HISTORICAL SKETCH. 83 



The Horticultural Society has now become so firmly established, and its 

 means have been so much enlarged, as will soon enable it to accomplish all 

 those great objects for which it was founded ; and among them the estab- 

 lishment of an Experimental Garden was deemed the most important, and 

 there cannot be a question, that the period of its commencement is near, 

 for at the last Annual meeting of the Society, the President closed his very 

 interesting Address with the following commendable and encouraging sug- 

 gestion. 



" When the Society shall be provided with a suitable place for all its 

 exhibitions, then, as soon as its funds will permit, the purchase of a piece 

 of land for an Experimental Garden, so much needed, will, I have no 

 doubt, occupy the attention of the Society. Such an establishment would 

 extend the sphere of our labors, and gratify the members by placing at 

 their command further means of usefulness." 



The members of the Society have increased to nearly five hundred ; the 

 Library contahis over four hundred volumes, and the Property and Funds 

 amount to fiftythree thousand seven hundred and five dollars, which have 

 been derived from its portion of the proceeds of the annual sales of lots at 

 Mount Auburn, — averaging about two thousand five hundred dollars per 

 annum ; fees for admission to the Society, and the Exhibitions ; the 

 liberal donation of Ambrose Courtis, Esquire, of five thousand dollars ; 

 of Samuel Appleton, John A. Lowell, Josiah Bradlee, Esquires, and 

 General Theodore Lyman of a thousand dollars each, and a munificent 

 bequest of the last named 'gentleman of Ten Thousand Dollars. That 

 distinguished philanthropist will be ever gratefully remembered by the 

 citizens of his native State, for the very generous, humane and patriotic 

 manner in which he disposed of a large portion of his fortune, for educa- 

 ting and ameliorating the condition of the orphan, the destitute and the 

 unfortunate ; the reformation of the heedless ; the extension of knowledge 

 among the cultivators of the earth, and the promotion of letters, science 

 and the arts ; and by his works on the " Political Condition of Italy," 

 " The Diplomacy of the United States," and various other literary produc- 

 tions, his name will be perpetuated among the scholars, and statesmen of 

 the age in which he lived ; while the exalted qualities of his mind and 

 heart, rectitude of deportment, and gentlemanly bearing, Avill cause his 

 memory to be cherished, by all who were so fortunate as to have been 

 included among his friends and associates. Ptare indeed is it, that any 

 man descends to the tomb so respected, so honored, and so lamented. 

 How mighty is the influence of such an illustrious exemplification of what 

 can be done, for the benefit of the human race, by one man. It becomes 

 an impressive admonition to error, a cheering incitement to virtue, and 

 verifies and unites the sublime truths of philosophy, with the refulgent 

 revelations of Omnipotence, which proclaim, that the meritorious will as 



