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DELIVERED BEFORE THE

IAW HORTICULTUR

JUNE 6th, 193k

ADDRESS

DELIVERED BEFORE THE

COLUMBIAN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,

AT THE

FIRST ANNUAL EXHIBITION,

JUNE 6th, 1834.

BY GEORGE WATTERSTON
(ENON ES
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WASHINGTON:
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6

WASHINETON, JUNE 14, 1824,
BEAR SIR:

It affords us much pleasure, as a Committee appointed for the purpose,
to communicate to you the unanimous vote of thanks of the Columbian
Horticultural Society for the able and eloquent address delivered by you
at their first annual exhibition on the 6th instant, and to request that you
will favor the Society with a copy of that address for publication. When
we consider the well known zeal yon have manifested and the great interest
you have taken in whatever concerns the prosperity of our infant society
we are led tothe sanguine hope that you will, in this respect, acceed to

its Wishes.
Your friends and fellow members
W. HICKEY.

JAMES KEARNEY,
JNO. A. SMITH.

Gro: WarTrTeErsTon, Ese.

Corresponding Secretary of the
Columbian Horticultural Society.
Washington City.

JULY Ist, 1834,
GENTLEMEN:

I feel grateful to the society for the expression of their favorable opinion
ef the humble production to which you refer, and cheerfully comply with
your request in furnishing a copy for publication. In doing this, I must re-
mark that, when called upon to prepare an address, I felt some hesitation
and diffidence in undertaking to speak upon a subject with which I had so
limited an acquaintance, though it had occasionally formed a part of my
general studies and was at all times,one in which took great pleasure. I
therefore, depended more upon the indulgence of the society, and the facts
I might acquire than apon my humble powers, or any knowledge I possess-
ed. That it has met with the approbation of those’to whom it was addressed,
is, I need scarcely say, a source of sincere gratification; and that gratification
will be augmented should it be so fortunate as to excite a more general at-
tention to the art which it recommends or produce an increased fondness for

its salutary and innocent pursuits. -
Very resp’y
Your obedient servant,
GEO. WATTERSTON.
To Messrs. W. Hicker,
Jas. Kearney,
J. A. Switn.

ADDRESS.

Mr. PRESIDENT,
AnD GENTLEMEN OF THE
Coiumesian HorTIc¥LTURAL SOCIETY:

Sensible of my incompetency to discharge, i
a suitable manner, the duty your partiality has as-
signed me, I feel great diffidence, in undertaking a
task so little in accordance with my usual habits,
and must, therefore, throw myself upon your gen-
erous indulgence, in the few rapid and desultory
remarks, it has been made my duty, on this occa-

sion, to address to you.
The productions of nature have always been to

me a source of high gratification. From my earliest
boyhood I have been accustomed to gaze upon
whatever, in the vegetable kingdom, was beautiful
or magnificent, with a feeling of rapt and enthusi-
astic delight it would be difficult to describe. But
this love of nature—of the fair and exquisite pro-
ductions of her hand—of the objects she has deckt
with her rich and living pencil, is common to us all-

g°

The poet and the painter may, indeed, feel a high-
er and holier extacy in the contemplation of her
beaties; but no mind, however torpid or calous,
can turn away from the splendid spectacle she ex-
hibits when decorated in the varied mantle of
Spring, the glowing tints of Summer, or the gor-
geous drapery ef Antumn, with indifference or
apathy.

In the Horticulturist the pleasure arising from
the mere contemplation of natural beauty, is mn-
creased by the consciousness of the utility of the
objects of his culture and care. Hume has said
that utility was beauty, and this is felt in all its force
by him who devotes his labor and attention to the
culture of those vegetable productions which na-
ture has provided, with so liberal a hand, for the
wants of man,

‘«* Hence the poor are cloth’d, the hungry fed,
Health to himself and to his children bread.”’

The first occupation of man was that of tilling
the earth. and his first dwelling place, a garden.
Eden was formed, and planted and ornamented by
the Divine hand of the Creator, who placed it in
the keeping of our original progenitor, and made
it a region of blissfulness and beauty, where

‘*Flow’rs, worthy of Paradise which not nice art
In beds and curious knots, but nature boon
Pour’d forth profuse on hill, and dale, and plain,
Both where the morning sun first warmly smote
The open field, and where the unpierc’d shade
Imbrown’d the noon tide bow’rs.”’

A fondness for this healthful occupation is felt
by most men in all ranks of society. It is early de-
veloped and clings to us to the last period of life.

