136 PROCEEDINGS. 



Gentlemen of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society : 



Your unanimous suffrages have again placed me in a position that demands my thanks 

 for the honor conferred. 



The past, the present, and the anticipations of the future, cheer my path, as I feel 

 assured I shall have your hearty co-operation in all my endeavors to promote the interest of 

 the science of Horticulture. 



The year which has just closed, has removed from us one of our respected and beloved 

 members. His munificent bequest to this Society demands our grateful remembrance, 

 and the specimens of his taste for the beautiful, in the highest branch of our science — 

 Landscape Gardening — will command the attention and admiration of all who visit the spot 

 rendered so lovely by the genius of his own elevated mind. 



Landscape Gardening is a branch of Horticulture, which the wealthy only in other 

 countries, can carry out with success, but in our extensive and free domains, every 

 industrious and enterprising man, with a love of Nature cherished within his breast, may 

 surround himself with the beautiful. 



Improvements in this department may be seen in the grounds of the late Hon. Theodore 

 Lyman, the Hon. Thomas H. Perkins, of Brookline, J. P. Gushing, Esq., of Watertown, 

 Hon, M. P. Wilder, and Samuel Downer, Jr., Esq., of Dorchester, and Otis Johnson, Esq., 

 of Lynn. Nor can I refrain from noticing the great improvements made in the Nurseries 

 generally, but more particularly in the respective establishments of Messrs. Winship, of 

 Brighton, and Messrs. Hovey, of Cambridge. Before I dismiss this subject, allow me to 

 recommend for your consideration, the propriety of so amending the By-Laws, as to 

 provide for, and establish a Professorship of Landscape Gardening. 



Persons extensively engaged in the cultivation of Fruit for the market, or for their own 

 use. have probably noticed the vast number of insects which prey upon, or otherwise 

 destroy the fruit, in all its stages, from the opening of the flower bud to the period of its 

 maturity. To counteract these devastations, some people have placed bottles, partly filled 

 with sweetened water, among the branches of their trees, thus destroying hundreds of 

 thousands of insects without discriminafing between friends and foes. This is, in my 

 opinion, a subject worthy of consideration, and which might be placed in the hands of our 

 Professor of Entomology, for his investigation, and should he consider it a fit subject for a 

 public lecture, or lectures, he might be solicited to communicate the lesult of his research, 

 in that, or some other way, to the members of this Society and the public. I would further 

 suggest, that the Professor of Botany, and also the Professor of Horticultural Chemistry, be 

 consulted as to the expediency of delivering one or more lectures annually, on the 

 respective subjects committed to their charge. 



The premiums offered, and the gratuities given by the Society for many years past, 

 have produced a laudable competition among the cultivators of excellent Vegetables, 

 beautiful Flowers, and delicious Fruits. As a natural result, corresponding improvements 

 have been made in the management of Trees, Shrubs, Plants. &c., in the Orchard, Garden, 

 and Conservatory, but not to that extent, probably, that would have been made, had the 

 Society ofiered liberal premiums for the best conducted, most productive, and most econom- 

 ically managed establishments. I would, therefore, recommend that premiums be offered, 

 and gratuities he given, by the Society, under the direction of a Committee appointed for 

 that purpose, whose duty it should be, to visit and examine such places, as the proprietors 

 thereof shall invite them so to do, at such times and as often as they may deem proper, 

 without any previous notice having been given to ihe gardener, superintendent or other 

 person having charge of the same ; that the Committee may be able to form a correct 

 judgment, as to the general management, and state of cultivation on the premises, and to 

 report to the Society the most successful cultivators at home, as the other Committees 

 report the finest products exhibited in the Hall of the Society. 



