Excerpt from History of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 1829-1878 The history of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society may be appropriately introduced by a Sketch of the commencement and progress of horticulture in this country, and especially in Massa chusetts, previously to the formation of the Society. Though the primary object of the first settlers of the State was freedom in the enjoyment of civil and religious liberty, their attention was, like that of all other colonists, turned to the cultivation of the soil as a means of subsistence. They brought with them a share of that love of gardening which they had in their former home, and we find them, from the very first, engaged in the growth, not only of the grains which afford the staff of life, but Of fruits and vegetables, which, to a certain extent, are regarded as luxuries; and one or two notices Show that the cultivation of flowers was not wholly neglected. The report brought by the explorers sent out by the Pilgrims on the l6th of November, 1620, that they found divers fair Indian baskets, filled with corn, some whereof was in ears, fair and good, of divers colors, which seemed to them a very goodly sight, having seen none before, of which rarities they took some to carry to their friends on Shipboard, like as the Israelites' spies brought from Eshcol some of the good fruits of the land,1 is in the spirit of men who not only rejoiced in finding the means of subsistence, but loved the culture of the ground. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.