7

In childhood who has not experienced the pleasure
of cultivating a spot in his fathers garden, and
giving to it the form and image of that in which he
loves to sport? It is an occupation which assimi-
lates to the innocence vf our infant years, and
what is innocent is always pleasing. In manhood,
this fondness is increased by the agreeable relaxa-
tion it affords —-the beauty it unfoids and the bene-
fit it confers; and in old age, when almost every
other pleasure has faded away but that which
springs from the consciousness of a well spent and
virtuous life, it ceases not to diffuse its charm and
to retain its attraction. Who of us,inthe “sear
and yellow leaf” does not delight to retire from
the toils and agitations of the living world to
the flower bordered walks, and vine covered
bowers of a garden? Wearied and exhausted by
the cares and business of life, it is refreshing to in-
dulge in the pleasing reminiscences and delicious
associations, which the sight of the flower we loved
—the plant we cultivated—the shrub we cherish-
ed in our innocent childhood 1s calcuated to call
up. It is the love of nature which still clings to the
heart, and which the wild conflicts of passion—the
unbridled fury of political strife—the turmoils ang
cares and agonies of a heartless world, may deaden
for a time, but cannot destroy. To the philosopher,
the statesman, the hero and the poet, in all ages of
the world, the cultivation of the soil—of the fruits
and flowers of the earth, has been a source of ra-
tional enjoyment. And to all men, the pursuits of hor-
ticulture are peaceful and salutary, affording in-

8

ciructive amusement, and giving vigor to the body
and a healthy action to the mind. “In my opinion”
says Cicero, “no kind of occupation is more preg-
nant with happiness, not only as it is of singular
utility to mankind in general, but aa being attended
with peculiar and very considerable pleasures.”*
To none, however, is the garden a source of
higher and purer enjoyment than to the female sex.
Their sensibilities being more accute, they relish,
with greater intensity the beauty which surrounds
them, and which they cannot fail to behold in every
border, and flower-woven arbour—in every plant
and shrub, and tree over which the eye glances as
it roams amidst the varied beauties of a well culti-
vated garden. To them the floral department is
an object of especial attraction. The exquisite
coloring, and the delicate and graceful forms of
the productions of Flora are nicely adapted to
the fine perception of beauty which exists in the
female mind.—In what region of the world, in
what condition of life, does no tho love of flowers,
prevail among females? In the lowly cottage, as
well asthe magnificent palace, it displays itself in
the floral wreath, and the woodbine, and jessa—
mine, and rose that diffuse their fragrance, and de-
corate the laticed window of the humble dwell-
ing of innocence and poverty. In the populous
city where the want of ground prevents the indul-
gence of their favorite propensity in its full extent;

* Cicero Onold age.

9

the windows and parlours of their habitations are
often found ornamented with the rose, the mignio-
nette and the geranium. “But who. says Boursault,
does not love flowers? ‘They embellish our gar-
dens; they give a more brilliant lustre to our festi-
vals; they are the interpretors of our affections;
they are the testimonials of our gratitude. We pre-
sent them to those to whom we are under obliga-
tions; they are often necessary to the pomp of our
religious ceremonies, and they seem to associate
and mingle their perfumes with the purity of our
prayers, and the homage which we address to the
Almighty. Happy are those who love and culti-
vate them.” There is,moreover, in the well cultiva-
ted garden, a placid beauty and a stillness and re-
pose suited to the tranquillity of domestic life, and
which, in the bustle and excitements of the world
make us hope, like the poet Cowiley, that we may
be able “one day to retire to a small house and a
large garden.” There is much truth in the obser-
vation of Mrs. Hoffland, “ our first most endearing
and sacred associations are connected with gardens;
our most simple and most refined perceptions of
beauty are combined with them, and the very con-
dition of our being, compels us to the cares, and re-
wards us with the pleasures attached to them.”
The Greeks appropriated their celestial gardens to
the Gods; and the Mahometans, says Phillips, re-
serve their flowery lawns and umbrageous bowers
forscenes of future bliss. To the fair sex may
be attributed many of the improvements and beau-

lies which are now so conspicuous in the ornament-

9»
fl

19

al or landscape garden —The wonderful hanging
gardens of Babylon are said to owe their origin to
the Queen of Nebuckadnezzer who to pacify her
regrets at leaving the country in which she was
born, and which appeared so beautiful by contrasts
erected the famous terraces, covered with trees,
and supporting rural seats, fountains, and banquet-
ting halls which formed one of the wonders of the
world. But, whatever, may have been the influ-
ence exercised by woman in the formation and tm-
provement of the gardens of antiquity, it is certain
that there is no department of nature so appropri-
ate to the female hand as the cultivation of flowers:
« Flowers seem intended for the embellishment of
the fair and for the ornament of the spot where they
tread. Their sweet perfumes have such influence
over all oursensations that in the midst of flower-
ing shrubs the most acute grief generally gives
way to the sweetest melancholly. When our home
or domestic companions are encompassed by the
shrubbery our situation then approaches nearest
to a terrestrial paradise.”’* ‘There is perhaps, no
ebject in nature more pleasing than a young and
beautiful woman, blooming in innocence and loveli-
ness seen amidst a parterre of flowers, herself the
fairest, sustaining the drooping lily, or administer-
ing to the nourishment of the expanding beauties
of the rose.

‘¢ Much I love
To see the fair one bind the straggling pink,
Cheer the sweet rose, the lupin, and the stock,

* Phillips’ Silva.

il

And lend astaff to the still gadding pea,

Ye fair it well becomes you. Better thus

€heat time away than at the crowded rout,

Rustling in silk, in a small room close pent,

And heated e’en to fusion; made to breathe

A rank, contageous air, and fret at whist

Or sit aside to sneer and whisper scandal.” CRABBE.

