A LARGER HALL NEEDED. 159 



exhibition held in the new hall proved it to be hardly 

 sufficient for the occasion; and in 1848 the annual 

 exhibition was held in Faneuil Hall. Indeed, this had 

 been predicted by the writer of the account of the 

 annual exhibition of 1844, who, after speaking of the 

 large quantity of fruit contributed for which there was 

 no room on the tables, and of the larger accommoda- 

 tions when the new hall should be occupied the next 

 year, added, " But we greatly mistake the signs of the 

 times, if the contributions of future years will not 

 increase to an extent far beyond our contemplated 

 arrangements." 



In his annual address on the 4th of January, 1851, 

 President Walker said, 



"The increasing taste for horticultural pursuits requires prompt 

 and corresponding action to enable us to keep pace with the times. 

 The question with us now is, not what can be done, but rather 

 what shall be done first, to meet the demands of the community 

 and the wants of the Society. An experimental garden, enlarged 

 and more extended annual exhibitions under tents, etc., are sub- 

 jects full of interest, and may well occupy the attention, and here- 

 after require the deliberate consideration, of the Society. But 

 gentlemen, a permanent TEMPLE, of ample dimensions to meet all 

 the wants of the Society and the wishes of the public, is the first 

 thing that I would suggest for your consideration. Let us obtain 

 a suitable location, a HOME. For this purpose let us economize 

 our resources, tax our time and our energies, and, if needs be, 

 our fortunes, for this desirable consummation of the wishes of our 

 friends and the founders of the Society. Many of them saw only 

 through the vista with the eye of hope : it is our duty and our 

 privilege to carry out their designs, and to fill up the picture as 

 it once presented itself to the vision of the Lowells, the Story s, 

 the Lymans, the Brimmers, the Courtises, the Bradlees, and the 

 Princes. Without a hall to exhibit to advantage all the specimens 

 raised by horticultural efforts, we cannot fully accomplish our 

 highest aim, the dissemination of a knowledge of, and a love 



