68 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



many of the most celebrated English and French works on horti- 

 culture, several of which are magnificent ; and the apartments for 

 the accommodation of the Society have been partially embellished 

 with beautiful paintings of some of our choice native varieties of 

 fruits. B} T weekly exhibitions during eight months of the 3*ear, of 

 fruits, flowers, and esculent vegetables ; by awarding premiums 

 for proficiency in the art of gardening, and the rearing of new, 

 valuable, or superior products ; by disseminating intelligence, and 

 accounts of the proceedings of the Society at its regular and spe- 

 cial meetings, through the medium of the New England Farmer ; 

 and by an annual festival, and public exhibition of the various 

 products of horticulture, an interest has been excited, and a 

 spirit of inquiry awakened, auspicious to the institution, while a 

 powerful impulse has been given to all branches of rural industry, 

 far beyond our most sanguine hopes." 



