378 



THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[December, 



tional Horticultural, as well as Pomological So- 

 ciety ; but no one seemed to have any plan that 

 commended itself to the members present. Mr. 

 Samuel Parsons' plan was to have meetings in 

 the off-years of the biennial sessions of the Pom- 

 ological Society, and to hold the meetings al- 

 ways at Washington. No arrangements were 

 to be made for exhibitions, but only papers and 

 reports read and then handed over to the De- 

 partment of Agriculture for publication, should 

 the society not have means of its own to do it. 



The visits to the nurseries and gardens of 

 Rochester, as well as the intercourse between 

 so many intelligent gentlemen were very profit- 

 able, and an entertainment on a very liberal 

 scale at the Power's Art Gallery, closed one of 

 the most useful sessions of the society. 



The only event that seemed to mar the pleas- 

 ures of the members was the gathering of a bo- 

 tanical specimen of a Canada thistle by one gen- 

 tleman to take to Missouri, which some insisted 

 was equivalent to inviting the " old sarpent" to 

 enter Eden ; and the charging of members of the 

 society 35 cents each to see their own fruits, — 

 because the President of some park had only 

 been asked for free tickets, who gave the author- 

 ity which it afterwards seemed only the Board 

 of Directors, who were not consulted, had 

 power to grant. But these little rough spots 

 often meet people when clambering through the 

 world,— and on the whole the members departed 

 to their homes well pleased with their Rochester 

 visit. 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 

 The semi-centennial address of Hon. Marshall 

 P. Wilder. This is an admirable contribution to 

 horticultural chronology. The first Horticultu- 

 ral Society in America was one in New York, in 

 1818 ; but it did not live to a great age. The Penn- 

 sylvania Horticultural Society was established in 

 1827 and still lives. The Massachusetts Society 

 dates from 1829. Col. Wilder gives the names 

 of the distinguished citizens who made the society 

 successful by their patronage and of the exhib- 

 itors who from time to time introduced the strik- 

 ing novelties to show how great has been the ad- 

 vance of gardening under its auspices ; and after 

 an encouraging glance at the future, concluded 

 in the following eloquent strain : 



" And now, my friends, permit me in conclu- 

 sion to say, that, among the various invitations 

 which I have received to address my fellow-citi- 

 zens, I have never been honored with one which 

 I more readily accepted, or more highly appre- 



ciated, than the invitation to address you on this 

 occasion, coming as it does from those with 

 whom I have labored for so many years. Never 

 have I more heartily joined with you than I do 

 now in commemorating the fiftieth anniversary 

 of our societ}' ; and I am quite sure there is no 

 one here who does not rejoice sincerely in this 

 occasion. 



" I have summed up briefly, and as well as im- 

 paired health would admit, a sketch of the results 

 of a half-century's work. With many of us the 

 sun is fast sinking behind the horizon of life ; but 

 the fruits of your labors will continue to enrich 

 with golden hues and spicy odors the tables of 

 posterity for ages after we have dropped like the 

 fruits of autumn, to rise no more. 



" One after another of us will pass away. 

 Few of those present will attend the anniversa- 

 ry of this society at the close of the half-century 

 upon which we have entered ; but our society 

 shall still live on and prosper. Others will rise 

 up, and carry on the good work; and as they 

 come with fruits and flowers — the results of their 

 labors — to adorn these halls, they will remem- 

 ber those who have gone before. Thus from 

 generation to generation may this temple con- 

 tinue to stand, and honor the names who erect- 

 ed it. 



" And now remembering those who have gone 

 before, let us extend a hearty welcome to those 

 who are to succeed us. 



"Welcome to our homes, and the beautiful 

 grounds which we have made and planted for 

 your happiness ! Welcome to our fruitful or- 

 chards, smiling gardens, and charming land- 

 scapes, which we shall leave to you ! Welcome 

 to these halls, whose walls have resounded 

 so often with cordial greetings and friendly 

 salutations ; where thousands shall minister in 

 the future at the altars of nature and art, until 

 perfection shall crown our tables, and gladden 

 our sight, and we shall have exchanged the cul- 

 tivation of the soil for the culture of the soul ! 



" Welcome to its libi-aries and to all its priv- 

 ileges and pleasures ! and when at last we shall 

 relinquish our labors on earth, may we fall into 

 the lap of mother earth, like the ripened fruits of 

 summer, then to be welcomed to those celestial 

 fields and to that richer inheritance in the better 

 land where the flower shall never fade, the leaf 

 never wither, the fruit never perish ; to the re- 

 wards of a well-spent life on earth, that we ma}^ 

 partake of the tree which bears immortal fruit, 

 — its bloom on earth, its fruit in heaven." 



