China, and the pear from Europe. Our pot-herbs and cultivated medicinal plants are also most of them exotics: parsley is from Sardinia, pursley from South America, nasturtium from Peru, thyme from Spain, sage from the south of Europe, savory from France, marjoram from Sicily, rhubarb from Asia, and balm from Switzerland. So also of our flowering shrubs and plants; the pink, the daffodil, and narcissus, are from Italy, the dahlia from Mexico, the ranunculus and anemone, from Capadocia; the hydrangea, balsam and camellia from China and Japan; the tulip and hyacinth from the Levant; the tuberose from Ceylon, and our finest pæonies from the "Celestial Empire." And of trees, we are indebted to the north of Asia for the ornamental horse-chestnut, and to the Indian islands for the towering ailanthus. These are but a small portion of the contributions which horticulture. has gathered from foreign lands, for our convenience and pleasure; and every year adds to the list new genera, species and varieties. Providence seems to have apportioned its bounties among the different nations, as if to admonish them of their mutual dependence upon each other, and to excite in them a spirit of Christian philanthropy and benevolence.

Private gardens, of great extent and beauty, abound in most of the countries of Europe, and they are maintained at a princely expense. In these not only hardy fruits and vegetables are forced to early maturity, by artificial means, but most of the tropical fruits are brought to perfection, by the aid of hot-houses and walls. Strawberries, in this way, are produced for the table in April, melons in May, grapes and peaches in June, and pine-apples at almost every season. It is assumed, that in Britain a gentleman may derive from his garden, with the aid of glass and artificial heat, a more varied and richer dessert, throughout the year, than is to be met with on the most luxurious tables in any other country. And yet the summers of England are so cool, that the peach, grape, melon, &c. require the protection of a wall or glass, to bring them to maturity; and even our fine Spitzembergh apple does not ripen well there without a wall. Gardens of this description, though generally on a limited scale, may be found in the vicinage of our commercial towns, and will doubtless be multiplied as we advance in wealth and horticultural improvement. These cases of high improvement, or rather extravagant refinement, in horticulture, are not mentioned as models for general imitation. They indicate an expenditure which few here can prudently indulge in, if they would. Yet where there is the ability, and a disposition to extravagent expenditure, it may be indulged in, in horticulture, with advantage, rather than prejudice, to public morals and public usefulness. The examples to which we refer, furnish models of improvement, which we are at liberty to adopt on any scale that shall comport with our desires and our means.

Public nurseries, which belong to horticulture, are highly useful to all communities in which they are located. They serve to introduce and concentrate the vegetable productions of every country, which are likely to subserve our wants or administer to our rational gratification. The interchanges which take place between those of Europe and America, are now managed with such facility, that a new fruit, or a new flowering plant, which attracts notice, and acquires value, on one continent, in a year or two becomes common in the nurseries of the other. The numerous horticultural periodicals of the two continents, make us early acquainted with whatever is new or valuable in either, and a single season serves to propagate and to disseminate the desirable plant on both. In this way we have been enabled to obtain the fine new varieties of Flemish and French pears, in many instances before they had fruited in England. The dahlia, in its natural single flower, was first introduced into France in 1801, and subsequently into England. The skill of the horticulturist has since. transformed it into a double flower, and imparted to it all the colors and tints which are gratifying to the human eye. This ornament of the garden, which is now found at all our nurseries, is termed, by common consent, "The King," as the rose has been called "The Queen of Flowers." And as regards fruits-I was instrumental in bringing into notice, seven or eight years ago, a fine new apple, the Jonathan, grafts of which I forwarded to Europe. Five years ago I noticed it in the catalogue of the London Horticultural Society, with the names of many other of our local fruits which I sent, and also in catalogues from the Island of Jersey, and from Hamburgh. The Stroat apple which I sent at the same time had produced fruit in 1830, in the London Horticultural garden, and was classed, as it deserved to be, among the first quality of apples. The ailanthus was first brought to our country eight or ten years ago, by one of our consuls, from farther India, and it is now growing, I believe, in almost every state of the Union.

As having particular relation to those who depend upon market gardens for horticultural productions, for daily use, I take occasion to remark, that the quality of market garden productions depends materially on the judgment and liberality of the buyer. The object of the gardener is profit; and so long as the purchaser regards the price rather than the quality, he will continue to raise those varieties which give him the greatest product, which are generally those of inferior quality. The difference in the varieties of the same vegetable are manifestly great. This exists. not only in their flavor, but in their nutritious and healthful properties; some varieties, particularly fruits, being absolutely prejudicial, while other varieties of the same species are highly conducive to health. In the potato, for instance, the difference in

nutritive matter amounts to nearly a half in different varieties. Some of the coarser kinds yield but fourteen and sixteen per cent. of nutritive matter; while some of the finer kinds have given twenty-eight per cent. And it is worth regarding, that good quality is almost inseparably connected with grateful flavor.

Horticulture, as an employment, is highly conducive to the healthful vigor of the body, and to an agreeable exercise of the mind. The labor it demands is neither severe in degree, nor monotonously tiresome in kind. It affords continued change and variety. The interesting objects of which it has cognizance,— as the germination of the seed, the development of the leaf, the growth of the stock and branches, the expansion of the flower, the swelling, maturing and gathering of the fruit, and the diversity in foliage, flowers and fruit, of the various vegetable families under its care, present to the mind, capable of appreciating and admiring the beauties of the vegetable kingdom, a succession of the most agreeable sensations.

