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AN

UNIDIA TORY SISOS UIESL,
DELIVERED

At Geneva, 27th November, 1828,

BEFORE AN ASSEMBLY, FROM WHICH, ON THAT DAY, WAS
FORMED

THE DOMESTIC

HOMMOULZURAL sOOIbTy

OF THE

WESTERN PARTS OF THE STATE OF NEW-YOR:E.

rr BO@Oee-
BY MYRON HOLLEY, ESQ.
> CQeu-

Greiteva :

PRINTED BY JAMES BOGERT.
———-.
L828.

ian aan aad

AT the first Meeting of “ THE DOMESTIC HORTICULTURAL SOCI-
ETY of the Western parts of the State of New-York,” held at Geneva, 27th
November, 1828—

RESOLVED, That the thanks of the Society be tendered to Mr. Hotxey, for
his eloquent and instructive INITIATORY ADDRESS; and that a copy of
the same be requested for publication, under the direction of the Committee
of Managers of the Society.

Extract from the Minutes.
ANDREW GLOVER,

Recording Secretary.

i ss
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ee

ADDRESS, d&c.

=r O@Sae

CPS - + ae wee

Friends and Fellow-Citizens :

THE impulse which has brought together, at this
place, so intelligent and respectable an assembly, affords
a happy omen for the Institution here intended to be
formed. Weare tiow making the first attempt, in this

9UAb Vicinity, to associate bers in the work of informing,
refining and extending a taste for Horticulture. And,
while it is natural for all of us who delight in the beau-
tiful and useful productions of the garden, and the or-
chard, to rejoice in this public manifestation of favour
for the cultivation of them, it may be both agreeable
and appropriate to introduce the more specific business
of this Address, by some references to the past.

Forty years ago the country which we now occu-
py in such full and secure enjoyment, presented a wide-
ly different scene. Then, the wealth of nature, so pro-
fusely lavished upon this goodly region, lay all seclu-
ded and unvalued. In vain our plains teemed with fer-
tility, our streams rippled over their declivities, and our
lakes stretched their beautiful surfaces along the most
safe and accessible shores. ‘The rude and unbroken
forest; the wild and lonely waters, covered and con-
cealed every thing, and the whole land was shared by
the deer, the bear, the wolf and the panther, with the

4

savage man, who hunted, and fished, and fought, and
suffered in it, but who could not properly be deemed ei-
ther to possess, or to enjoy it.

The Fathers of the Genesee Country are not yet
mentioned with the same emphatic respect which accom-
panies every allusion to the venerable pilgrims of Ply-
mouth; but, by their high practical virtues, by their
brave enterprise, their undergoing fortitude, and their
prevailing faith, they proved themselves to be truly de-
rived from the same stock.

Since the date of their bold advance into the wil-
derness, we have become so familiar with new settle-
ments, growing prosperously and secure, that we can
hardly estimate the disregard of ease, and all the soft
enjoyments of life, which theygmust necessarily have
entertained. For, since that period, what transforma-
tions have we witnessed! How far beyond us the tide
of cultivated population has flowed! How many new
and powerful states have been founded, in place of the
gloomy woods, and their fierce possessors! ‘Then, the
Indian title to our country was first extinguished, though
it still remained in full and acknowledged force, to an
extensive territory between us and the nearest limits of
civilization. Then, a foreign nation, recently at war
with ours, was in possession of all the military posts
within our limits, as well as its own, upon our north-
ern frontier; where it kept strong 5 garrisons, and
maintained an intercourse with the Indian tribes which
inflamed their barbarous propensities towards our citi-
zens. And the Indians themselves, having been array-
ed on the side of our enemy, in the same war, and hav-
ing seen their crops destroyed, their orchards cut down,
and their dwellings given to the flames by our success-

Sasi

%

ful soldiery, were unusually prone to vengeance. Then,
too, our own government was not able to interpose the
ample shield of its established power, for the protection
of the dissevered settlements of its remote interior; for it
was tottering with debility, and showed frightful symp-
toms of dissolution under the old confederation.

Such were some of the repulsive circumstances un-
der which the small band of our adventurous predeces-
sors, in the fall of 1788, and, im this very spot, first
planted that broad and spreading tree of life, which, by
so many and such vigorous branches, now adorns and
gladdens the land. With what unshrinking resolution,
with what bold hope, did they sustain themselves !—
The character of their, undertaking, in their own esti-
mate, included much privation and personal hazard.—
These they met with wary prudence and manly firm-
ness. Continual and unmitigated labour they expected,
and cheerfully encountered. ‘They were often subject-
ed to hunger without food ; to sickness without the aid
of nurse or physician, and to bloodshed from the sav-
age. But they had great and beneficent objects, and
they succeeded. ‘The civil and social good which they
intended, is made certain. And though they had to
struggle much, and to endure much, they also enjoyed
much.

