382 Massachusetts Horticultural Socieiy. 



tion with the Mount Auburn Cemetery. The increased number of 

 contributors, the improved character of the productions exhiltited, 

 and the anxiety to possess trees and i)lants, srive the most gratifying 

 evidence of the rapid advancement of the art, and the high rank to 

 Avhich it has attained. 



"The patronage of the comiiinnity has also been so much augment- 

 ed, that the Society feels itself straitened in its present location, and 

 have in contemplation, at no distant day, to erect an edifice, suitable 

 in elegance and convenience to the importance of the subject. 



"The love of gardening, in which is com])rised the science of Hor- 

 ticulture, seems to be an innate and natural principle of the mind, 

 congenial to, and connected vvith, our ideas of hap|)iiiess. From the 

 earliest ayes, it has, in all civilized nations, held an honorable and 

 distinguished rank, and to which man has looked, not oidy as a 

 source to which he might apply his industry, but for amusement and 

 gratification. 



"Solomon says, 'I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted in 

 them trees of all kind of fruits;' and Cyrus, one of the Persian 

 kings, we are informed, boasted that he had not only laid out and de- 

 signed his own garden, but had planted many of the trees with his 

 own hands. 



"At the present titne there is a spirit of enterprise hitherto unknown, 

 pervading the world in the cause of Airriculture and Horticulture. 

 Men of talents and influence are more than ever giving their atten- 

 tion to the subject, and enrolling their names as its patrons; and 

 there are few, if any, pursuits, so generally held in high esteem, and 

 no anniversaries or exhibitions so decidedly favorites with the public, 

 as those of Agricultural and Horticultural Societies. 



"That these have had a happy and powerful influence in dissemi- 

 nating a love for these ol>jects, 1 think cannot be doubted. A writer, 

 many years since, remarked that the London Horticultural Society 

 had accomplished more since its formation, than China had done in 

 a thousand years; and as an illustration of the popular favor, allow 

 nie to read you an extract from a journal giving some account of the 

 patronage bestowed on this Society at their exhibition in May last. 



[The President here read an extract from the Gardener's Chroni- 

 cle, giviiiir an account of the June exhibition of that Society, which 

 we have already copied into our Magazine, at p. 338.] 



"But I will not trespass further upon the time, which I am aware 

 will be so much better occupied with remarks and sentiments from 

 our friends present. Allow me, gentlemen, however, to observe, and 

 to which 1 know your feelings respond, that it is a matter of the high- 

 est gratification that we are honored with the presence of the ladies 

 on this occasion, and that woman, vvith her bright smiles and cheer- 

 ful looks, has come up to participate vvith us, and to chasten and re- 

 fine this Feast of Fruits and Flowers. She it was who was placed 

 in the prineii)al garden, to help dress and keep it, and who has ever 

 been, from the most elevated ranks of society, to the humble cottage 

 girl, that ornaments her window with a few favorite plants and flow- 

 ers, the distinguished j)atroness of the science. 



"Gentlemen of the Society — Permit me to congratulate you on the 

 harmony and good feeling that exists among us, on the success which 



