98 



NEV, ENGLAND FARMER 



SEPT. 28, 1848. 



had been prepared in honor of a di-stin^nished indi- 

 vidual, a member of tho Society, wbn feels a deep 

 interest in agricultural and horticultural pursuits, 

 but who from the inclement slate of the weather, 

 was prevented from being present: 



Daniel Webster — His laurels are not linffed with 

 blood: the FtJie entwines the pillar of his fame; 

 the Myrtle springs up in the tr:ick of his footsteps. 

 and his country delights to repose under the shade 

 of the OHvt he has planted. 



Long and loud applause succeeded this sentiment. 



The Mayor of Boston — Worthy to represent a 

 city renowned for public spirit, intelligence, and 

 patriotism. 



His honor, the Mayor, responded in his usual fe- 

 licitous style — expressing his admiration of the 

 scene, and in allusion to the presence of ladles, 

 spoke in a beautiful strain of the elevating influ- 

 ence of Christianity and civilization upon man and 

 woman. He gave as a sentiment, 



The Modern Garden of Eden — Where woman 

 shall still be a match for a man, and more than a 

 match for any serpent. 



The President then gave : 



Harvard University — A fountain opened by the 

 pilgrims : many have drawn of its waters, and thou- 

 sands are now dispensing them for the refreshment 

 of the souls that thirst after knowledge. 



President Quincy, in reply, said, that a response 

 to a sentiment on such an occasion as this, was 

 from liim scarcely to be expected ; that he came to 

 enjoy and not to display ; that the feelings excited 

 by this rich and beautiful exhibition of fruit and 

 flowers, were of a nature not perceptible of descrip- 

 tion. To attempt it would be obnoxious to a like 

 censure with that which the great English poet be- 

 stows on the attempt to paint the lily, or to add 

 another perfume to the violet, of" wasteful and ri- 

 diculous excess." 



It was impossible that the scene before us should 

 not awaken in his mind reminiscences of times long 

 gone by, "hen the improvements these fruits and 

 flowers indicate, were unknown, and to the degree 

 here realized, unanticipated. He had been for at 

 least fifty years, an interested observer of the culti- 

 vation of the soil in this vicinity, and for several 

 years actively engaged in it, and he could not re- 

 frain, on this occasion, from perceiving and ac- 

 hnowledging the striking and beneficial progress of 

 the art. 



It was in the year 1792 that the first attempt 

 was made in this city anu vicinity to aid and en- 

 courage the cultivation of tlie snil, through the 

 agency of an incorporated society. At that time, 

 some of the greatest men of their age formed and 

 obtained an incorporation of the Massachusetts Ag- 

 riculmral Society, the precursor and the parent of 

 that most successful society whose anniversary we 

 now celebrate. I need only repeat the names of 

 Lowell, Cabot, Ames, Adams, Lyman, and Strong, 

 not to mention others, to awaken in every contem- 

 porary mind, the recollection of their worth, their 

 greatness and their patriotism. 'I'hese gentlemen, 

 with their associates and successors, labored for 

 twenty years in endeavors to improve the agricul- 

 ture of the country. But do you think, Mr Presi- 

 dent, that they sought to introduce, or even indulg- 

 ed in imagination, the hope of tho glorious results 

 we at this time are v/itnessing? Did they dream 

 of raising peaches under glass, and grapes in green 

 houses, for sale in the market, or for agricultural 



profit? 'I'hey would have as soon thought of mak- 

 ing a voyage across the Atlantic, as is now d(me, 

 in twelve days, by the power of steam. How to 

 improve the tlesh and Hecces of sheep, how to 

 raise the best breed of hogs, how best to manage 

 pasture or grass lands, how to enlarge the quantity 

 and improve the quality of manures, and the like, 

 were the labor of their thoughts, and the objects to 

 which their useful and patriotic influences were di- 

 rected. As to •' Horticulture," it was a term not 

 known, practically, in their nomenclature. The 

 culture of fruit trees — peaches, apples, pears, and 

 even grapes, in the open nir, is, indeed, occasion- 

 ally mentioned in their publications. But it was 

 not, I think, until the year 181.5, that any very ac- 

 tive measures were taken to excite our farmers to 

 a scientific and systematic attention to fruits and 

 trees. The term " horticulture" was still, in a 

 manner, unknown to us, in a practical sense. Nor 

 was it until the year ]82I, that a regular and ur- 

 gent notice was taken in their publications of " the 

 .Scitnct of Horticulture." And what did they then 

 say on the subject ? Why, that in this country 

 " we are yet infants in horticultural science ;" that 

 " we have not yet brought into use all the common 

 culinary vegetables;" that "in the cultivation of 

 fruits, and in the manajrement of trees and grapes 

 we are, in point of skill, half a century behind 

 Dutch and English gardeners." 



