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Mr President, 



AND Gentlemen of the 



Massachusetts Horticultural Society, — 



The propitious circumstances under which we 

 have assembled to celebrate our second|^annual festi- 

 val, must be gratifying to all who cherish an interest 

 in the prosperity of our institution, and more particu- 

 larly to those who have labored to acquire for it its 

 present prosperous and elevated condition. The ex- 

 periment has been fairly tested, and thus far its results 

 are too apparent to permit even the most skeptical 

 to doubt of cither its utility or its final success. Its 

 interests are too closely identified with the general 

 good, as well as with individual comfort and happi- 

 ness, to allow us to waver in our hopes, or to falter 

 in our exertions to effect the original design of its 

 creation. 



We have not come up hither to recount the ex- 

 ploits of military prowess, or to mingle in the strife, 

 or participate in the conquests of political gladiators. 

 We come not to swell the paeans of the conqueror or 



