Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 191 



guished service to the Society, to report, at some future meeting, 

 the result of their experiments, and to present for preservation 

 at the hall a specimen of each, with its name and locality as re- 

 ceived. Should the I^ibrarian after the exhibition cause such to be 

 properly dried, numbered, labelled, &c. after the directions of 

 the Articles II. and IV. of the By-Laws, a great object would be 

 accomplished, in the absence of a garden and its proper manage- 

 ment, with its necessary accompaniments, a cabinet, herbarium, 

 and collections of seeds and plants. 



Having long felt the great need of some method for rendering 

 the studies of comparison and analysis more easy and sure, be- 

 side that which already exists in the Society's library, and in the 

 free, kind and generous spirit for extension of valuable informa- 

 tion on the part of the several committees on fruits and flowers, 

 it is easy to imagine that some such system like the above would 

 greatly promote this end. The florist as well as the botanist 

 often needs the use of the cabinet and the garden for consultation, 

 to consider with precision and on unquestioned authority the sy- 

 nonyme, or correct name of his plants. He may not be content 

 with such uncertain and indefinite titles to the pests of his labors 

 as the bug and tliejiy^ the cut worm and the grub; but in order 

 to meet his insidious and crafty foe, he would know more of its 

 transmutations, study its habits, detect its operations, and check 

 its depredations. Nor might he be satisfied with the meclianical 

 knowledge of the propriety of this or that soil to successful cul- 

 tivation, but would fain learn all the secrets of its chemical action. 

 It were necessary, then, that he should be better provided and 

 furnished with specimens and drawings, preparations, and other 

 apparatus deposited in the hall of the Society, and accessible to 

 inspection and examination. If a spur has been already given to 

 the great subject of horticulture in the vicinity of Boston by the 

 means possessed — means so inadequate to its vastness and im- 

 portance — if by the exertions of individuals and the diffusion of 

 correct principles, through the combined eflbrts of the members 

 of this Society in its comparative infancy — what incalculable ad- 

 vantageous results may be anticipated for the future, with greater 

 facilities and ampler means. We could wish to see a similar and 

 simultaneous attention to the science, as well as the practice, of 

 this noble art; that seizing nature in the very midst of its busy 

 operations, we should bend its secret designs and intentions to 

 our designs. The field of action to the fructlst and to the florist 

 is almost boundless, and the wonderful results of their researches 

 into the mysteries of their several departments of study are in- 

 calculable; but it needs the constant aid of a scientific spirit and 

 taste to render them, with any degree of certainty, effective and 

 brilliant. 



It was with such sentiments as these that wc laid down Mr. 



