66 HISTORICAL SKETCH. 



Before the close of the year, two hundred and fifty members had joined 

 the Society, and fortyseven honorary and twentyfive corresponding mem- 

 bers had been elected. 



The first Annual Festival was held at the Exchange Coffee House, in 

 Boston, on the nineteenth of September, 1829, An Address was delivered 

 by the President in the Picture Gallery of the Alhenseum* 



The fruits and flowers Avhich were presented for premiums, and for 

 decorating the hall and dinner tables, far exceeded, in variety and quantity, 

 the anticipations of the Society, and excited cheering hopes for the future. 



It was early perceived that an Experimental Garden was indispensable 

 for the full development of all the great purposes of the institution, and the 

 only cause of delay in commencing the important work, on an enlarged 

 plan, was the deficiency of adequate means. 



A Rural Cemetery had, for several years, claimed the attention of a 

 number of gentlemen in Boston, and soon after the establishment of the 

 Society, Doctor Jacob Bigelow suggested to the President the expediency 

 of combining it with an Experimental Garden, — he having taken a leading 

 part in the unsuccessful efforts which had been made. The proposition 

 Avas cordially received and communicated to the Society, and although 

 often discussed during several months, still no definite measures were 

 adopted. This subject was again commended to the serious attention of 

 the members by Z. Cook, Jr., Esq., in the Address which he delivered 

 before the Society on its second Anniversary Festival ; but no forward 

 movement Avas made until George W. Brimmer, Esq., proposed that a 

 tract of land AA'hich he OAvned in Cambridge, should be purchased for a 

 Garden and Cemetery ; and the President having visited it, to ascertain 

 AA'hether it Avas capable of being appropriated to those purposes, reported 

 that he was fully satisfied that a more eligible selection could not be made. 

 He AA'as then requested to present a plan for accomplishing those objects, 

 Avhich Avas done on the third of December, 1830 ; and having been submit- 

 ted to, and approved by, a large number of gentlemen, Avhose co-operation 

 Avas very desirable, a special meeting of the Society AA^as called, and the 

 President, Doctor Jacob Bigeiow, G. W. Brimmer, George Bond and 

 Abbot Lawrence, Avere appointed a Committee to report on the expediency 

 of estabhshing a Garden of Experiment and a Rural Cemetery; and subse- 

 quently it Avas authorized to increase the number of its members. In 

 conformity thereto it Avas enlarged, and consisted of the folloAving members: 

 Joseph Story, Daniel Webster, H. A. S. Dearborn, Samuel Appleton, 

 Charles LoAvell, Jacob BigeloAv, EdAvard Everett, George Bond, George 

 W. Brimmer, Abbot LaAvrence, Franklin Dexter, Alexander H. Everett, 

 James T. Austin, Charles P. Curtis, Joseph P. Bradlee, John Pierpont, 

 Zebedee Cook, Jr., Charles Tappan, Lucius M. Sargent and George W. 

 Pratt. 



