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in the brief space of time you have allowed me, to extend 

 a few introductory remarks into an address. It would be 

 pleasant to trace back the progress of the art to the time 

 of the Grecians, and to speak of the gardens of that period ; 

 of that of Alcinous, described by Homer with all the bril- 

 liancy of his fertile imagination, illustrating the simple 

 state of horticulture of the time : 



" Four acres was the allotted space of ground, 

 Fenced with a green inclosure all around : 

 Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mould, 

 The reddening apple ripens into gold. 

 Here the blue fig with luscious juice o'erflows ; 

 With deeper red the full pomegranate glows ; 

 The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear, 

 And verdant olives flourish round the year ; 

 Beds of all various kinds, forever green. 

 In beauteous order terminate the scene." 



Or of the Villa Laurentina of Pliny, the most reliable 

 historian of Gardening, situated on the Tiber ; the Itahan 

 Garden of Isola Bella (so recently visited and its magnifi- 

 cence even now described by one of your Vice-Presidents) ; 

 of the Imperial Gardens of St. Petersburg, or of Ver- 

 sailles, the grand conception of Le Notre, executed in all 

 the magnificence of the time of Louis XIV. I should be 

 glad also to allude to the services of the distinguished men 

 who have fostered and encouraged the art of Horticulture, 

 by their wealth, their taste, their honorable example, or by 

 their works. But beyond that of recalling their names, 

 that their memory may be ever fresh, I shall not trespass 



