148 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ury, not exceeding one thousand dollars, in such stock 

 as they shall deem advisable, the same to constitute an 

 accumulating fund, to be appropriated, whenever the 

 amount shall be adequate thereto, to the purchase of a 

 place for the meetings of the Society." 



In a report made by President Vose, March 4, 1837, 

 on the general condition of the Society, after mention- 

 ing the amount received for sales of lots in Mount 

 Auburn, and the generous donations of Mr. Courtis, he 

 said, 



' ' I would beg leave to suggest for the consideration of the 

 Society, that, keeping constantly in view the ultimate establish- 

 ment of that at which it has long been aiming, a garden of experi- 

 ment, whenever its funds shall be deemed adequate to the object, 

 it is of great importance that the Society be furnished with a place 

 of meeting, and for its exhibitions, better suited to its purposes 

 than it has heretofore been provided with. It is believed that no 

 part of the efforts of the Horticultural Society has been productive 

 of a more salutary influence than its weekly exhibitions : it is here 

 that practical men exhibit the results of their experiments in every 

 branch of culture ; here they interchange their views and opinions ; 

 and it is here, too, that the public is attracted to witness the beauti- 

 ful displays of flowers and of fruits, by which it is believed that 

 the taste is not only improved but often acquired for this interesting 

 pursuit. An investment of its funds in a suitable building in a 

 proper location might enable the Society to reserve such part of 

 it for its own use as would subserve its purposes ; and the rents 

 accruing from the residue might be accumulating in aid of the 

 ultimate objects of the Society." 



In his opening address at the fourteenth anniversary 

 of the Society, September 16, 1842, the president, 

 Marshall P. Wilder, said, " The patronage of the com- 

 munity has been so much- augmented, that the Society 

 feels itself straitened in its present location, 1 and has in 



1 In Tremont Row. 



