98 [Assembly 



marij Esq., who has labored so successfully in the cause of horticul- 

 ture, and to whom the Institute is under many and deep obligations. 

 This standard I have endeavored to furnish, so far as regards those 

 things coming under my immediate supervision. 



But I have not yet done. There are some other topics which can- 

 not be passed over. I allude particularly to those reckless and un- 

 scrupulous pilferers who " most do congregate " on such occasions. 

 To meet the necessities of the case our police force should be made 

 more efficient, and examples should be made of such as are detected 

 in these detestable practices, no matter what their position in society 

 may be. It is not expected that the evil can be entirely suppressed, 

 but it may be greatly lessened ; its tolerance is not to be thought of. 

 Let us look at the case for a moment. I say it with feelings of deep 

 mortification, that persons in female guise have been seen to take 

 specimens of fruit, flowers, and other objects, slip them under their 

 sliawls with an agility that would do credit to a magician, and walk 

 off as coolly as if another's property had not been surreptitiously 

 taken. Others, who would doubtless like to be considered gentle- 

 men, will filch an apple, a pear, a flower, or other object, with a 

 boldness that is truly surprising, but yet, at the same time, with a 

 degree of slyness which indicates that they are conscious of commit- 

 ting a niggardly act. One person, whose profession and position in 

 society, to say nothing of moral obligation, should have taught him 

 better, was seen, in broad midday, to reach his arm over and help him- 

 gelf to some grapes. The moral powers must be blunted indeed 

 when a person cannot distinguish between meum and tuum, in a case 

 so perfectly transparent. It is absurd in the extreme to attempt an 

 apology for conduct like this. 



I have to complain of another class of persons scarcely less detesta- 

 ble; those, I mean, who, seemingly for a pure love of mischief, if not 

 something worse, take dehght in removing the labels from the fruit 

 and other articles, in throwing hops and other things in the flour 

 barrels, in displacing every thing they see, and who can not pass by 

 fruit ^yithout giving each specimen a squeeze that would produce 

 speedy decay in objects much less tender than a peach or a pear. 

 These practices are not confined to the horticultural department, but 