Horticulture is one of the first indications of

civilization. In the origin of society mankind ex—
ist on the products of the chace, and their first em-
ployment is that of the hunter. The pastora! life
next succeeds; the cultivation of the soil is then
resorted to, and the earth pours into the lap of in-
dustry all that the wants and necessities of man
require. Civilization, and its concomitants, luxury &
refinement, are introduced, and gardening then ri-
ses to the dignity of a fine art. Horticulture in its
restricted sense, was among the earliest occupa-
tions of man, andis almost co-eval with the world.
It was not till society had reached a high degree of
polish and refinement that the beautiful art of land-
scape gardening became an object of attention and
study. Lord Bacon has correctly remarked that
“when ages grow to civility and elegancy men
come to build stately, sooner than to garden finely;
asif gardening were the greater perfection.” Land-
scape gardening, is not so much an imitative art, as
“nature itself ornamented.” It has of late been
brought to a high degree of perfection in England,
where it continues to be patronised and promoted
by the wealth and taste of the nation. It has been
gradually advancing from its first rude beginnings
to the high excel'ence to which it has now attained ;

12

from the first attempt to ornament nature in the
gardens of Alcious as described by Homer, to the
splendid condition of the art now existing in Eu-
rope. Inthe age of Homer, even the conception
of an ornamental garden must have been hum-
ble and limited, when the rich imagination of the
Father of Epic poetry, could not body forth a more
perfect specimen of the art than the one he has
left us. The garden of Alcinous was but an or-
chaid and kitchen garden, which is thus descri-
bed.

Four acres was the allotted space of ground

Fenc’d with a green enclosure all around

Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mould

The reddenning apple ripens into gold.

Here the blue fig with luscious juce o’er flows ;

With deeper red the full pomegranate glows;

The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear,

The verdant olives flourish round the year,

Beds of all various kinds, forever green,

In beauteous erder terminate the scene.

As society advanced in refinement and luxury, a
taste for ornamental gardening was gradually de-
veloped, cultivated and displayed, among the
Greeks, the Romans, the Persians, and the Chi-
nese. But it was not till the commencement-of
the 18th century, that this art began to claim the
attention of men of taste and wealth in Europe
The improvements which have been made in it,
-have been properly attributed to the natural pro-
gress of art and refinement, aided by descriptions
of Chinese gardens and the rich and vivid delinia-
tions of natural scenery abounding in the ancient
and modern poets. The paradise of Milton, the

| an

seasons of Thompson, Tasso’s garden of Armida,
the Vale of Tempe, and the Vaucluse of Petr-
arch, have all been said to furnish hints and sug-
gest improvements in what Walpole terms the art
of “creating Landscape.” ‘The Italian style of
gardening prevailed for many years in Europe. It
consisted of terraces of masonry, flights of steps,
arcades, grottos, clipp’d hedges, niches, and recess-
es for statues. ‘To this succeeded the Dutch style
which consisted of sloped grass terraces, land and
water thrown into various forms, adorned with
trees in pots or planted alternately, and regularly
clipped. Le Notre, finally arose who planned and
executed the famous gardens of Versailles. His
designs are charged with having been too puerile
and artificial to please the refined taste of the ele-
gantic formarum spectator. Dufresnoy followed Le
Notre, and possessing a better taste, endeavoured
to introduce amore picturesque and natural style
into ornamental gardening. This was improved
by Kent who first introduced the modern style into
England; and Kent was, succeeded in this beautiful
art, by Wright, Brown, and Repton as professors;
and by Southcoat, Hamilton, Shenstone, Littleton
and Pitt, as proprietors and amateurs.

But Horticulture as a useful art comes more pe-
culiarly within the province of this -ociety

To this branch belongs the cultivation of fruits,
flowers and esculent vegetables,and it embraces the
kitchen garden, orchard, nursery, rosery, green-
house, and botanical and medical garden. Long
experience and the progress of science have ren-

44

dered these different departments productive of
great advantage to mankind. For many ages men
cultivated the soil without the light of science, and
pursued the mode adopted by those who preceded
them, without inquiring into the principles upon
which their practical operations were founded.
Natural History, Botany, and Chemistry were but
little studied in reference to horticulture, and but
seldom resorted to for the purpose of extending the
benefits and multiplying the beauties of the gar-
den, or developing the principles of vegetable life.
The rapid improvements made in botany, vegetable
physiology and chemistry, within a few centuries,
have been such as greatly to extend the sphere of
Horticultural science, by rendering the theory
more intelligible, and its practice more certain and
delightful. The ancients have left but little behind
them, in the beautiful science of botany, that is
worthy of preservation. ‘They had no system, and
their descriptions of plants are vague and unsatis-
factory. The labors of Theophrastus, Diascorides
and Pliny, are entirely useless at the present day ;
and it was not tilithe appearance of that extraordi-
nary man, Linneeus, that botany could be properly
ranked among the sciences. ‘The vast accession of
knowledge in the vegetable kingdom which has
been the consequence of his labors and devotion
to science, may be estimated from the following
brief statement of the additions which have been
made, at different periods of the world, to the ca-
talogue of plants. Homer mentions but 30, the
Bible 71, Hippocrates 274, Theophrastus 500, Dias-

