PROGRESS OF THE SOCIETY. 67 



all, and served to effectually advertise the Society, and 

 to render it popular. The following September the 

 first annual exhibition was held, a great display for 

 the time, accompanied with an address by the presi- 

 dent, by a dinner attended by toasts, the reading of 

 letters from eminent invited guests, and a horticultural 

 song prepared and sung for the occasion. Honorary, 

 corresponding, and other members, many of them of the 

 highest eminence in horticulture, were elected. The 

 New England Farmer, by formal vote, was authorized 

 to publish the proceedings from week to week, which 

 honor it gladly accepted ; a correspondence was at once 

 established with the principal horticultural societies at 

 home and abroad ; and thus the infant society grew in 

 favor with the people, and soon had a name and praise 

 throughout the world. 



In all these labors to establish firmly the foundations 

 of the infant society President Dearborn was foremost ; 

 and to him more than to any other person is the Soci- 

 ety indebted for the prestige and importance which it 

 so early attained. In the report on the expediency 

 of establishing an Experimental Garden and Cemetery 

 at Mount Auburn, drawn up by him in June, 1831, he 

 gives a summary of the work then accomplished by the 

 Society, with which we close this chapter : 



" The kind disposition which has been generally evinced to ad- 

 vance the interests of the Society has had a salutary and cheering 

 influence. Many interesting and instructive communications have 

 been received, and valuable, donations of books, seeds, and plants, 

 have been made by generous foreigners, and citizens of the United 

 States. A liberal offer of co-operation has been promptly ten- 

 dered in both hemispheres, and great advantages are anticipated 

 from a mutual interchange of good offices. 



"A library of considerable extent has been formed, containing 



