No. 4.] PUBLIC WINTER MEETING. 11 



which every variety of trees, shrubs, plants and flowers could 

 be tried out, but it seems in a very few years the idea of an 

 experimental garden proved not satisfactory, and ever since 

 then the work has been better done by private enterprise 

 in nursery establishments; but on looking over the early 

 history of the society it is interesting to note the great stress 

 that was laid upon the necessity of an experimental garden. 

 At the time of the establishment of this experimental garden 

 Dr. Jacob Bigelow was very much interested in the establish- 

 ment of a rural cemetery, something after the fashion of the 

 Pere La Chaise in Paris. There were no such cemeteries as 

 that in the country as late as 1829, but the society had not 

 funds enough to buy the land for the garden, and so 60 gentle- 

 men, members of the society, subscribed $100 apiece, and for 

 $6,000 they bought the land now occupied as Mount Auburn 

 Cemetery. A sum exceeding $300,000 has been received by the 

 society from this, its first and earliest investment. 



RESPONSE FOR THE BOARD BY JOHN BURSLEY. 



Mr. Dillon, representing the city, and Mr. Ptich of the Horti- 

 cultural Society: In behalf of our Board of Agriculture, I 

 assure you that I thank you most heartily for your very kind 

 words. I think we, as hayseeds, appreciate the sentiment, 

 and we certainly appreciate the opportunity to spend a few 

 days in your city, even in the winter season, and I know that 

 every member appreciates the hospitality of the Horticultural 

 Society and the use of this building and its appurtenances. 

 Let me say that our Board of Agriculture, during an existence 

 of sixty-five years, has always enjoyed its visits to the city of 

 Boston, and I believe that this visit will be no exception. I 

 am pleased to see so many of the seats filled at this, the open- 

 ing session, and I know that some of us must get some ideas 

 which, as farmers, will be of value to us. Gentlemen repre- 

 senting these departments of the city and of the society, I 

 again thank you. At this hour, gentlemen, we are privileged 

 to have with us, as the next speaker. Professor H, R. Lewis, 

 poultry husbandman of the New Jersey Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Stations, who will deliver a lecture on "Poultry and 