No associations among men create stronger ties of
friendly regard than those which necessarily exist be-
tween the first adventurers into new and dangerous set-
tlements. And the sincerity and constancy of this re-
gard, in respect to real enjoyment, often makes up, and
more than makes up, for all the loss of ease, and luxu-
ry, and formal courtesy, which are usually found in
long established, populous, and wealthy communities.

6

This was eminently the joy of our predecessors. But
this was not all their joy. Their spirits were perpetu-
ally refreshed by glowing anticipations of the future.—
They knew the importance of their exertions. ‘They
laboured, and suffered, in perfect assurance that they
were laying the foundation of the great blessings which
we enjoy, and of yet greater blessings to come. And
like affectionate Fathers, they rejoiced in the foreseen
joy of their descendants.

And now, if in the land of their hopes, their trials,
and their toils, the most useful and creative arts have
set up their dominion, and are already exhibiting their
most desirable trophies: if Agriculture has placed her
axes, her ploughs aud her flails into, the strongest hands
for our advancement, and made the fertility of our plains
to fill innumerable granaries: if Manufacture, with
her wheels, her lathes and her spindles, has already
peopled the banks of our streams, and is rapidly draw-
ing all the weight of their waters into our service: if
Internal Trade, with her hosts of active, clear-sighted
and diligent agents, is filling our lakes with her various
and ingenious craft: ‘Then, while with devoted hom-
age, and pious gratitude, we ascribe the praise and glo-
ry of these results to our Heavenly Father, let us also
often recall, to the most respectful memory, the distin-
euished men who first opened the great theatre on which
they are displayed.

Holding such views of the character and deserts of
those who have gone before us, and desiring the contin-
ued advancement of the country which they left us, so
exuberant in the bounties of physical nature, and so re-
plete with all the substantial comforts, and many of the
elegancies of life, some of us have supposed that a

%
Horticultural Society might be rendered one of the
means of its further improvement. And, conscious that
such an institution would increase our own enjoyment
of one of the most appropriate and delightful of human
occupations, we gave the notice, which has been the
occasion of this assembly.

Horticulture is the most ancient of the useful arts.—
It was the great employment assigned to man by his
omniscient Creator, before guilt had invaded his heart,
or sorrow had wrinkled his brow. In the first fresh-
ness of the world, as it was called into being, clothed
with every ornament of which it was susceptible, when
every herb and tree that grew upon it, every bird that
flew in its air, every fish that swam in its waters, and
every animal that walked upon its earth, was pronoun-
ced, by perfect Wisdom, to be ‘very good,” then a
Garden was the crown of its attractions, and “to dress
it, and to keep it,’’ was an employment worthy of its
only rational inhabitants.

An employment suitable to the pure enjoyments of
Paradise before the fall, has always been esteemed use-
ful and desirable since. And it is probable that Adam,
after he was sent forth from the garden of Eden, to til!
the ground, and had sought to regain the favour of his
Maker by repentance and submission, still cherished a
fond attachment to it. It is certain that a taste for it
has been nearly the uniform inheritance of his children.
For, in every age, those nations which have been most
conspicuous for knowledge, and power, and refinement,
have been most remarkable for their love of Horticulture.

During their Egyptian bondage the Jews were accus-
tomed to an abundance of garden vegetables: for, in
the book of Numbers, we find them, in the wilderness,

8
complaining for the want of “the cucumbers, and the
melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the gar-
licks,” which they were wont to eat in Egypt. If the
Jews, in their servitude, were habituated to the enjoy-
ment of these articles, which have always been among
the most prized of garden esculents in warm climates,
we may reasonably infer that the state of Egyptian
Horticulture was far advanced. Moses himself, in set-
ting forth the attractions of the land of Canaan, for the
purpose of more effectually exciting his nation to obey
God, represents it as producing vines, fig-trees, and
pomegranates, plants of the garden; as well as wheat,
barley, oil, and honey. And he directs, that, when
they shall have planted all manner of trees, for food,
they shall not partake of their fruits until the fifth year,
the fruits of the fourth year being devoted to the Lord,
and the earlier fruits not being permitted to ripen; doubt-
less for the benefit of the trees.

In later times the Jews are represented, in the scrip-
tures, as having delighted themselves with eating in
gardens, under bowers and shady places. And the
most striking images by which they expressed a state
of great national security and prosperity, are drawn
from a garden, where every one ate and drank under his
own vine and fig-tree, with none to molest him. In the
Song of Solomon, the wisest of men is addressed as
having a thousand vineyards, with two hundred persons
to keep their fruits; and as dwelling in the gardens.—
In the first book of Chronicles, those who wrought fine
linen, and potters employed by the king, are mentioned
as having lodged in his gardens.

