PROCEEDINGS. 163 



Vegetables. — To A. Moore, for the best display and greatest variety at the weekly 



exhibitions, during the season, - - -$5 00 



To A. D. Williams, for the 2d best, 3 00 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 



For the Committee. AZEL BOWDITCH, Chairman. 



BUSINESS MEETING. 



Saturday, January 4, 1851, 

 President, Samuel Walker, in the Chair. 



The following very appropriate Address was delivered by the President of the Society, 

 in opening the Meeting : — 



Gentlemen — Laboring together, as many of us have done for nearly a quarter of a 

 century, under, as we trust, the guidance of that all-wise Providence whose works have 

 been our study and delight, we are again called to enter upon the respective duties assigned 

 to us by the Society. 



That oneness of purpose and action which has been so characteristic of the members of 

 the several Committees, together with their increased knowledge from past experience, and 

 the judicious Rules and Regulations that they have from lime to time adopted for their 

 future action, give assurance that they will be able satisfactorily to discharge all the duties 

 imposed upon them, notwithstanding the increasing Exhibitions at the Hall, and the more 

 frequent application for information respecting new fruits, &c., from abroad. 



It gives me great pleasure. Gentlemen, to state that the purpose for which this Society 

 was established has, so far, as it appears to me, accomplished all that its most sanguine 

 friends expected ; still there remains much to be done. 



The future action of the members will be stimulated by the reminiscence of the past, 

 and the recollection of the labors and donations of its founders and benefactors ; these will 

 cheer their path, and act as a talisman on their future aspirations, while the History of 

 Mount Auburn will be a record, in all coming time, that the members of this Society, some 

 of whom are now present, were the founders of that "Garden of Graves;" and that to its 

 first President, General H. A. S. Dearborn, are the members of this Society and the pcblic 

 indebted for the beautiful and chaste arrangement of this — the last resting-place of so many 

 of the great and the good. 



The Committee to visit Gardens, and to ascertain as far as possible the best mode of 

 cultivation, in the vicinity of Boston, have had every facility afforded them by the courtesy 

 and kindness of the proprietors of all the places they visited. In these examinations they 

 found many things worthy of imitation, and much to admire. I would again respectfully 

 recommend this interesting branch of our labors to the fostering care of the Society, and 

 also call its attention again to that noble and interesting subject — Landscape Gardening. 

 For my views more fully on this department, permit me to refer you to the remarks in my 

 last Annual Address. 



The increasing taste for Horticultural pursuits requires prompt and corresponding action 

 to enable us to keep pace with, the times. The question with, us now, is, not what can be 

 done, but rather what shall be done first to meet the demands of the community and the wants 

 of the Society. An Experimental Garden, enlarged and more extended Annual Exhibitions 

 under tents, &c., are subjects full of interest, and may well occupy the attention, and 

 hereafter require the deliberate consideration of the Society. But, gentlemen, a permanent 

 Temple, of ample dimensions to meet all the wants of the Society and the wishes of the 

 public, is the first thing that I would suggest for your consideration ; let us obtain a suitable 

 location, a Home ; for this purpose let us economize our resources, tax our time and our 

 energies, and, if needs be, our fortunes, for this desirable consummation of the wishes of 



