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be as distinguished for their advancement in rural economy as in civil 
and religious freedom/' All that is necessary, to ornament the whole 
face of our luxuriant country with those rural embellishments “ which 
Shenstone might have envied,” is to diffuse a taste for useful and fancy 
gardening among our enterprizing population. This is to be accomplished 
by encouraging horticultural associations, and public exhibitions, by be¬ 
stowing liberal patronage upon the proprietors of our public gardens 
and nurseries, and by the employment of intelligent and experienced 
practical superintendents. Every citizen may add his influence to the 
improvement of the public taste in this regard. If the first seed that was 
sown was the first step taken in the progress of civilization, every plant 
that is stimulated into a luxuriant bloom is the harbinger of a higher 
form of moral development. And when, in the progress of horticultural 
science, the fertile prairies and openings of the Great West are raised to 
a high degree of artistic rural embellishment, the genius of Michael 
Angelo will be transferred from its Italian home to our shores, to repro¬ 
duce its wonders of art amid the enchanting scenery of the New World. 
For when American taste and genius shall have converted our luxuriant 
fields and rural districts into a vast magnificent garden, in the number 
and finished attainments of our artists, we may not be second to Greece 
when the poetry of her Euripides attracted thousands to the theatre, and 
the genius of her “ Phidias was displayed in rearing the Parthenon, and 
sculpturing the statues of the gods.” But if we shall never attain to 
such a splendid triumph of art, one thing is certain—if our citizens de¬ 
vote such attention to useful and ornamental horticulture as the taste 
and refinement of society require, they may raise our country to such a 
state of rural loveliness as will excel the fabled gardens of the Hes- 
perides with their golden fruit. Here is a great field opened before us. 
If it is cultivated and embellished, according to the abundant facilities 
at our command, its influence will endure to purify the intellectual taste 
and shape the moral character of future generations. 