ib

corides 700, and Pliny 1009 plants. About sevenieen
centuries after the age of the latter, Linnzus ap-
peared and enlarged this meagre catalogue to be-
tween 11 and 12,000. Since his time the n nomencla-
ture has beenswelled to the almost incredible magni-
tudeof 150,000 plants. What an immense addition to
the comfort, gratification and health of mankind!
What light and usefulness has not the science of
Botany blended with the labors of the Horticultu-
rist! Butit is ascience, which, distinct from the deep
and rational gratification it affords, is almost indis-
pensible to the gardener, especially that branch of
it which imparts a knowledge of the physiology,
the structure and functions of plants. Asa source
of enjoyment to the cultivated mind, independently
of its great usefulness, I give the testimony of one
of the most distinguished Botanists of this country.
“It has been for many years,” says Dr. Elliott, of
South Carolina, the occupation of my leisure mo-
ments, and it isa merited tribute to say that it has
lightened forme many a heavy and smoothed ma-
ny a rugged hour; that beguiled by its charms, I
have found no road rough or difficult, no journey
tedious, no country desolate or barren. In solitude
never solitary, in a desert never without employ-
ment, | have found it a relief from the languor of
idleness, the pressure of business and the unavoid-
able calamities of life.’ The experience of every
Botanist will confirm the truth of this eloquent
description—To him indeed

“The meanest flower that blows can give
Thoughts that eft lie too deep for tears.”

It has been justly remarked that a knowledge of
botany “ gives as it were an additional eye te those

16

who walk either amongst the native beauties of
the field or the exotic charms of the shrubbery; for
however elegant, however admirable, however di-
versified the structure of vegetables may be, it
does not strike the eye of those who are ignorant
of their parts enough to interest them; because they
do not even know where to look, or the use of what
they look at. They have no conception of that
assemblage and chain of relations and combinations
which overwhelm with their wonders the mind of
the observer who has studied this part of the crea-
tion and who would find more beauties in the little
inflated flower of the Arbutus than the indolent
observer can perceive in the gay amaryllis of Bue-
nos Ayres, or than the indifferent spectator willsee
inthe matchless elegence of the passzflora whose
stars so splendidly illuminate the Brazilian for- —
ests."* In the cultivated garden, as well as mm the
trackless wilds of nature, there is not
‘© A tree

A plant, a leaf, a blossom but contains

A folio volume. We may read and read,

And read again, and still find something new

Something to please, and something to instruct.”

In no department of nature have the imagination
and taste of that Matchless Being who created the
Universe, been so signally displayed as in the ve-
getable kingdom. Each plant and flower has been
designed, and formed and colored with the most
exquisite and beautiful fancy, and with a view to
the gratification and benefit of the animal creation.
Their multiplicity and endless variety, their singu-

* Phillips’ Silva Florifera,

al

a

17

lar strnecture, and admirable adaptation to the
wants of organic beings, display the wisdom, bene.
ficence and elegance of the Divine Mind.

‘‘ Whose breath perfumes them and whose pencil paints.”

I shall not, on this occasion, enter into the
philosophy of vegetation. Its wonders [I leave to
a more. skilful hand, to whom we have delegated
this pleasing task;| but I must be permitted to men-
tion a few facts illustrative of the operations of ve-
getable nature in the production of liquids and
substances similar to those of the Bee, the Cow the
Sheep &c. The Myrica Pennsylvanica issaid to yield
an annual supply of vegetable waz—the Palo de
Vaca of South America furnishes an abundance of
real melk—a tree in Guayaquil produces a fine wood

~ «—-one in China secretes a tallow like fat—one in

the West Indies an exquisite marrow, and another

in Buenos Ayres becomes a vegetable fountain, and
yields a copious effusion of pure water. Vegetables
have also a strong affinity to the mineral kingdom; for
they form carbon, and some contain copper, sulphur,
ironand gold. In regions where the rays of the sun
cannot penetrate, the wise providence of God has
produced the Fungus Rhizomorpha “ which vege-
tates in dark mines far from the light of day. In
the coal mines near Dresden it gives those places
the air of an enchanted castle. The roofs, walls
and pillars are entirely covered with them; ¢heer
beautiful light almost dazzling the eye.”* Others again
live on airalone, as the Epidendron, flos aris; famous
"Ed. Phil. Journal, 14th vol.

+ W. Rich, Lecturer on Botany and vegetable Physiology.
3

18

for the beauty of its flowers and the sweetness of
its perfume. 'The Chinese suspend it round the ©
ceiling of their rooms”* where it forms a living fes-
toon, breathing fragrance and charming the eye by
the splendor of its beauty.

In the wonderful productiveness of vegetable
nature, the goodness and wisdom of the Benevolent
Creator are not less displayed than in its surprising
organization and beauty. No conceivable increase
of the human species or of animal life can ever sur-
pass the continued supply of vegetable food which
the Beneficient Hand of God has spread exuber-
antly over the earth for the sustenance and com-
fort of his creatures. Its whole bosom teems with
the productive -principle of vegitation. A single
iree will produce a large forest, and seeds blown
by the winds and carried by the birds of the air to
regions where they had never before vegetated,
soon flourish, become attached to the soil and pro-
duce and re-produce to infinity. Seeds will lie
inert for centuries, and when buried in the ground
too deep for vegetation will remain untouched by
decay, till brought nearer the surface. A bulbous
root was found a few years ago, in the hand of an
Egyptian mummy, and after the lapse of twenty
centuries, was again restored to its parent earth,
where it once more vegetated and became a beauti-
ful plant.

