256 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



to the pioneers of horticulture in New England before 

 the formation of the Society, among whom he mentioned 

 Thomas H. Perkins, Christopher Gore, John Lowell, 

 Samuel G. Perkins, and Eben Preble. Other speeches, 

 with songs and. sentiments, made the occasion a most 

 gratifying one. 



The second grand dahlia show was fixed for the 5th 

 and 6th of October; but the hopes which had been 

 formed for that occasion were blasted by a severe storm 

 on the night of the 2d and 3d. 



We have mentioned in Chapter IV. the donations of 

 Messrs. Lee and Cushing, to be added to an equal 

 amount from the funds of the Society, to form a pre- 

 mium for an effectual method of destroying the rose 

 slug. This premium was offered June 13. 1840. On 

 the 19th of June, 1841, a letter was read from David 

 Haggerston announcing that he had discovered whale- 

 oil soap to be a cheap and effectual means of destroying 

 not only the rose slug, but several other insects. The 

 Flower Committee reported, on the 5th of March, 1842, 

 that, on trial, this means had been found completely 

 successful in subduing this most destructive insect ; and 

 the premium of one hundred and twenty dollars was 

 accordingly awarded to Mr. Haggerston. 



At the same meeting at which Mr. Haggerston's dis- 

 covery was announced, the Society voted to offer a pre- 

 mium of one hundred dollars for a successful mode of 

 destroying the curculio, to which an equal amount was 

 added from the hands of gentlemen interested in horti- 

 culture. The attention of the Society had been called 

 to this subject about a year after its organization, by a 

 letter from Dr. James Mease, vice-president of the Penn- 

 sylvania Horticultural Society, giving information of a 