As a recreation, horticulture offers all the pleasures I have enumerated, without the fatigues which accompany its manual operations. What more grateful, to the sedentary and the studious, or to him who is habitually involved in the mercenary cares of business, than the relaxation afforded by a well kept garden, which exhibits to the senses, the fragrance, the beauty, the order and harmony, which Providence has imparted to the vegetable kingdom? Here is nothing to awaken jealousy, to excite distrust, to beget envy or to inflame any of the grosser passions; but every object is calculated to tranquillize the mind, to soften down the asperities of his nature, and to beget, towards his fellowbeings, feelings of kindness, philanthropy and love.

As a science, horticulture is rich in stores of intellectual wealth and usefulness. It embraces glossology, which teaches the names of parts of plants; phitography, or the nomenclature and description of plants; taxonomy, or their classification; vegetable organology, or the external structure of plants; vegetable anatomy, or their internal structure; vegetable chemistry, or primary principles of plants; vegetable pathology, or the diseases and casualties of vegetable life; vegetable geography and history, or the distribution of vegetables, relatively to earth and to man; and the origin of culture, derived from the study of vegetables.

It also embraces the study of the natural agents of vegetable growth and culture,-as earths, soils and manures; the agency of light, electricity, heat and water, in vegetable culture, and of the atmosphere in vegetable development.

Whether we regard horticulture as an art, or a science; whether we consider it as administering to our wants, convenience and pleasures, or as promotive of health and useful knowledge,―it has high claims to our notice and regard.

I present upon your table, for examination, gentlemen, more than one hundred named varieties of the apple and pear, collected from my grounds, which twenty years ago were a barren waste; and I might have added many others of doubtful or inferior character. Those presented have all been recommended as superior fruits, at the season of maturity, either for the dessert, the kitchen, for preserves, or for cider. They are the natural products of the northern and middle states, of Canada-and of Russia, Germany, France, the Netherlands, and Great Britain. They include, of course, only late autumn and winter varieties. Yet these fruits form but a small portion of the kinds which are to be found in our valley-much less in our country. Though we have a great many good kinds, there must be but comparative few that can be denominated excellent, or best. The only way to determine which are the best, is to bring the different varieties together, and to judge of them comparatively, at the season of their maturity. How desirable it is, that when starting in our pomological careerwhen selecting the fruits that are to administer to our enjoyment and our profit, through life, we be able to select the best kinds! But who is now a competent judge in these matters? What individual knows the comparative merits of half, or a quarter, of the fruits which abound in our land? Not one among us, I venture to say. How shall we then acquire the requisite knowledge? We have at present no competent guide to direct us in the selection. Individual effort is incompetent to the labor of classifying and describing all our best fruits. It can only be effected here, as it has been in England, by the joint efforts of an associationby bringing together the various kinds, testing their qualities, and establishing a standard of their relative merit, for the various uses for which they are adapted. This subject is so deeply connected with the comfort of all classes of our citizens-of the buyer as well as the cultivator of fruit-that I venture to recommend it to the early attention of the association.

The introduction of new and valuable varieties of fruits, seeds and ornamental plants, from different sections of our own country, as well as from the old world, should also engage our early attention. Many facilities present for effecting this. First, by a correspondence, and interchange of plants, seeds and fruits, with horticultural associations at home and abroad. Secondly, through the depot established at Washington, under the direction of an enthusiastic friend of rural improvement, H. L. Ellsworth, Esq., the commissioner of the Patent Office. Thirdly, through our naval, commercial and travelling citizens. Our corresponding secretary, who has tendered his resignation in consequence of being about to take up his residence for some years in France, has kindly tendered his services in this behalf-and his services there, in forwarding the objects of the association, may be rendered exten

sively useful. After all, much, very much, will depend upon our individual exertions. If we show a spirit to go ahead, and to be useful to the community, assistance will be tendered from every quarter. But only those who do exert themselves, can or ought to expect assistance from others. We must put our own shoulders to the wheel, before we call upon Hercules. We can render this association pleasant and useful to ourselves, and highly beneficial to the public, if we but resolve to do so. But unless we set out, and persevere, in the resolution to do so, we had betrer suffer the association to die in embryo, and to forget that we had the ambition to be useful in promoting horticultural improvement, but lacked the resolution and the spirit to carry out our laudable design.

In conclusion to the gentlemen who have interested themselves in getting up this exhibition, and particularly those of a sister state, whose contributions of superior fruits and flowers afford the strongest incentive to perseverance on our part, I feel myself authorized to tender the grateful acknowledgments of the association. A multiplicity of circumstances, and I may say of misapprehensions, combined with protracted bad weather, have tended very much to diminish the interest of our first exhibition; and yet I believe I may venture to say, that there has never, on any occasion, been collected in our state, a greater number of excellent varieties of fruit, or finer samples, than has been exhibited on this occasion; and although the season has been highly unpropitious to the floral department, yet the exhibition of fine dahlias, the favorite flower of the season, has been peculiarly brilliant. We have no reason to despond, but much to induce perseverance and renewed exertion. We have laid the foundation of improvement in that branch of industry which administers largely to the wants and elegancies of life. We can rear the superstructure. We can deserve success, though we cannot command it. And even the high satisfaction of doing this, is a consoling, if not satisfying reflection, to him who labors for the public good.

MISCELLANEOUS INTELLIGENCE.

ART. I. General Notices.

Mode of prolonging the Existence of aged Trees.-Experience has shown that the separation by an axe or by accident, of any large branch of a tree arrived at full growth, causes a wound, which it cannot cover with fresh bark if left to itself. The contact of the air, the rain, and