168 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



" The deep interest which will be created by the erection of a 

 new building, it is believed by your committee will greatly in- 

 crease the number of members, and the income from this source 

 and its exhibitions will probabty be sufficient to pay the ordinary 

 expenses of the Society ; and, should this hope be realized, a larger 

 sum can be added to the sinking fund, should the Societ}* so direct, 

 which will enable it (if opportunity offers, which it is thought pos- 

 sible it may) to pay off some of the mortgages (which are made to 

 six parties) before the period of their expiration, or leave to the 

 Society a much larger sum to encourage the objects to which it is 

 especially devoted. 



' ' Your committee cannot here omit to contrast the present con- 

 dition of the Society with its condition in 1843, when it decided to 

 purchase the Latin Schoolhouse in School Street for the sum of 

 $18,000, with only $15,000 available funds for the purpose. It 

 then almost unanimously voted to erect a building upon the site, 

 which, with the land, would cost about $40,000. If the attempt to 

 build now can be termed a hazardous enterprise, with its increased 

 means, much larger number of members, and the far greater public 

 taste for horticulture and rural art, what must the action of the 

 Society have been deemed in 1843 ? Its prospective income could 

 not then be considered, at the outside, as more than $2,500, and the 

 income from the building less than five per centum ; and, to carry 

 forward the work, it was necessary to execute a mortgage for 

 $15,000, besides using all the income from Mount Auburn for four 

 years. Yet it went on prosperously, meeting all its liabilities 

 promptly, distributing very liberally of its means for the encour- 

 agement of horticultural and pomological science ; and, thanks to 

 those who labored so faithfully, we are now receiving the benefit of 

 the sound judgment and foresight, united with zeal and energy, 

 of those who laid the foundation of our success, and gave to the 

 Society more extended influence and the means of far greater 

 usefulness. 



" In conclusion, your committee would advise the immediate 

 erection of a building worthy of that art and science of which it 

 shall be the home, and from which their benign influence shall 

 spread throughout the land." 



The committee recommended that they be constituted 