The 7th book of Homer’s Odyssey contains a beau-
tiful description of the garden of the good and hospit-

3
able king Alcinous, of which the following is Pope’s
translation :

«“ CLOSE to the gates a spacious garden lies,
From storms defended and inclement skies.
Four acres was th’ allotted space of ground,
Fenc’d with a green enclosure all around.
Tall thriving trees confessed the fruitful mould ;
The redd’ning apple ripens here to gold.
Here the blue fig with luscious juice o’erflows,
With deeper red the full pomegranate glows.
The branch here bends beneath the weighty pear,
And verdant olives flourish round the year.
The balmy spirit of the western gale
Eternal breathes, on fruits untaught to fail :
Each dropping pear, a following pear supplies :
On apples apples, figs on figs arise :
The same mild season gives the blooms to blow,
The buds to harden, and the fruits to grow.

“ Here order’d vines, in equal ranks appear,
With all th’ united labors of the year :
Some to unload the fertile branches run ;
Some dry the black’ning clusters in the sun ;
Others to tread the liquid harvest join ;
The groaning presses foam with floods of wine.
Here are the vines in early flower descried,
Here grapes discolour’d on the sunny side,
And there in autumn’s richest purple dy’d.
Beds of all various herbs, for ever green,
In beauteous order terminate the scene.
Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crowned ;
This through the garden leads its streams around,
Visits each plant, and waters all the ground.”

But the hanging gardens of Babylon, if they were
not more fruitful than that of Alcinous, were vastly more
expensive and more picturesque. And what makes them
more interesting is the spirit of courtesy in which they
were constructed. Nebuchadnezzar made them to

B

AS

gratify the taste of his wife, who being by birth a Mede,
and accustomed to the view of mountainous regions, did
not perfectly enjoy the rural prospects of the level coun-
try around her husband’s capital. These gardens were
four hundred feet square, and consisted of terraces rais-
ed one above another to the height of three hundred
and fifty feet. ‘These terraces were ascended by steps
ten feet wide, and supported by massy arches upon
arches of solid masonry, the whole being surrounded
and strengthened by a wall twenty-two feet thick. The
floor of each terrace was made impervious to water, and
covered with a sufficient depth of soil to support the
largest trees, and the innumerable shrubs and plants
with which it was embellished. And upon the upper
terrace was a reservoir, which was filled with water
from the river by an ingenious engine, of such dimen-
sions as to supply the moisture required by all the
terraces.

Among the Greeks, the city of Athens, more illus-
trious than any other city upon which the sun has ever
shone, for the immortal models of art and genius which
she has furnished the human race, was surrounded by
gardens and groves. Without her walls, but near them,
were those of the Lyceum, of the Cynosarges, of the
the Academy, of Epicurus, and of Plato. In the tran-
quil and elegant retirement of these scenes, the most
virtuous and venerable of the heathen sages successive-
ly received, and imparted, all the lights of ancient phi-
losophy.

The Romans were peculiarly fond of gardens. In
their cities the common people used to have represent-
ations of them in their windows. And several of their
noble families derived their names from their cultiva-

AA

tion of certain kinds of garden vegetables; as the Fabii,
Lentuli, and Lactucini. So attached to gardens were
the lowest populace of Rome, that in the inimitably
artful speech of Antony over the body of Cesar, as
presented to us by Shakspeare, the last degree of in-
dignation is excited in their minds against his murder-
ers, by the generous disposition which they were told
Cesar had made of his gardens in his will. Antony
assures them, “ Moreover he hath left you all his walks,
his private arbours, and new planted orchards, on this
side Tiber :—he hath left them you, and to your heirs
for ever, common pleasures, to walk abroad and recre-
ate yourselves.” Upon this they could no longer be
restrained, but resolved, at once, to burn the traitors’
houses.

The most ancient of the Roman gardens referred to
in history, was that of Tarquin the Proud, in which
that monster is said to have intimated his intention to
destroy the people of Gabii, by striking off the heads
of the flowers: from which I think it reasonable to in-
fer, that he did not make the garden. [But the most
magnificent of the Roman gardens were those of Lucul-
lus, which he made when the power of that empire was
greatest, and her wealth and luxury the most conspicu-
ous. In these gardens artificial elevations of earth were
made to a surprising height ; expensive buildings were
projected into the sea, and large lakes were excavated
upon land. The enormous cost of these works Lucul-
lus was able to defray by the spoils of Asia, in which
he had been a most successful commander. Plutarch
represents him as having possessed eminent military
and civil merits, and as having a profound veneration
for Grecian philosophy, in which he was deeply pro-

