TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 113 



Boston, September I5th, 1845. 

 To M. P. Wilder, President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society : — 



SiPm — I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 

 8th instant, with a pohte invitation from the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society to attend their Seventeenth Anniversary, on the 17th, ISth, and 

 19th instant, at Horticultural Hall, in School Street, to be consummated 

 with a Festival at Faueuil Hall, on the 19th, at 5 o'clock, P. M. For this 

 very flattering invitation, I return to yourself, individually, and to the So- 

 ciety, my sincere thanks, and I very much regret it will not be in my 

 power to accept the kind invitation, and attend the Festival on the 19th. 



It would afford me great pleasure to meet with the Society that has done 

 so much, within a few years, for the improvement of Horticulture, in the 

 vicinity of Boston. Agriculture, the most useful, and Horticulture, the 

 most pleasing of all arts, have fully kept pace with the rapid progress of 

 the age, in other departments of activity, for which the community are 

 largely indebted to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



With the view of giving further aid to the Society, in their very laudable 

 exertions, I send you enclosed one thousand dollars, to be invested as a 

 permanent fund, the interest accruing therefrom to be appropriated, annu- 

 ally, in premiums, for improvements in the arts to which the Society are 

 devoted, in such manner as it shall direct, for producing Trees good for 

 food, and Flowers pleasant to the sight. 



I wish continued success to the Society, and that the Agriculturists, who 

 make beds of roses, and bring forth such good fruits and beautiful flowers 

 for others, may themselves be rewarded, and find, through life, a flowery 

 path free from thorns. 



I have the honor to be, sir, with great respect, your most obedient, most 

 humble servant, 



SAMUEL APPLETON. 



N. B. Should you think the following toast worthy the occasion, it is 

 at your service : — 



Agkiculture, Manufactures, Commerce, and Horticulture ; — Agri- 

 culture gives us food; Manufactures gives us clothing; Commerce gives 

 us cash ; and Horticulture, on the tables before us, speaks for itself in the 

 language of Paradise more eloquently than any Jiorvers of rhetoric can 

 express. 



Mr. Webster then rose and said, — 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — I have obtained leave of the President to re- 

 mind this company, that a venerable lady honors this occasion with her 

 presence. She is the daughter of Gen. Phillip Schuyler, of the revolution- 

 ary army, and the widow of Alexander Hamilton. (Loud and continued 

 15 



