LAYING OF THE CORNER STONE. 171 



chusetts Historical Society and of the Institute of 

 Technology, the trustees of the Public Library, the 

 members of the Massachusetts Society for Promoting 

 Agriculture and of the Boston Numismatic Society, 

 with other invited guests, and the past officers and pres- 

 ent members of the Society, met at the rooms in 

 Amory Hall at 9 o'clock A.M. on the 18th of August, 

 and thence, under the marshalship of Samuel Hatch, 

 proceeded up West Street, through Tremont Street 

 Mall and Tremont Street, to the site of the new build- 

 ing, where a platform was erected for their accommoda- 

 tion. After music by the Brigade Band, the president 

 delivered an address, in which he alluded to the foun- 

 dation of the Society, and its objects, which they were 

 then assembled to promote by the erection of a building 

 for its use ; to the laying of the corner stone of the first 

 horticultural hall almost twenty years before; to the 

 founders of the Society (some of whom were present), 

 and especially to Gen. Dearborn; to the progress 

 and beneficial influence of the Society; to its interest 

 in Mount Auburn Cemetery; to Samuel Appleton, 

 John A. Lowell, Theodore Lyman, Josiah Bradlee, 

 Benjamin V. French, and H. Hollis Hunnewell, as its 

 benefactors, not forgetting the intelligent amateur and 

 other cultivators, both among the living and the dead, 

 to whom the Society is indebted for the invaluable 

 services and unflagging zeal which have given it a 

 renown second to that of no other horticultural associ- 

 ation. 



At the close of the address the corner stone was laid 

 by the president, who deposited under it a zinc box, 

 containing a silver plate eight inches long and six wide 

 with the following inscriptions : 