But it is with the improvability of vegetable na-
ture that this society has the most immediate con-

om

Bull. Univ. 1829.

i9

cern. [n this principle it greatly transcends all or.
ganic and inorganic matter. By culture this faculty
is developed and enlarged to an almost infinite
extent. Many of the productions of the vegetable
kingdom have been rendered by culture not only
very abundant and beautiful, but even their charac-
ter has been changed. To the sue we are indebted
for tho fine plum; the common crab is the stock
from which has sprung the various species of the
delicious apple, and the sweet brier is said to be the
parent of all the beautiful and almost endlesss va-
rieties of the rose. In an uncultivated state many
of the nutricious esculent vegetables which consti-
tute a portion of the regular food of civilized man,
such as the carrot, parsnip, &e. are poisonous; Cul-
ture has given them new properties, and a wonder-
ful enlargement. “Man, says Loudon, improving on
nature produces cabbages and turnips of half a
hundred weight, and apples of one pound and a
half,” Strawberries have been produced seven in.
ches in circumference, an apple that has measured
fifteen inches round—a bunch of grapes that has
weighed fifteen pounds, and a mushroom upwards
of a foot in diameter.

Such is the improvability of vegetable nature
which points out to man the necessity of labor and
the advantage of cultivation. But to render culti-
vation effectual, Horticulture as a science requires,
in addition to Botany, the aid and co-operation of
other branches, of knowledge among which the
most important are Chemistry, Mineralogy, Rural
Architecture, and Entomolegy. The scientifie gar-

20

dener should be acquainted with the various ma-
terials, or substances of which the earth that he
tills is composed, that he may, with greater cer-
tainty and benefit know how to adapt the plant to
its most congenial soil, and the soil to the plant.
A knowledge of the properties of compost, the
manner in which lands are enriched, the causes of
their fertility, the peculiar character of each soil,
the effect and operation of different manures on
vegetation &c., are indispensible to the skilful hor-
ticulturist. Rural architecture, hydraulics, and
mechanics form no inconsiderable portion of the
necessary information ef the landscape gardener,
Indeed
‘*Ce noble emploi demande un artiste qui pense
Prodigue de genie, mais non pas de depense.”’ Delille-
But to the practical horticulturist no branch
of physical science is more useful and important
than Entomology. Smallas the objects may be of
which it treats and insignificant as it may seem to
the generality. of mankind, it is, nevertheless,
highly interesting in itself, and of great and ob-
vious utility to the gardener. The matchless wis-
dom and perfection of God are not less strikingly
manifested in the formation of this class of ani-
mated beings than in the other portions of his
animal kingdom. The fairy and gorgeous but-
terfly, and the brilliant beetle are as exquisitely
imagined and as elaborately executed as the most
splendid floral production of his hand, To these
“valued minatures, nature has given the most de-
licate touch and highest finish of her pencil.

21

Numbers are armed with a glittering mail like
burnished gold, in others is the dazzling radianca
of polished gems, some are decked with what
looks like liquid drops, or plates of gold and
silver, some vie with flowers in the deleacy and
variety of their colors, others in the texture of
their wings, and others in the rich cottony down
that clothes them.”’* Their instinct and magi-
cal transformations excite our admiration and as-
tonishment. In the wonderful metamorphosis of
the insect tribe, passing from the inert mass, the
egg, to the perfect animal, throngh all their dif-
ferent stages of existence, we cannot fail to re-
eognize an anology between these physical changes
and that which eur immortal spirits are destined to
undergo; and [ cordially concur, with an able wri-
ter on this subject,f in the belief “that one of
the great purposes of the Deity in creating his
insect kingdom was to excite this sentiment, (a
belief in the resurrection) in the human heart,
and to raise by it the contemplative mind to look
forward to a possible revival from the tomb, as the
butterfly from its sepulchral chrysalis.”

The poetical imagination and exquisite taste of
the ancient Greeks led them, without any know-
ledge of christain revelation, to embody the human
soul under the form of a butterfly, and a represen-
tation of this insect was engraved on their head
stones and tombs to denote that the spirit or soul,

* Kirby and Spence, Entom. vol 1.
48. Turner’s Szered History.

22

Psyche, would reappear in a new form and state of
being.
‘‘Noi siam vermi
Nati a formar angelica forfalla.”’