A2

ficient; though that distinguished biographer regarded,
as frivolous amusements, his sumptuous villas, his
walks, his paintings, his statues, and his other works
of art. Lucullus was a literary, accomplished, and op-
ulent epicure, and, at the same time, a sincere patriot.
For while, on the one hand, he delighted in all the of-
ferings of the muses, and enjoyed them, in the highest
degree, with Cicero and many of their other favorites,
whom he was accustomed to entertain at his Tusculan
villa, with all the dainties of Roman life; on the other
hand he was the most cordial and efficient friend of Ca-
to, in the senate-house, in all his measures to preserve
the commonwealth against the ambitious designs of
Pompey and Cesar.

In the later days of Rome, the elegant and polish-
ed Pliny was devoted to his gardens; and it is proba-
ble that his Tuscan villa exhibited the most tasteful and
beautiful, if not the most costly garden of all antiquity.
Situated in the midst of a vast natural amphitheatre, at
the base of the Appenine mountains, and surrounded
with hills covered with lofty and venerable woods, with
the river Viber and all its navigation running through
the middle of the prospect, it had every external beau-
ty of scenery which art and nature could bestow. And
within its fences it was adorned with all the trees, and
shrubs, and flowers, and herbs, and walks, and hedg-
es, and porticos, and summer houses, and alcoves, and
seats, and basins, and artificial fountains, that were
then acceptable to the most cultivated love of rural re-
finement.

The taste for gardens, in modern times, has not
been less universal, nor less operative. They are fre-
quently mentioned in the history of the earliest monkish

A3

establishments, and religious houses, during the dark
ages. Italy and France have been long conspicuous for
their general and ostentatious Horticulture. They are
more celebrated for their cultivation of delicious fruits,
for their ornamental and shady walks, and their various
and refreshing artificial fountains of water, than for the
excellence of their culinary vegetables.

Holland and Flanders were very early distinguish-
ed, as they still are, for their love of plants and flow-
ers, in which they have probably excelled all the other
people of Europe. Previous to the sixteenth century
exotics were more cultivated there than any where else,
and their gardens contained a great variety of rare
plants. At that early day they carried on a considera-
ble commerce in these articles. ‘They imported plants
from the Levant and both the Indies, and exported
them to England, France and Germany. Before the
time of Henry the eighth, the London market was sup-
plied with culinary herbs and roots from Holland. And
during many reigns afterwards the English kings ob-
tained their gardeners from that country.

The soil of Great Britain was considered unfit for
the finest productions of Horticulture till within the last
century. It was always unrivalled for the freshness
and beauty of its verdure. But, it has been known on-
ly within the three or four last generations to have paid
great attention to the ornamental cultivation of its plea-
sure grounds, or the profitable produce of its kitchen
and fruit gardens. Since the general introduction of
forcing houses, at the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, her noblemen, and other men of taste and opu-
lence, have been wonderfully successful in the finest
arts of cultivation. Now there is said to be more cer-

A4

fainty of finding pine apples, of domestic growth, in
the London market, every day in the year, than there
is either in Jamaica or Calcutta.

The total number of vegetable species, not indigen-
ous, in England, introduced previous to the accession
of George the 4th, is said to have been 11,970; of
which the first 47 were brought in before and during
the reign of Henry 8th; 533 during that of Elizabeth ;
578 during the reign of the two Charles’, and Crom-
well ; 44 in that of James 2nd; 298 in that of William
and Mary; 230 in that of Anne ; 182 in that of George
4st; 1770 in that of George 2nd; and 6756 in that of
George the 3d.

The civilized nations of the earth are now vieing
with each other in Horticultural establishments. And
since the discoveries of Linneus, a new and most valu-
able object has been extensively connected with many
of them, which has given them additional claims to in-
telligent favour: I allude to the promotion of Botanic
science. Europe has numerous public amd private gar-
dens, in which the splendours of Horticulture are most
happily combined with this enchanting pursuit.

In our own country there have been several attempts,
by individuals, and by associations, -to effect the same
agreeable combination. ‘These attempts are exceeding-
ly laudable, and, if duly encouraged, will ensure ex-
tensive and lasting benefits. They are like to be es-
sentially aided by the United States’? government.—
For, during the last year, we were told by one of its
public functionaries, that the President had much at
heart the introduction into our country, from abroad, of
plants of every description not already known among
us, Whether used as food, or for purposes connected

A

with the arts, through the agency of our ministers, con-
suls, and other public agents in foreign countries.

Ornamental gardening, in its broadest range, has at
one time or another been made to include almost every
class of objects, both in nature and art, from the asso-
ciation of which pleasure could naturally be derived.
Milton describes the garden of Eden as containing,
‘in narrow room, nature’s whole wealth, yea more, a
heaven on earth.”

