470 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



them for horticultural and agricultural journals, would 

 form a valuable horticultural library. And it is not too 

 much to say that the influence of the Massachusetts 

 Horticultural Society, exerted through its exhibitions, 

 its prizes, its discussions, publications, and library, has, 

 more than any or all other causes, been the means of 

 so improving the gardens and pleasure grounds around 

 the city of Boston, as to make its suburbs, by general 

 acknowledgment, more beautiful than those of any 

 other American city. But its influence has not rested 

 here. Its publications have been freely distributed 

 among all interested in horticulture. Its library has, 

 with equal liberality, been opened to visitors from far 

 or near ; and, of the hundreds of exhibitions held, there 

 have probably been few unvisited by persons residing 

 beyond the limits of Massachusetts. To those who con- 

 stantly witness these comparisons of our products, they 

 may come to have some appearance of sameness, yet 

 they are ever fresh, and ever exerting a wide influence 

 upon the public. The stimulus which has been given 

 by our weekly and annual gatherings has resulted in an 

 impress, more or less marked, upon almost every New 

 England home. 



The influence of the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society is shown in the improvement of the markets of 

 Boston and other cities and towns in New England. At 

 the time of the formation of the Society the number 

 of varieties of fruits and vegetables to be found in our 

 markets was small, and the quality inferior; while 

 flowers and flowering plants were hardly thought of as 

 articles of commerce. Not every new variety is adapted 

 to cultivation for the market ; but such as are soon find 

 their way there : and, as a consequence, when we pass 



