TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 123 



the last to frown upon these great branches of industry, which so much 

 adorn and bless society ! 



Letters were received from several distinguished gentlemen, invited as 

 guests, which the time did not permit of reading. 



The following sentiment was appended to a letter from Hon. Isaac Da- 

 vis, President of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. 



The Massachusetts Horticultural Society, the Parent of all simi- 

 lar Societies in New England, — May the children imitate the noble 

 deeds of the parent ! 



The President here remarked, that it was less than forty years since the 

 formation of the first Horticultural Society in the world, and at the time 

 of our own organization, there were but two or three in this country ; that 

 now many of the cities and populous towns of New England have these 

 associations, and new ones are constantly rising up throughout the length 

 and breadth of our land. That horticultural papers and periodicals had 

 been the great agents, and eminently promotive of diffusing a wide-spread 

 influence and interest on this subject, one of which, in this city, had 

 already reached its eleventh volume. He would give, — 



The Magazine of Horticulture, — Alike creditable to its author, and 

 useful to the community. 



Mr. C. M. Hovey, the editor of the Magazine of Horticulture, addressed 

 the Chair as follows : — 



Mr. President, — I had hoped that, among the great number of ladies and 

 gentlemen who have been pleased to join our festival, you had forgotten 

 the annual complimentary sentiment, which you, or others,, have been, 

 pleased to bestow on me ; and that I might have escaped the task of troub- 

 ling you with any remarks, deeming it preferable, sir, to be a listener to the 

 rich flow of eloquence v/hich has fallen from those who have preceded me, 

 rather than that others should listen to me. But, sir, your compliment is 

 one which I feel proud of, and I thank you for it. Standing alone, without 

 a single cotemporary, I feel bound, however reluctant, to offer you a few 

 brief remarks. 



You have alluded to the usefulness of horticultural publications in dis- 

 seminating a taste for the pursuit of the science, and to the fact that our 

 labors have extended to eleven volumes. Leaving to you and to others of 

 our readers, among whom we are pleased to recognize so many now pres- 

 ent, and to say how far they have aided in the object for which the Society 

 was instituted, permit me to allude to the results which have already fol- 

 lowed the periodical literature of gardening. 



To whom are we indebted for much of the zeal which actuated the orig- 

 inal founders of this Society ? To those, sir, whose names we now see 

 inscribed upon these walls and in this glorious place, and whom we all 

 know, all honor. First, and at the head, stands the name of Lowell, whose 



