JYotice of the Garden of Fromont. 87 



occasion to cite. It is well known that it was not as a botanist 

 merely that he studied the vegetables of North America, but that 

 he applied himself to observe and describe their specific qualities 

 and economical uses. With his name and his efforts are connected all 

 the essays made in France and in Germany for the naturalizing in 

 Europe of American trees. It is to him that the inhabitants of the 

 United States themselves have begun to owe a more perfect knowl- 

 edge of their own riches ; and his benevolent cooperation will be 

 sufficient to recommend to public interest the exotic part of the for- 

 est establishment, that we propose to form. 



But it is not enough to furnish proprietors with new sources of 

 wealth and enjoyment ; it is necessary that they should be taught 

 how to use them. In an address delivered at the last public sitting 

 of a society that has been obliged to suspend its useful labors, we at- 

 tempted to show of what importance horticulture is to every one, and 

 would be to us, such as has been conceived, brought forward and 

 practiced before us, an enlightened and liberal nation, and what 

 would be the advantages of its union with the kindred sciences, that 

 is to say, of practice with observation, of labor with study, of intel- 

 ligence with industry. Soon afterwards we had the happiness to see 

 formed a Horticultural Society, similar to those of England. It shed 

 around a sudden light ; itS' utility was understood ; the object of its 

 labors was appreciated, and new ideas gave it favor. We are happy 

 this day .to connect our institution with such favorable circumstances, 

 and to meet new wants, which are most sensibly felt. We will con- 

 cur with all our power and all our devotedness to diffuse, for the 

 benefit of proprietors, instruction among laborers ; to inspire, for the 

 benefit of laborers, the taste for cultivation among proprietors. This 

 taste is the most natural to man, the best adapted to interest him ; it 

 is that, which connects itself most happily with serious ideas by what 

 it has of reality, with virtuous pleasures by what it has delightful and 

 pure. There is certainly no lack of materials for horticulture. Ve- 

 getable matter, in its application to the wants of man, is the theatre, 

 on which are displayed two equally useful branches of industry, agri- 

 culture and horliculture. These tv^^o branches, so nearly related to 

 each other, are enlightened, in their parallel progress, by a series of 

 general ideas, equally applicable to both. But agriculture operates 

 only on large masses ; its labors are extended, but uniform as the 

 plains it cultivates ; and its meditations, serious and peaceful, still 

 leave much leisure to our minds. Horticulture, on the contrary. 



