Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 383 



Mr. President, I had the honor of partaking in the origin and organiza- 

 tion of this Society, and you will bear me witness that it was then a dear 

 and cherished object to me, and I may add that among those who cooper- 

 ated in that organization, no one was more assiduous or effective than that 

 great man whose departure has just been so feelingly alluded to. It has so 

 happened that since that time, the circumstances and pursuits of my life 

 have rendered it impossible for me to be present at many of your meetings, 

 yet I have seen with pleasure and delight the continued progress of the in- 

 stitution. 



Mr. President, as it has been said from the chair, and in the sentiments 

 around the table, it is our fortune in New England to live beneath a some- 

 what rugged sky, and till a somewhat hard and unyielding earth ; but some- 

 thing of hardness, of unfavorable condition and circumstances, seems neces- 

 sary to excite human genius, labor and skill, and bring forth the results 

 most useful and honorable to man. I greatly doubt whether all the luxuri- 

 ance of the tropics and all that grows under the fervid sky of the equator, 

 can equal the exhibition of flowers made to-day amid these northern lati- 

 tudes. Here, there is all the brilliancy of color and all the gorgeous dis- 

 play of tropical regions ; but there, the display is made in swamps and jun- 

 gles abounding in noxious reptiles ; it is not the result of cultivation, taste, 

 and human labor working on the capacity of Nature. 



Sir, I congratulate you that our flowers are not 



" born to blush unseen 



And waste their sweetness on the desert air." 



The botany we cultivate, the productions of the business of horticulture, 

 the plants of the garden, are cultivated with us, by hands as delicate as 

 their own tendrils, viewed by countenances as spotless and pure as their 

 own petals, and watched by eyes as brilliant and full of lustre as their own 

 beautiful exhibitions of splendor. [Applause.] 



Horticulture is one pursuit of natural science in which all sexes, ages 

 and degrees of education and refinement unite. Nothing is too polished to 

 see the beauty of flowers, nothing too rough to be capable of enjoying 

 them. It attracts, gratifies, and delights all. It seems to be a common 

 field where every degree of taste and refinement may unite and find oppor- 

 tunities for their gratification. 



Mr. President, I will take the occasion to accord to the sentiment of the 

 honorable Secretary of the Commonwealth, and congratulate you on the re- 

 turn of our worthy friend who has just spoken. He finds here no enemy, 

 and, in the exhibition of the talent which he possesses, of his classical learn- 

 ing, and his popular oratory, he finds only one rival, but a very dangerous 

 rival ; if he maintains the competition with that rival, he has nothing to 

 fear, and that rival is his own reputation. 



Mr. President, we who belong to the class of farmers are compelled to 

 bring nothing but our applause to those whose taste, condition and position 

 enable them to contribute these horticultural excellences which we see 

 around us. But the honor belongs to the State, and I shall not trespass be- 

 yond the bounds of reason and justice, if I say that there could nowhere, 



