53 TRANSACTIONS, &g. 



dition of its finances. I am happy to avail myself of a communica- 

 tion from one of your ablest and best friends, yoiir Treasurer, Fred- 

 eric W. Paine Esq., who was one of the founders of this Society, to 

 whom the Society is largely indebted, not only for rare and beautiful 

 specimens of flowers, but still more for his judicious, careful, and 

 gratuitous service in the management of the funds of the Asso- 

 ciation. 



The Society was informally begun in 1840, and received its act of 

 incorporation in 1842. Prior to the organization of the Society, an 

 exhibition was held, on the 13th of October 1840, in the South Hall 

 of the Town Hall, as the building was then arranged. The cxhibilir.n 

 was made by the unwearied and almost unaided exertions of the late 

 Williavn Lincoln Esq., who, in addition to what could be obtained at 

 home, procured aid by personal solicitation from cultivators near 

 Boston, in Salem, Roxbury, Dorchester, and other towns. Many of 

 those who hear me, will recollect the character of the articles obtain- 

 ed from the liberal kindness of our friends abroad, and will justify 

 me in the remark, that the fruits and flowers thus received, which 

 were most valuable to us, and for which we were sincerely grateful, 

 in their intrinsic excellence, were as far inferior to those exhibited 

 at the glorious display of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 now open at Boston, as our contributions of that day w^ere lean and 

 meagre, in comparison with the rich variety which now graces the 

 tables of our society. In that exhibition, we had but a single plate 

 of peaches of our own, and our fruits consisted chiefly of good old 

 fashioned apples. To render the exhibition attractive, Mr. Lincoln 

 obtained, from our citizens, green-house plants and paintings, and 

 his success was so great, that the money taken at the door of the 

 hall, amounted to the unexpected sum of $207.90. Enct)uraged by 

 this result, and by the evidence of a general interest in the object, 

 Mr. Lincoln, on the evening of the day of the show, proposed to a 

 few gentlemen, who happened to be together, to form a Horticultural 

 Society. This was at once agreed to, and an informal organization 

 was made, when Mr. Lincoln became the Secretary, Frederic W. 

 Paine, Esq., was made Treasurer, and twenty-four associates were 

 enrolled. The number of members rapidly increased, until it reached 

 to sixty-six, on the first of January next. Mr. Lincoln continued 

 his valuable and energetic labors, until the permanence and success 

 of the society was made certain, and, in this work, added a new 

 claim to the gratitude and respect, with which the citizens of Wor- 



