Addresx delivered before the Fruit Grovm-x' Society. 303 



sion of the kind. These disasters often prevail at certain periods, and with pr- 

 ticular kinds at a time ; but they nearly always become greatly shorn of their 

 magnitnde under good management, and most of them, after running their 

 course, disappear from oiu" orchards and gardens. I have no question that the 

 benignant promise, that while the world remains, seed time and harvest shall not 

 cease, applies as well to our fruit crops as to the other productions of the earth ; 

 and that the enemies and difficulties we encounter, are not intended to check our en- 

 deavors, but to incite us to increased diligence, and like all other difficulties and 

 calamities of life, to develope our energies in a manner that would never be 

 accomplished in a life of indolence or of sailing only down the current of a 

 smooth stream. 



The future destiny, therefore, of fruit culture is that of improvement and in- 

 crease. The improvement will consist in t"je origin, introduction and dissemina- 

 tion of better varieties and their better cultivation ; the increase, in the propaga- 

 tion in our nurseries, and the planting out in orchards of those sorts most largely 

 that are calculated to fill the present deficiency which exists during a large por- 

 tion of the year, and supplying fine fi'uit at a moderate rate to the great mass of 

 our country and city population, who now obtain at best occasional supplies. 



But a most important improvement consists in the moral influence which must 

 be exerted by an increase in the attractions of home, which will always result 

 where family comforts are connected with rural culture, and where tasteful plant- 

 ing of every kind is made to add to the interest of a country or suburban resi- 

 dence. How many young men could be rescued from the gambling house and grog 

 shop, if every owner of a dwelling endeavored to increase these home attractions 

 in the place of what is now too often dull or repulsive ! How greatly augmented 

 would be the happiness of a community where, in connection with these excellent 

 influences, a disposition were cherished to discard cold and selfish feelings, and to 

 encourage the prevalence of human sympathy. How often may the possessor of 

 a fine fruit garden, find means to contribute to the happiness of those whom sick- 

 ness has stripped of physical comforts ! How frequently will the acts of such an 

 individual drop the balm of kindness into the corroding' irritation of bad nature, 

 and like the atmosphere of spring, breathe cheerfulness and sweetness around all 

 within their influence. 



May not we hope that our labors, if properly directed, will thus contribute in 

 some degree to the advancement of the substantial happiness of the human race, 

 and that one of the most valuable results of the future progress of this art will 

 be its favorable influence in the cultivation of the sympathies and amenities of 

 life. 