But the more restricted and essential idea of a gar-
den, is that of a place where, by the aid of cultivation,
vegetable productions may be reared more excellent in
kind, and more pleasing in distribution, than the ordi-
nary growth of nature. Beauty and use are both in-
cluded, though they may both exist, in an almost infi-
nite diversity of relative proportions, according to the
diversities of taste, and skill, and means in cultivators.

The direct objects of gardening, in the more restrict-
ed definition, besides earth and water, are trees, and
shrubs, and fruits, and flowers, and esculent vegetables,
with the best modes of propagating, nourishing, arrang-
ing, improving, and preserving them. ‘To these ob-
jects the manuring, mixing and working of soils, the
construction of fences, walks, terraces, quarters, bor-
ders, trellises, arbours and implements, are every where
subsidiary ; while, in climates subject to frost, the wall,
the hot-bed and the green-house are valuable and agree-
able auxiliaries.

The successful conduct of the business of a garden
requires labour, vigilance and knowledge. iver since
the sentence of the Most High subjected man to earn
his bread in the sweat of his face, labour has been the
appointed means of his advancement and happiness.—

46

Without it, it is impossible for us to have healthy bod-
ies, or cheerful minds. And the worth of all the valu-
able possessions which we acquire, is measured by the
amount of it which they respectively involve. It is not
wonderful, therefore, that much of it is essential to the
most desirable Horticulture. Though it is not merely
gross corporeal labour that is required.
“ Strength may wield the ponderous spade,

May turn the clod, and wheel the compost home ;

But elegance, chief grace the garden shows,

And most attractive, is the fair result

Of thought, the creature of a polish’d mind.”

And labour is not more indispensable than vigilance
—keen-sighted, unremitted vigilance. Many of the
nurselings of the garden are so tender and so exposed to
accidents, for months together, that an hour’s neglect
may lead to cureless ruin, and disappoint hopes long
and fondly cherished.

But, without knowledge, labour and vigilance are
vain. ‘The accomplished gardencr must know the
best manner and time of performing a great multiplici-
ty of manual operations peculiar to each season of the
year, all of which are essential to his success, and the
knowledge of which cannot be obtained without much
experience and observation. Every direct and every
subsidiary object of his pursuit demands care, and re-
flection, and knowledge. He must not only know the
modes and times of propagating trees, and shrubs, and
flowers, of which there are several already understood,
as applicable to many of them; the proper use of the
pruning knife, so essential to some of his highest pur-
poses; the various means of improving the flavour and
size of fruits, which will be acknowledged to have been

4%
most successfully introduced, when it is remembered
that the largest and most delicious apples upon our ta-
bles have been derived from the austere English crab ;
the measures most effective towards meliorating the less
esteemed culinary vegetables, which he will not consid-
er unimportant when he learns that seme of them, now
the most savoury and nutritious, were, in their uncul-
tivated state, of but little claim to notice, such as the
asparagus, the celery, the cauliflower, the potato; the
charming art of managing flowers, by which the single
and almost scentless blossoms of nature have been
swelled into much greater compass, and new varieties
of beauty, and filled with an intenser fragrance: but
the accomplished gardener should understand the best
_’ncthods of acclimating plants not indigenous, which
may contribute, prodigiously, to embellishment and use,
and which involves the knowledge of botanical geogra-
phy. And he should have all that science which may
be conducive to the utmost possible perfection of every
subject of his care. To this end chemistry, natural
history, and botany are necessary.

The productions of the garden are affected, either
for evil or fer good, in the different stages of their growth,
by the most minute and the most magnificent objects in
nature, by the bugs, by the worms, by the flies, by the
birds, by the clouds, by the air, by the sun. The
knowledge of these objects, with all their means of fa-
vour or annoyance, and the superadded knowledge of
all the other objects and means by which the effects of
these, so far as they are good, may be promoted, and
so far as they are evil, may be prevented, should be
embraced within the scope of his acquirements. ‘The
science of Horticulture, therefore, does not merely ad-

48

mit—it demands, excites, and favours the most exten-
sive and diversified intellectual attainments.

But, it has pleasures to bestow which amply repay
all its demands, both upon the body and the mind.

It gratifies all the senses.

The feeling is gratified, by its smooth walks, its soft
banks, the touch of many of its leaves, and fruits, and
flowers, and by the refreshing coolness of its shades.

The smell is agreeably excited, from unnumbered
sources. From the lowliest pot-herb to the stateliest
tree; from the humble violet and mignionette to the
splendid tulip and the queenly rose, a garden is the un-
rivalled repository of fragrance.

