192 ANNUAL REPORT 



but he had done a good work, aad he has left a monutneat after hiin, 

 surely, that will remain with the American people for ages. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. President, I think we can all say that the work 

 of Marshall P. Wilder did not die with him. I believe all over this 

 North America there are thousands of men whom he educated in hor- 

 ticultural pursuits and who gained inspiration from the life and ex- 

 ample of Marshall P. Wilder and a love for the cause he adorned. 

 For myself, I can say he was a man who for over thirty years I looked 

 up to as one worthy of emulation, and I feel that we have had no su- 

 perior in this country in this field which he occupied. He had thou- 

 sands of friends, and I hope we will keep his memory green in all our 

 horticultural meetings while we live, and that those who come after 

 us may partake in a large degree of the same inspiration. 



Mr. Wilcox. Mr. President, I wish to add one word to what has 

 been said concerning the memory of the venerable Marshall P. Wil- 

 der. It is a cause of the greatest discouragement to our younger 

 members, and to practical horticulturists of the present generation, 

 when we look at thr many chairs left vacant and to be filled, by the 

 death of distinguished pomologists of this country; and among the 

 greatest of these was Marshall P. Wilder. Now, gentlemen, we have 

 one consolation, and that is that the study and the love of horticul- 

 ture is very much like some diseases, in that it clings till death. 

 Where can we find a man with a name who has once been really in- 

 terested in this work, and who has once devoted his thoughts and 

 study to the promotion of horticulture that ever left it until his voice 

 was stilled in death ? 



We have seen this illustrated in the case of such men as the Down- 

 ings, Mr. Wilder and others, and we have among us now such men as 

 T. T. Lyon, of Michigan, those who are devoting their life work to 

 the interests of horticulture. One characteristic about Marshall P. 

 Wilder was, while there were those that were intimate with him and 

 knew him best could not see the brilliant genius that distinguished 

 some men, still there was that invisible influence about him that no 

 one could meet him without being attracted, and leaving him to re- 

 member and admire him forever afterwards. 



Mr. Cleveland. What the gentleman has just remarked upon the 

 influence of horticulture reminds me of an anecdote, which T trust 

 will prove sufficiently interesting to pardon my using it. On one oc- 

 casion I went from New Jersey with a delegation to attend the great 

 triennial meeting of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, by in- 

 vitation. The gentlemen who went with me were strangers in Mas- 