But however admirable and beautiful the in-
sect tribe may be, their habits and history must
be studied by the gardener mainly for the pur-
pose of acquiring that knowledge which will en.
able him to render them less noxious and des-
tructive to the objects of his care, attention and
labor. Insects exist almost exclusively on the
productions of the vegetable kingdom; every leaf,
blossom, fruit. and plant is their food—neither
root trunk nor branch is exempt from their inroads ;
they spread from pole to pole, and are found
wherever a vegetable exists to afford them nour-
ishment, and enable them to propagate their spe-
cies. Their ravages are sometimes extensive and
desolating, and their most ordinary, though ne.
cessary operations, injurious to vegetable life. It
is important therefore, to study their economy;
to be the better able to devise remedies for the
injuries they commit. Entomology has already
been of considerable advantage, in this particu-
lar, both to agriculture and gardening, and if
this branch of natural history be pursued, with
this view, there is every reason to expect that
much additional benefit will be the result. He
who shall discover from a knowledge of their ha-
bits and economy, the best mode of extermina-
ting those noxious insects, or of preventing their
destructive ravages, will render an inestimable

“hey Sy

23
service to horticulture, and deserve the lasting
gratitude of his country,

Such are the diversified intellectual acquire-
ments, and the various branches of knowledge
which the science of horticulture requires. The
establishment of this and other kindred societies
will, I think, be the means of encouraging the
prosecution of these auxilliary studies, and of great”
ly promoting the useful objects of horticulture’
“ More real useful improvements it is said, “ have
been made in gardening since the formation of the
London Horticultural Society than have been made
in China within the last thousand years.” The be-
neficial effects of these institutions have been felt
wherever they have been formed. They encour-
age industry, create a new spirit of horticultural]
enterprize, lead to new inquiries, to diversified
and often useful experiments, to more skilful modes
of cultivation, and are liberal and social in their
tendencies. Among the earliest institutions of this
sort was the Florists Society in Edinburg formed
in 1803, which afterwards took and now retains
the title of the Caladonian Horticultural Society.
This was followed by the London Horticultural
Society established in 1805, and in 1826 a similar
institution was formed in Paris. The example of
these countries has been imitated in the United
States, and Horticultural societies now exist in
Boston, New York, Albany, Geneva, Philadel-
phia, Maryland and South Carolina.

Their productive effects may be partially esti-
mated from the fact that a few years ago in the

24

vicinity of London, 14,000 acres of land were oc-
cupied as fruit and kitchen gardens, the annual pro-
duce of which sold for four millions of dollars.
Near Edinburg five hundred acres are thus ap-
propriated, the products of which yield annually
$100,090. The consequence of the establishment
of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, it is
said, in an eloquent and sensible address of one of
its members, has been to produce a “decided im-
provement in the grounds of men of wealth and
‘leisure, and in the gardens and court-yards of the
middling class of citizens; and even the home of the
laboring poor has, in not a few instances, acquired
an additional point of interest to attract him from
the haunts of dissipation; his leisure hours are pleas-
antly occupied; his mind expanded, and his heart
warmed and softened.’*

Our Institution is of recent origin; but from its
peculiar location, we have every reason to indulge
the hope that it will not fall behind its fellow la-
borers in usefulness, and that its more immediate
effect will be a sensible improvement in the fruits
and esculent vegetables of our climate. In the
centre of our vast republic, at the seat of the Fe-
deral Government, communicating through its
public agents, with all parts of the globe, the loca-
tion of this society is certainly unequaled in this
country. For the exercise of the ornamental branch
of the art which this institution proposes to en-
courage, our position also possesses great capabil-

*Dr. Wards Address.

m

ad

‘

25.

ities. Nature has done much, in the beautiful out-
line and splendid landscape scenery, she has form-
ed within the limits of our District. It requires
but the addition of art, backed by wealth, to
render our territory,so far as it concerns mere phys-
ical beauty, the Paradi-e of America; and this, i
expect soon to see both publicly and privately em-
ployed to give embellishment, variety and splendor
to the striking natural beauties by which we are sur-
rounded. The effect of horticultur2] taste and en-
terprise is perhaps no where more happily illustra-
ted than in the minature garden of our President:
It exhibits all the variety, and skilful arrangement
that good taste could bestow, and itis to be regret-
ted that he had not had a wider field, and better
opportunities for its display. His laudible exam-
ple will, I hope, be imitated by others tilla taste for
horticulture shall be diffused among all classes of
the community whose circumstances will enable
them to appropriate a portion of their time, labor,
and means to the improvement and embellishment
of their grounds, however small.

In England this taste is so widely extended and
so fondly cherished, that scarsely an humble cottage
is seen without its little garden spot, and its white
washed walls, decorated with the honey suckle,
woodbine and other floral ornaments. And

‘“‘Where around the Cots romantic glade are seen,
The blossom’d beanfield and the sloping green.”’

Should this society succeed in infusing a taste

for horticulture as an elegant art, it does not require

oa great exercise of imagination to conceive the splend-
ft

26

id pictoriae scene that this District would present
in the course of half a century. The beautiful
heights that surround our city—their verdant and
sunny slopes—the majestic river, rolling at their
base—the undulating outline--the gorgeous antum-
nal foliage of its woods, and the other capabilities
it possesses, may be converted, by the hand of
taste, into a scene on which the eye will delight to
gaze, as on one created by the power of enchant-
ment. But for myself, I know no application of
this branch of the art, more delightful than to the
decoration of the last resting places of the dead.
The romantic garden of graves of Pere la Chaise
has become an object of beauty, as well as of deep
interest,to all who visit the Capital of France, from
the embellishments it has received from horticultu-
ral taste. May we not flatter ourselves that some-
thing like this will yet be done in the Burial ground
of our city, and that aided by Congress, and en-
larged. arranged and ornamented under the diree-
tion of this society, it will present a spectacle of
picturesque and living beauty, amid the melancholy
mementos of the mouldering dead, that no one can
contemplate without the deepest interest and ad-
miration, It has been beautifully said by the Vice
President of the Massachusetts Horticultural So-
ciety, in speaking of the mount Auburn cemetery.*
* The weeping Willow, waving its graceful drapery
over the monumental marble and the sombre foliage
of the Cypress should shade it, the undying daisy
should mingle its bright and glowing tints with the

native laurels of our forests. Itis there ] would de-
Zs Cook, Jr.