The gratification of the ear, in a garden, is adven-
titious, not of man’s procurement, but nevertheless cer-
tain and real. The most tasteful of the animal crea-
tion, in their flight, from one end of the earth to the
other, discover ne spot so alluring to them as a well re-
plenished garden. The birds are fond of its shade, its
flowers and its fruit. Amidst these they love to build
their nests, rear their young, and first win them to that
element which seems created to be their peculiar field
of joy. And if they sometimes commit unwelcome in-
roads upon the delicacies which we prize, they more
than compensate us by their cheerful and continual songs,
and by destroying innumerable and more dangerous in-
truders in the air, in the trees, upon the plants, and on
the ground.

The taste finds its choicest regalement in the garden,
in its sweet roots, its crisp and tender sallads, its nu-
tritious aud acceptable pulse, its pungent and salutary
condiments, its fragrant and delicious fruits, with a
countless list of other palatable productions, all exist-

A9 -
ing in such tmexhaustible variety, that the art of cook-
ery takes more than half its subjects from that overflow-
ing store-house.

But the eye delights in a garden, as if all its la-
bours, its cares and its knowledge had been dedicated
to that single sense. From every quarter, and border,
and arbour; from every bank, and walk, and plant,
and shrub, and tree; from every single object, every
group of objects, and every combination of groups,
spring forms of beauty, fresh, living, well proportion-
ed, graceful beauty, natural though cultivated, inno-
cent though gay.

Horticulture gratifies the higher faculties of our na-
ture, the intellectual taste, the reason, the heart.

Doctor Aiken has justly remarked, that “no pleas-
ure, derived from art, has been so universal as that ta-
ken in gardens.” And from the remark we should in-
fer, what the history of every enlightened people will
demonstrate, that, on no subject have men exerted them-
selves more, for the display of taste, than on this.—
That delicate power of gifted and cultivated minds,
which almost intuitively discerns, and nicely enjoys,
all the genuine beauties of nature and art, and turns,
with sudden disgust, from every species of deformity,
has always regarded a well stored, well arranged, and
well dressed garden with peculiar satisfaction. And
this is, undoubtedly, owing, not solely or chiefly to the
numberless and exquisite gratifications of sense which
such a garden affords, but also to the pleasing effect
which it naturally produces on the imagination, and
other faculties of the mind.

All desirable objects which excite the mind without
fatiguing it, are the sources of agreeable emotion. And

2B

the senses, which we have seen are all bfought over te
be the advocates of Horticulture by most of the wealth
of nature, of which they can appreciate the value, are,
in a garden, constantly soliciting the mental faculties.
The eye particularly, by its delicate susceptibilities, its
great range, and the number of objects which it can
embrace at a single glance, is for ever exciting the im-
agination by the most agreeable appearances which it
presents, of colour and form, each considered singly in
all its varieties, and both blended into combinations
more diversified and more beautiful than even those of
the kaleidoscope. And the imagination yielding to the
excitement, calls up the other intellectual powers to par-
take of her pleasures. ‘Then, the higher joys of taste
commence: then, the exalted beauties of order, design,
intelligence, are disclosed: then, objects are viewed in
reference to their congruity, their contrast, their regu-
larity, their proportion, their simplicity, their variety,
their novelty, their beauty, their sublimity, their adap-
tation to an end, and the value of that end. Each of
these views introduces a broad theme of agreeable
contemplation. Collectively they comprehend all the
charms and glories of the external world; every thing but
the moral sense, and the sympathies of the heart. And
I shall endeavor to show, that they are of vast impor-
tance to the highest improvement and proper enjoyment
of these. But, before entering upon that exhibition,
which necessarily refers to the most comprehensive and
permanent benefits of which man can be made the par-
taker, permit me to advert to several of the subordinate
benefits of Horticulture.

The proper objects, and pleasures, and uses of Hor-
ticulture are all beneficial, and are acknowledged to be

ZA

so, universally. And it may well be thought extraer-
dinary, with this acknowledgment, that societies for
its promotion were not earlier established. It is not
surprising that they did not exist among the nations of
antiquity, because, ameng them, there was not, in gen-
eral, indulged to private people sufficient freedom of
communication and concerted action to permit such in-
stitutions. Besides, if the inclinations of the common
people were ever so much in favour of the fruits and
pleasures of gardening, it was impossible for any to
cultivate or to enjoy them extensively, but the great
ones of the earth. 'They were of too costly a relish
for general participation. Kings and princes, generals
and senators, applied to them their power, with emu-
lous devotion. How would the interests of humanity
have been promoted if their power had never been worse
applied !

