63 



The bee loves tlie clover field (the white clover) as the hum- 

 ming bird loves the honeysuckle, and will forsake many a fruit 

 and many a flower for a sip out of the chalice of the clover. It 

 loves also the buckwheat, and when the field is fair and beautiful 

 with its blossoms, your ear may catch the constant hum of the bee 

 in drowsy sweetness, lulling the senses into quietude and peace. 

 Raise your honey where the clover and the wheat fields abound, 

 and it will have amber clearness and save your Bolmars, your 

 Gages, your Bartletts, and your patience. 



For the Committee, 



L. B. BABCOCK, Chairman. 



Dedham, October 6, 1854. 



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REPORT ON HEDGES. 



The desire to combine the pleasing with the useful, to surround 

 one's self with objects which are agreeable to the eye and gratify 

 a refined taste, naturally springs up and strengthens in the breast, 

 as man advances in intellectual culture. A perfectly plain edifice 

 may answer the bare wants of natiu'e, may keep out wind and 

 rain ; but if a little architectural beauty can be secured, or a 

 little ornament be added, without a sacrifice of convenience, 

 something is gained in point of rational enjoyment. So in the 

 disposition and management of grounds, — grace, proportion, har- 

 mony, and variety of beautiful forms, secured by the introduction 

 of clumps of well-chosen trees and shrubs, and in other ways, arc 

 deserving of attention, not only as furnishing an innocent plea- 

 sure, but as tending to refine and elevate the mind and feelings. 

 The arrangements of a farm, even, should give evidence of a 

 regard to something beyond and above the mere coarser wants of 

 existence. 



A well set and well kept hedge combines, in an eminent de- 

 gree, the two elements of utility and beauty. To an American, 

 the green hedges of old England constitute one of the most pleas- 

 ing features in the landscape of that country, so fresh and beau- 

 tiful. Your Committee rejoice to believe that there is a growing 



