92 BANQUET TO THE 



LETTERS IN REPLY TO THE INVITATION OF 

 THE COMMITTEE. 



Letter of the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop. 



Brookline, Mass., 17th Sept., 1883. 

 Dear Sir, — Your obliging invitation of the loth 

 inst. has awaited my return from a visit to my grand- 

 children at Lenox. I thank you for including me 

 among those who would gladly pay a tribute of re- 

 spect to our excellent friend, Marshall P. Wilder, on 

 his eighty-fifth birthday. I have known him inti- 

 mately for a full half of his long pilgrimage, and 

 every year has added to my impressions of his ability 

 and usefulness. His services to Horticulture and 

 Agriculture have been invaluable. No other man 

 has done so much for our fields and gardens and 

 orchards. He has distinguished himself in many 

 other lines of life, and his relations to the Legisla- 

 ture of Massachusetts and to the Historic Genealog- 

 ical Society will not soon be forgotten. But his 

 name will have its most enduring and most enviable 

 association with the flowers and fruits for whose cul- 

 ture he was foremost in striving, both by precept and 

 example. He deserves a grateful remembrance as 



