ON FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 85 



and however much younger cultivators may avail them- 

 selves of the labors of their seniors, they will find ample 

 room for their efforts and need have no fears that the 

 field has been ploughed and tilled until it has become 

 exhausted. The general cullivat on of fine fruit (and let 

 us remember that it costs no more to raise the finest 

 than the poorest,) tends to place an healthful and inno- 

 cent luxury within reach of all, and also to add, with 

 but little additional labor, much to the profits of the 

 farm. 



The cultivation of beautiful flowers serves to adorn 

 our homes with the gayest and richest ornaments, and 

 by making them more pleasant and attractive, renders 

 those homes still dearer and more sacred to us, and the 

 Committee cannot help feeling and expressing a regret 

 that the cultivators of flowers have not presented more 

 specimens upon the tables at our piescnt exhibition. 



The pursuits of Agriculture and Horticulture seem 

 natural to man, and for most possess an almost irresist- 

 ible attraction. The professional man and the merchant, 

 after the first excitements of business and of the crowd- 

 ed mart have passed away, looks forward with longing 

 to the time when he can retire to his farm — the warrior 

 with joy beats his spear into a pruning-hook, and the 

 statesman seeks in his fields and garden a relief from the 

 toils and cares of empire. To show us that these pur- 

 suits are honorable and praiseworthy we have the exam- 

 ples in all times of the wisest and greatest. We read 

 in Holy writ of the greatest of kings and wisest of men, 

 to whose wisdom the Queen of the South bore testimony, 

 and of whom " all the kings of the earth sought his pres- 

 ence to hear his wisdom, and he spake of trees from the 

 cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that 

 springeth out of the wall." And in our days, also, of him 

 to whose genius the world is indebted for so much of 

 amusement and instruction, — but alas ! whose mighty 

 intellect at last yielded to too severe and too long 

 protracted mental efforts, — it is said that he delighted 

 to exchange the pen for the spade and the pruning- 

 hatchet ; and for himself, the delight and ornament of 