But considering the more enlarged diffusion of wealth
and freedom, in modern times, it might have been ex-
pected that associations, in aid of their rational pleas-
ures, and beneficial uses, would have been sooner com-
menced and more generally adopted. It is believed
that no such association existed in the world before
the latter end of the last century. Though if their rise
was late, it was honourable. It is certainly creditable
to human nature that the first of these institutions pro-
ceeded from the exalted and liberal motives originating
in the love of science. Botanical societies paved the
way for Horticultural societies, and for associations, in
which the objects of both were happily united. Soon
after the great northern light of the world of natural
science shed its benignant beams, with peculiar bril-
liancy, upon botany, revealing all the recesses of that

2B

science to the admiring observation of man, societies
were instituted for its promotion. Several of these ex-
ist on the continent of Europe, under the patronage of
men illustrious for science and philanthropy.

In 1805 a private association for Horticultural ob-
jects was commenced in London, which was incorpora-
ted by royal charter, in 1809. In 1803, in Edinburgh,
a Florist society was instituted, which, in 1809, en-
larged its views and took the title of the Caledonian
Horticultural society. At Paisley, in Scotland, a Flo-
rist society was, some time ago, established, of which
an eminent writer observes, that “the rearing of beau-
tiful flowers is found to improve the taste for manufac-
turing elegant patterns of fancy muslin; while the fior-
ists of Paisley have been long remarked for the peace-
fulness of their dispositions, and the sobriety of their
manners.”’

Several Botanical and Horticultural societies have
been commenced in the United States, some of which
are rapidly advancing in importance and respectability.
The influence of them collectively, and of their several
scientific and public spirited members, individually, has
been very perceptible in awakening a general desire for
the improved cultivation of gardens and pleasure grounds,
and an increasing love of rural pursuits. One of the
most useful of these is, the New-York Horticultural
society, which was originally formed in 1818, though
not incorporated till 1822. The effects of this society
are most agreeably manifested in the superior quantity
and quality of culinary vegetables, fruits and flowers
to be found in the New-York markets; in the emulation
excited among actual cultivators; in the valuable prac-
fical publications, upon gardening and planting, which

2B

it has encouraged, and in the public discourses of seve-
ral of its most intelligent and accomplished members.—
With these societies, I trust, the institution which we
are now assembled to originate, will become an active
and useful fellow laborer.

The benefits of such associations are numerous and
of great importance.

They encourage profitable industry. In the vicini-
ty of London there are occupied, as fruit and kitchen
gardens, about 14,000 acres of land, of which the an-
nual produce is sold for more than 4,000,000 dollars.—
Within six miles of Edinburgh, there are computed to
be 500 acres, occupied in the same way, of which the
annual produce is worth near 100,000 dollars. For
the supply of the New-York market with vegetables,
fruits and flowers, there are cultivated several thousand
acres of land, of which the aggregate annual produce,
in the market, is supposed to be near $400,000. ‘The
portions of earth thus cultivated, are far more produc-
tive than any other equal portions of land in the coun-
tries where they are situated. And they give a healthy
and virtuous employment to great multitudes of human
beings.

They promote important practical knowledge, by
the inquiries which they stimulate, and the competition
which they inspire. ‘They lead to the institution of an
immense number of more skilful and careful processes
of cultivation than are previously followed, from some
of which advantageous results may be reasonably anti-
cipated. And by conversation, by writing, by public
addresses, and every other method of communicating
knowledge, every advantageous result will immediately
be shared by the whole community.

LAs

They create a new spirit of Horticultural and bo-
tanical enterprise. In our country, a necessary and
most desirable consequence of this will be, that we shall
obtain a complete acquaintance with all our indigenous
vegetables. From the east and from the west, from the
north and from the south, our native plants will all be
gathered. Every swamp, and every valley, every plain
and every mountain, which is surveyed by the Ameri-
can eagle, in his widest fiight, will be made tributary,
with all its vegetable wealth, to the great interests of
science and humanity.

The science of Horticulture is capable of great im-
provement, even in those countries where it has been
most sedulously fostered. Recently, by the application
of scientific ingenuity, better apples and pears are said
to have been originated in England and Flanders, than
any before known. And those countries, now vastly in
advance of us in Horticulture, are making new discov-
eries and acquisitions from year to year. The finest
fruits and plants we now cultivate ; those which are es-
sential to comfort, as well as those which minister to
luxury, are not natives of our country. Our potatoes,
peaches, pears, and the better kinds of plums, cherries
and apples, have been all brought to us from abroad.—
And we are not yet in possession of a tithe of the nu-
tritious and desirable fruits and plants with which the
earth is stored. In relation to all these, inquiry and
competition, suggested and aided by the combined in-
telligence, applause, and other rewards of public asso-
ciations, will be beneficial. By these means an exten-
sive acquaintance with the most esteemed Horticultural
productions, of every country, will be obtained; and
the most sagacious and persevering use of all the means