27

sire to see the taste of the florist manifested in the
collection and arrangement of beautiful and frag-
rant flowers that in their budding and bloom and
decay they should be the silent and expressive
teachers of morality, and remind us that, although
like the flowers of Antumn, the race of man is fading
from off the earth, yet like them his root will not
perish in the ground, but will rise again in a renew-
ed existence, to shed the sweet influence of a use-
ful life, in gardens of unfading beauty.” Yes, cold
and torpid must be the heart of him who could stroll
amid such a scene and be insensible to the melan-
cholly charm which the fragrance he inhales, the
beauty he beholds, and the thought of those who
are mouldering into dust at his feet are calculated
to infuse. Horticulture can spread its beauties
over the solemn mansions of the dead, as well as
amid the splendid dwellings of the living—can ad-
minister to the indulgence of buried affection, as
wellas tothe joyous feelings of requited love. But
we are indebted to horticulture for most the of com-
forts as wellas many of the pleasures of life. We
owe to this art the culture of the most beautiful or-
namental trees and shrubs, the choicest variety of
fruits—the finest kind of flowers, and the most nutri-
cious and wholesome species of vegetables. Even
agriculture is indebted to the garden for many of its
most valuable products. There, says, Poiteau, “like
the young Hercules, she first tried her powers, and
prepared, like him to overrun the world which she
speedily cleared of monsters, and bestowed upon
man the laws of civilization.”

28

Horticulture administers not only to our wants and
pleasures, but it also gives a high moral tone to our
feelings by habituating the mind to the tranquillity
and contentment of domestic life, and the quiet
pleasures of rural occupation. We are carried
from the contemplation of the exquisite specimens
of the taste and wisdom of the Creator which we
are laboring to rear, to the Creator himself. Our
admiration becomes more enthusiastic and our devo-
tion more ardent. “All the beautiful thoughts and
sentiments,” says Sharon Turner “which poetry has
breathed in every age in praise of verdant or floral
nature and of rural life, are the expressed homage
of the heart to the charms and utilities of the vege-
table creation and are so many undesigned but im-
plied encomiums on its invisible author for planning
and ordaining it.”
‘Forth in the pleasing Spring

Thy beauty walks; thy tenderness and love.—

Wide flush the fields; the softening air is balm

And every sense and every heart is joy.”

‘The vegetable kindom is profuse with the man-
ifestations of the goodness, liberality and kindness of
the Deity towards man. “It expands, says the elo-
quent writer, I have just quoted,* ‘every where be-
fore us an immense portraiture of the Divine mind
in its contriving skill, profuse immagination, con-
celving genius and exquisite tase; as well as its in-
teresting qualities of the most gracious benignity
and the most benevolent munificense. The various
flowers we behold awaken these sentiments within

* Turner’s Sacred Hist.

29

us, and compel our reason to make these percep-
tions and this inference. ‘They are the annual
heralds and ever returning pledges to us of his con-
- tinuing beneficence, of his desire to please and to
benefit us, and therefore of his parental and intel-
lectual amiabilities. The thunder—the pestilence
and the tempest awe and humble us into dismaying
recollections of his tremendous omnipotence, and
possible visitations, and of our total inability to re-
sist or avert them; but the beauty and benefactions
of his vegetable creations—the flowers and the
forests more especially remind and assures us of
his unforgetting care, of his condescending sympa-
thy, of his paternal attentions and of the same affec-
tionate benignity, still actuating his mind which
must have influenced it to design and execute such
lovely and benevolent productions that display the
minutest thought, mo-t elaborate compositions, and
so much personal kindness.” It is in the garden
that we can see the wisdom and tenderness, and
beneficence of the Benevolent Creator, and it is
there that our gratitude and devotion would lead
‘us to exclaim, with the poet of night,
“O how Omnipotence
Is lost in love! Thou great Philanthropist,
Father of angels, but the Friend of Man.”

Look around you and behold the spectacle of

beauty and usefulness which nature, aided by the

hand of industry and art, has spread before you.
‘This festival of flowers—this banquet of delights

this “beauty to the eye and pleasure to the sense,”
will, I trust, be annually enjoyed by those who pre-
fer the happiness which springs from the refresh-

30

ing and salutary pursuits of Horticulture to the
feverish and exiting agitations of artificial life.
We’invite, then, all both male and female, to unite
with us in the pleasing and useful enterprise in
which we have engaged—to join us in our efforts
to spread a taste for the beauties of nature, and in-
fuse a relish for a pursuit which is so replete with
innocence and happiness—and which so largely
contributes to the utility, and comfort, and enjoy-
ment of mankind.

