Pennsylvania Horticultural Society. 71 



tance to all horticultural societies, we have copied it entire, and ask for it 

 an attentive perusal. — Ed.'] 



" The committee on new plants, flowers, fruits and vegetables, present 

 to the society their annual report. 



By their reports, from time to time, made at the Society's monthly meet- 

 ings, it has appeared, since their appointment in February last, that the 

 following specimens have been exhibited to the committee ; some in com- 

 petition for premiums to be awarded, and some not ; several of them corn- 

 ing clearly within the rules for competitors established by the committee, 

 some not so clearly, and one at least very clearly excluded. 



Robert Buisl has exhibited several seedling Cinerarias, seedling Aza- 

 leas, a seedling Camellia, a new species of Lilium from Japan, a species 

 of Gladiolus, tlie Eclatante frappante of the Dutch gardeners, and a new 

 variety of grape, the Muscat blanc hatif, intermediate between the mus- 

 cat and tlie sweet-water. 



Peter Mackenzie has exhibited several seedling Azaleas, and two spec- 

 imens of Rosa Devoniensis. He also exhibited some Gesnerias, but 

 without any written statement concerning tliem. 



William Chalmers, Jr., has exhibited a seedling Cereus, a new variety 

 from the seed of the Cereus Jenkinsoni, impregnated with the pollen of 

 tlie Cereus speciosissimus. 



John Sherwood has exhibited a specimen of the Doryanthes excelsa, 

 which is the plant referred to as being clearly excluded by tlie rules of 

 the committee. 



Although the number of specimens thus exhibited has not been as 

 great, nor, with one or two exceptions, as remarkable for beauty as the 

 committee hope will hereafter be shown, tliey are by no means discour- 

 aged, by this the first year's trial of the plan. 



The committee entertain a thorough conviction, that if it is intended to 

 perpetuate this society, it must be borne in mind that the great security 

 for this is the continuing respect of men of science, which is to be obtain- 

 ed only by the society's so distributing its honors and rewards as to stim- 

 ulate its members to regular and constant advances in the science of hor- 

 ticulture, in its largest sense. 



It is not meant to undervalue the advantages, in such a community as 

 ours, of a rich display of beautiful flowers, though of common or well- 

 known kinds ; or of the fruits of the orchard, the peach, pear, plum and 

 apple, in which our country abounds ; or of the products of the kitchen- 

 garden, always a prominent attraction to those who think that utility is a 

 necessary characteristic of beauty. No horticultural society can think of 

 neglecting tliese, nor can they be neglected, in a Avorld where every body 

 has an eye or a palate to be gratified, and to seek for gratification. But 

 the meaning of the committee is this : that a society which does not carry 

 its views, and cany them with ardor, beyond displays of this kind, must 

 expect sooner or later to decline and become extinct. 



It will do so under the influence of two well-known principles of our 

 nature — the one, perhaps, an evidence of infinnity — that tilings common, 

 however excellent, are at last regarded with indifference ; and the other, 

 very far from being an infirmity, the constant reaching forward of our 

 mind:^ from what we know to what is unknown to us. Variety is neces- 

 sary, even to the eyes and palates that seem to be, in no considerable de- 

 gree, under the direction of the mind ; and increasing knowledge is a ne- 



