HORTICULTURAL REPORT 



OF THE TWENTY-SECOND ANNUAL FAIR OF THE 

 AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



In presenting the Report of the Horticultural Department of the 

 Twenty-second Annual Fair, there are many causes for congratula- 

 tion. HoAvever much praise may have been bestowed, and justly too, 

 on former exhibitions, the Twenty- second Annual Fair evinced be- 

 yond all others the most cheering and gratifying evidences of that 

 steady improvement which has characterized the progress of the 

 American Institute since the day of its foundation. 



It is much to be able to say of any institution, that its progress 

 has been steadily onward. In taking a retrospect of the past, and 

 viewing with a scrutinizing eye the ground that has been gone over 

 with so many toilsome steps, it is a deep gratification to know that 

 our labor has not been in vain. To trespass for a moment on the 

 province of metaphor : it is now some twenty-two years since the 

 American Institute entered into possession of a wild, rugged, and un- 

 cultivated domain, overrun with brambles and pernicious weeds, but 

 still fair to look upon, possessed of great natural beauty, and abound- 

 ing in all the elements of fertility and usefulness. The Institute had 

 tlie foresight and judgment to employ these elements judiciously and 

 perseveringly, in spite of all obstacles. And what is the result 1 

 Why, after twenty-two years of toil and labor, we behold a scene 

 full of the most interesting associations. We see that wild domain 

 hedged in and smiling with beauty. The brambles and weeds have 

 mosll) disappeared, and in their places we see the grasses, and grains, 

 and fruits, and whatever nourishes and sustains man's body ; and the 

 glorious flowers, that fill his soul with emotions of beauty. The 

 grassy meadows abound with highly-impreved domestic animals ; the 



