DISCOURSE. 
Mr. Presipenr, 
AND GENTLEMEN OF THE 
Massacnusetts Horrictutturat Soetety,— 
On this returning Annual Festival of Horticulture 
in Massachusetts, it falls to my lot to congratulate 
you on the progress of our favorite pursuits. I stand 
here, then, honored by the choice of this Society for 
that purposé, on an occasion, hailed with pleasure, 
by every mémber; and younger in years; if not alto- 
gether in experience, than those who have preceded 
me in the same duty. In these relations, I therefore 
anticipate your sympathy and attention: 
The science of Horticulture is based oii the knowl- 
edge and uses of plants, as conducive to the physical 
wants or more remote luxuries of man. It therefore 
pre-supposes the study of those living begs, and em- 
braces the science of Botany. The first rudiments 
of that science may be traced to the primeval ages, 
when the wants of men were of the most simple 
kind, confined to mere subsistence. Amid the luxu- 
riant productions of a tropical climate, and in the 
comparative infancy of the world, it must have re- 
quired little else than an almost intuitive knowledge of 
noxious or wholesome food to supply every want. 
Thus we read, that the progenitors of the human 
