example, a Peach tree, a May-duke cherry, 

 an Apricot, a Pear tree, and a Grape vine. 

 These are the fruits so universally and 

 eagerly run after in their season ; and one 

 or more of these popular favourites could 

 certainly be accommodated about the hum- 

 blest cottage in Chester county. It will 

 never do, therefore, for those who can find 

 time to rob the orchards of their neighbours, 

 to pretend that they have not leisure to plant 

 a tree or two at their own doors. Such un- 

 worthy practices and dishonest subterfuges, 

 should be promptly shamed, or frowned out 

 of existence. 



I have thought I could already perceive, 

 in our vicinity, evidences of a growing dis- 

 position to cultivate both useful and orna- 

 mental trees and shrubbery. Unquestion- 

 ably, as the exhibition before us abundantly 

 demonstrates, there has been a decided ad- 

 vance in the production of choice garden 

 vegetables, — and in the taste for cultivating 

 rare and beautiful flowers. For this improve- 

 ment, we have been chiefly indebted to the 

 labours and example of the spirited pioneers, 

 who prepared the way for the establishment 

 of this Society. These public benefactors 

 have presented us with new views of what 

 may be done for a community, by an en- 

 lightened Horticulture: and were it not for 

 the awkwardness of personal allusions, in 

 the presence of the parties, I should be 

 tempted to notice more explicitly, than I 

 shall now venture to do, the commendable 

 zeal of our worthy President — and the ex- 

 emplary efforts of a Rutter and a Rivinus 

 — a TowNSEND and a Garrett — a Hogpes, 

 a Taylor, a M'Ilvain, a Steele, a Hart- 

 man, a Strode, an Embree, and a Strom- 

 berg — with other valuable co-labourers in 