2d

necessary for their acquisition, will be adopted. Call-
ing in the aid of men of science, of amateurs, and cul-
tivators, both at home and abroad, such societies may
become the fortunate instruments of disseminating, uni-
versally, every valuable seed, and plant, and tree,
which is borne upon the prolific bosom of the earth.
The tendencies of such associations are all liberal,
and philanthropic, and social. By uniting gentlemen
of all classes, professions and opinions in the prosecu-
tion of interesting and commendable objects, the amia-
ble and elegant courtesies of life will be extended.—
Their stated meetings will be embellished by taste, in-
telligence, and festive refinement; and all will go away
from them with a keener relish of the beauties of nature,
and a more cheerful devotion to rural employments.
By promoting the knowledge and the love of na-
ture, they are calculated to improve the conduct of life,
and the sympathies of the heart. The pleasures of
gardening are retired, peaceful, calm. ‘They are equal-
ly suitable to the gayety of advancing, and the gravity
of declining, life. How much the pure attachment to
home is strengthened, in the hearts of children, by uni-
ting their exertions, their solicitudes, and their tastes in
the various decorations of the garden! Impressions
formed at home, decide the future character. And can
it be that these sympathetic impressions, upon the do-
mestic affections, are not beneficial to moral conduct?
Ask the sons and daughters of those who have been able
to indulge their taste for ornamental shrubbery and gar-
dening, when they are withdrawn from the paternal
roof, what objects are most vividly and tenderly associ-
ated, in their minds, with those whom they most love,
and you will soon learn the value of the shady walk,

D

20
the bursting bud, and the fragrant arbour. One of the
most pathetic passages of English poetry, is Eve’s fare-
well to the garden of Eden.

“ MUST I thus leave thee, Paradise ? thus leave

Thee, native soil! these happy walks and shades,

Fit haunt of Gods? where I had hope to spend,

Quiet though sad, the respite of that day

That must be mortal to us both. O flowers,

‘That never will in other climate grow,

My early visitation, and my last

At even, which I bred up with tender hand

From the first op’ning bud, and gave ye names!

Who now shall rear ye to the sun, or rank

Your tribes, and water from th’ ambrosial fount ?

Thee, lastly, nuptial bower! by me adorn’d,

With what to sight or smell was sweet! from thee

How shall I part, and whither wander down

Into a lower world ; to this obscure

And wild? How shall we breathe in other air

Less pure, accustom’d to immortal fruits ?”

To old age the employments of Horticulture are de-
lightful and appropriate. They afford a secure retreat
from the noise, turbulence, ingratitude, and fierce con-
tentions of a stormy world; and inspire serenity and
cheerfulness. Cicero, in his letters to Atticus, speaks
of them as the best remedy for grief and concern of
mind. In a thousand ways a garden serves to keep
fresh and elastic the springs and sympathies of life.—
The heart finds interesting remembrances, and soothing
society, in all its objects. That shade is most refresh-
ing, which is afforded by trees of our own planting:
that fruit is most delicious, which we have most fre-
quently participated with our friends: those flowers
have the brightest bloom, which have been the joy, and
the ornament of our wives and children.

QM

Horticulture is favourable to universal charity, to
virtuous reflection, and to the highest attainments of
which the soul of man is capable. Surrounded with
fragrance, and harmony, and beauty, and order, all
giving witness to the attributes of their Great Creator,
that heart must be dreadfully perverse which is not spon-
taneously filled with gladness and gratitude for such ac-
cumulated blessings. And these sentiments naturally
dispose us to regard, with the most cordial complacen-
cy, all the works of the same hand.

Of all organized beings, trees, and leaves, and flow-
ers, appear to me to afford the most obvious traces of
the intelligence and goodness of God. A very small
portion of knowledge and curiosity is sufficient to. dis-
cern the marks of design in their structure; and still
less, to apprehend the tendency of that design. They
minister to so many of our essential wants, our habitu-
al comforts, and our innocent enjoyments, that their
signature of goodness is legible to all. And whoever
reads it must feel himself summoned, not violently and
clamorously, but silently and most attractively, to those
reflections which improve the heart.

The best precepts of earthly philosophy, and the
hallowed instructions of heavenly wisdom, have found
the most propitious seats for their inculcation in gardens.
Socrates was accustomed to teach, in one, upon the
banks of the Cephisus; and Jesus, in another, upon
those of the Cedron. The most interesting events that
ever have occurred, or that ever can occur, on this side
of the grave, have taken place in Gardens. In one, the
shadow of death first fell upon the human race: in
another, the glorious light of immortal life, breaking
through that shadow. first beamed upon the world! —

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