DISCRIPTION

OF THE FIRST ANNUAL
EXHIBITION.

The first annual Exhibition of the Columbian Horticultural
Society was held in the City Hall, on the 5th and 6th of June. A
large and splendid collection of green-house plants, and a great var-
iety of garden flowers, vegetables, and fruits, were brought from
the different parts of the District to the Hall of exibition. The
season having been very unfavorable, it was apprehended that the
exibition would disappoint public expectation; but such were the
zeal and enthusiasm of the horticulturist, florists, and others of
the District, that it presented, even on the first day, a spectacle
of beauty and splendor that surprised all who saw it, and that was
said to be unsurpassed, in variety and profusion, by any thing of
the kind ever before seen in this country. The committee, to
whom its superintendence was assigned, displayed great taste in
its arrangement by the admirable grouping and disposition of
the plants, and assisted by several ladies of the City and it vicin-
ity, who kindly lent their aid on the occasion, succeeded in ren-
dering it a scene of enchantment, where the eye was feasted with
beauty, the scent regaled by the delicious fragrance of the richest
flowers, and the ear charmed by the melody of birds, placed amid
the verdant foliage and golden fruit of the orange and citrion trees,
by the soft and pensive tones of the Eolian Harp, and the fine mu-
sic of the Marine band. The green-house plants and the numer-
ous garden flowers were arranged on pyramids, in different parts
of the spacious hall and along the walls of the apartment, leaving
alleys, bordered by the most rare and beautiful productions of
Flora, through which the visiter passed to gaze on the beauties
and inhale the fragranee that breathed around him. Every one

that entered was struck by the novelty and splendor of the fairy
scene, and crowds rushed to behold it before it should disappear.
Two small floral pyramids were constructed and arranged in the
most tasteful manner, by several ladies of the District, consisting
of at least 400 varieties of the choicest and most beautiful garden
flowers, chiefly from the parterre of Mrs. Bomford and Mr, J.
Pierce, and supporting a magnificent silver vase crowned with
flowers. @lass globes, surmounted with bouquets of roses, lilies,
pinks, etc. and containing gold fish, sporting and glittering in their
native element, were placed in different parts of the hall, and
seemed to swimamid a flood of fragrance. At night the spectacle
was, if possible, still more splendid and enchanting. The lights,
interspersed among the shrubs, tropical fruit trees, and groups of
flowers, gave additional brilliancy and beauty to the almost magi-
calscene. During the exibition, on both days, the hall was crow-
ded by visiters who flocked to witness this festival of Flora, and all
seemed delighted at the first effort of the society, which so far
surpased their expectations, and gave so fair a promise of future
exellence and utility. The scene appeared to inspire a feeling
of harmony and social affection; and every thing calculated to dis-
turb or agitate was charmed into silence, or banished from the
mind, by the tranquillizing and splendid spectacle thus exhibited.
The committee of arrangements are entitled to high praise for
their assiduity and for the taste and untiring zeal they displayed in
making the exhibition so attractive and beautiful. The exhibition
was closed on friday evening, the 6th, by an Address from George
Watterston, Esq, Cor. Sec., to whom the task had been assigned
by the unanimous voice of the society, and who acquitted himself
in amanner highly satisfactory to his fellow members, and pleasing
to the numerous and respectable assemblage of persons present
on the occasion. The orator presented an interesting view of
ihe history and science of Horticulture, the salutary and peaceful
tendencies of its pursuits, and the charms which it receives from
female industry and taste. He took a review of the antiquity and
gradual progress of this interesting science, both in its ornamen-
tal and useful branches of those parts of knowledge necessary toa
correct understanding and development of its principles and prac-
tice, and to the successful prosecution of its labors. He dwelt upon

ani 8

33

the useful effects of cultivation on vegetable nature; “on the rich-
ness and abundance with which Divine Providence has blessed
mankind, in bestowing upon him such inexhaustible stores of veg-
etable wealth. The munificence and wisdom of the Deity in its
formation, its diversity, its beauty; and preserving and handing,
down from age to age, its treasures for the use of man. He ex-
plained the origin, history, and improving nature, of Horticultural
societies in Europe and America, and the beneficial effects antici-
pated for the District of Columbia from the establishment of the
Columbian Horticultural Society, whose exertions where destined
to improve the moral and religious character of its inhabitants, and
add to the happiness of the social and domestic circle. It were
impractible, ina short sketch, to embrace even an outline of the
address: suffice it to say, that it was heard with deep interest, and
responded to by universal applause.

At the hour named for the delivery of the address, 8 o’clock, the
room, though very spacious, was filled to overflowing, and the or-
ator had the satisfaction to know that his learned and appropriate
discourse was listened to by a delighted audience, combining a full
share of the beauty, fashion, and- talent, that usually graces and
enlightens the capital of the nation when congress is in session.

It was a matter of regret that the Society could not comply with
the earnest request of the citizens, by continuing the exhibition
during the whole of Saturday, The room being required for the
accommodation of the newly elected City Council on the Monday
following, it was necessary that the plants should be removed prior
to that day, and therefore the Society were constrained to close

the exhibition on Friday, to the regret of many who had not had
an opportunity of visiting it.

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