This state of things continued, with some grad- 

 ual improvements, until 1828, when the spirited, 

 enlorprizing and patriotic gentlemen who laid the 

 foundation of this Horticultural Society, obtained 

 that charter of incorporation, under whose influen- 

 ces, and by whose example, these noble results 

 were effected, the fruits of which we now witness 

 and enjoy. 



While rejoicing in the present, it was impossi- 

 ble for tno to refrain from recollecting the past, 

 the days of humble but honorable endeavors, in the 

 same field now so happily improved. Nor could I 

 refrain from doing honor to those great men, who 

 in times less happy, prosperous and advanced, first 

 set the example of exciting and directing our far- 

 mers in the cultivation of the soil, and were the 

 remote, but among the efficient causes of the noble 

 improvements now made and advancing in both ag- 

 riculture and horticulture. 



Lord Bacon says, somewhere, that " God Al- 

 mighty first planted a garden," from whence he de- 

 duces that there is something elevated in its labors, 

 and something divine iu its creations and results. 

 He adds, that it is " the purest of all pleasures, and 

 the greatest refreshment to the spirits of man." 



Borrowing the languase of this great man, I pro- 

 pose the following sentiment : 



Horticulture — The purest of all pleasures, and 

 the greatest refreshment of tJie spirits of man. 

 The next toast was 



The Clergy — They scatter broadcast that good 

 seed, which shall bring forth thirty, sixty, and an 

 hundred fold. 



Which elicited a pertinent response from the 

 Rev. Mr Winslow, who gave : 



Paradise Regained — No more in danger of be- 

 ing lost by the presence of her F.ve, since the 

 " fruit of the tree" that is " gooil for food, and plea- 

 sant to the eyes," is no longer forbidden. 



Several of the clergy being present, the Presi- 

 dent remarked that he should be pleased to receive 

 sentiments from them. 



The name of the Rev. Mr Pierpont resounded 



from various parts of the hall, and he rose, an 

 afti.T making a few pertinent remarks, gave 



The Gardener — The co-worker with the Croa 

 tor of all that is beautiful and good. 



By Rev. Mr Croswell. The Waters of Massa 

 chiisetts: 



" Though with thosfi streams they no rfisimblance hold 

 WhosR foani is amber, and whose gravel pold, 

 Wonldsl thou llieir genuine, guihiess worlli explore, 

 Search not their bottom, but survey their shore." 



The next sentiment was : 



Louisiana — Her sons knaw how to defend, a: 

 well as cultivate her soil. Her products havi 

 proved her bulwarks, as they have her support. 



The Hon. .Mr Conrad, U.S. Senator from Louisi 

 ana, responded in some remarks eulogistic of thi 

 show, and gave : 



The State of IMassachusctts — Always the first it 

 the arts of peace, and never behind any in war. 



'J'he next sentiment from the Chair was : 



Flora and Ponuma — To spread our tables thii 

 day, these tutelar guardians have emptied thei 

 " Horns of Plenty." " In gratelul numbers le 

 their names be sung." 



To which succeeded an original song, writter 

 for the occasion, by Thomas Power, Esq., and sung, 

 by Mrs Andrews. 



Then succeeded the following sentiments : 



Queen Victoria and Brother Jonathan — The) 

 each have large families, and land enough for nl 

 practical purposes. The Fence Viewers having 

 adjudicated on the lines of division and made law- 

 ful record of the same, may they live in harmony 

 till their leases expire. 



Maine and Massachusetts — Sister States, whose 

 valuable interests in the Disputed Boundary have 

 been so happily secured by their intelligent com 

 missioners. 



To which the Hon. Abbott Lawrence, a membei 

 of the Society, and one of the Commissioners foi 

 settling the Boundary question, replied. He offer- 

 ed the following sentiment: 



Rural Economy — May the people of the United 

 States become as distinguished for its cultivation 

 and advancement, as they have been for the estab. 

 lishment of civil and religious liberty. 



The next toast was : 



Railroads — Modern sources of travel which les- 

 sen space, annihilate time, and develop the wealth' 

 of nations. 



This sentiment called up the Hon. Josiah Quin- 

 cy, Jr., who made some very appropriate and beau- 

 tiful remarks, in relation to the festival. Mr Quin- 

 cy stated that this was not tho first dinner party at 

 which the ladies were present, and he would pro- 

 ceed to show that an entertainment of this kind 

 was one of the oldest on record ; that instead of be- 

 ing of a novel character, it could claim the high- 

 est antiquity. To establish this point, he read ex- 

 tracts from the report of that dinner, as given by 

 John Milton, which proved that the ornaments of 

 the hall, the fare upon the table, the after dinner 

 speeches, and above all, the presence of the other 

 sex, were precisely the same at the last as they 

 had been at the first dinner party. Ho concluded 

 with the following sentiment: 



The first and last dinner party — Fruits and flow- 

 ers, graced by the presence of the fair. At such 

 an entertainment, well might an ang"l exc!,"' a: 



