ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 81 



Lord Jeffrey's seat was called Craigcrook, and is near the city 

 of Edinburgh ; it appears originally to have been an old building, 

 respectable from its age, but inconvenient for a family, and the 

 ground was merely a kitchen garden of about an acre. " By the 

 help, however," he says, "of neatness, sense, evergreens and flowers, 

 precisely such means as we may all use about our dwellings, it 

 was soon converted into a sweet and comfortable retreat." 



It appears that Mrs. Jeffrey, who was an American lady by 

 birth, set an example which doubtless other American ladies have 

 followed, since horticulture is a favorite science with the sex, for 

 she knew the genealogy and the history and character of every 

 shrub and flower in the garden. 



In our own country, Washington, Jefferson and Hamilton have 

 made the names of Mount Vernon, Monticello and La Grange 

 immortal, as the spots where, throwing off the cares of state, 

 they beguiled away the hours among the peaceful pursuits of 

 horticulture. 



But an art so useful and so beautiful certainly does not need 

 the sanction of great names, there is something in our hearts 

 that ever responds to the sight of beautiful trees and flowers. 



*'A thing of beauty is a joy forever." 



And I envy not that man's feelings upon whom the triumphs of 

 the horticulturist's skill produce no effect. 



Finally, I have endeavored to draw from this refined and ele- 

 gant exhibition some few of the lessons which it teaches, and 

 these are : 



First of all, the effects of patient care and industry in improv- 

 ing the good things which nature has lavished upon us. 



Next, the influence of horticultural pursuits upon the indi- 

 vidual character, and upon the nation at large. 



And last, but not least, a lesson of gratitude to the Great 

 Giver of all good, who has willed that through the primitive 

 employment of the horticulturist " the desert place shall rejoice, 

 and the wilderness shall blossom like a rose." 



[Am. Inst.] 



