ON GARDENERS’ SOCIETIES. 
105 
horticulture. It is a cheering thought, that the spirit of improvement 
is propelled with accelerated movements ; and still more so, when 1 am 
able to inform those friendly to the cause, that Mr. Fish's excellent 
letter has been the means of awakening the minds of two distin¬ 
guished individuals, members of the L. H. S. and Z. S., who have come 
forward to give their approbation and support to the cause; being 
fully convinced that public spirit is a perennial source of happiness to 
men, who, by embracing every opportunity to increase and encourage 
the operation of this noble disposition, and despising that narrow¬ 
minded selfishness, which has been alluded to in a former letter, and, 
moreover, opposed to that class of individuals who are still the enemies 
of gardening periodicals, or any other publication which has for its 
object the enlightenment of its professors. Such sceptics tell us 
these works have been the ruin of our profession. What, I would ask, 
would have been the intellectual state of society had it not been for 
those publications ? They have rendered the fountains of information 
accessible to all, and given opportunity to the poorest of our race to 
slake their mental thirst at those streams of intelligence, which are, 
and will be, the means of elevating the intellect of man to a state that 
nothing but superior minds are able to appreciate. 
Such calumniators must be informed of their error before their pre¬ 
judice and delusions are dispelled, as now the “ schoolmaster is abroad,” 
ignorance is a deep reproach, and individuals who can sufifer opportunities, 
which they have within their reach, to pass without taking advantage of 
them is a pitiable spectacle of doltish inanity. Cultivate then a taste for 
improvement; and in order to this, there must be a thirst after informa¬ 
tion, as it is a well-known fact, that knowledge is power, and if it were 
not so, it is pleasure : it gives weight to character and procures respect ; 
it will enable us to form an opinion with correctness—to state it with 
clearness—-to offer it with confidence—and to enforce it with argument : 
it enlarges the sphere of our usefulness by raising the degree of our 
influence. It is a pitiable thing to see rational beings so irresolute as 
almost to wish they could exchange reason for instinct, in order that 
they might be spared the trouble of thinking. Those, however, whose 
minds are differently framed need not be deterred from an attempt to 
accomplish the object first alluded to, and which so many think 
desirable. A steady resolution, under the impression that it is our 
duty to be serviceable to each other, whether that duty be pleasant or 
irksome, should banish all lukewarmness, and encourage us to proceed 
in forming such a society as promises so many advantages. 
Yours, &c. A. Walker, 
Chelsea , 1 5th Feb. 1835. 
VOL. V. — NO. LVII. P 
