1892.] FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 35 



ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT PARKER. 



Ladies and Gentlemen ; Guests of the Society ; and Fellow- 

 Members : — 



This is an auspicious day. 



Within this luxurious and well appointed hall, itself an attesta- 

 tion of a noble work performed, and with the similitude of the 

 kindly faces of its founders looking down upon us from these 

 walls, in silent benediction, we are met to celebrate the fiftieth 

 anniversary of the incorporation of this Society. 



I have been designated to prepare for this occasion an histori- 

 cal sketch of its formation and growth during the half-century. 

 I could have wislied that this task had been assigned to other 

 and abler hands, — to some one of our associates of longer service, 

 who could date his active membership and work from the begin- 

 ning, and who could flavor the pages of such an address with his 

 own personal reminiscence, — who could speak like yEneas of old 

 " of those things both which he himself has seen, and of which 

 he was a great part." But since it has been otherwise decreed, 

 let us hope at least, that at a later stage in this our Anni- 

 versary the " personal experience " of more than one such Serai- 

 Centenarian may not be wanting, and that it will prove all the 

 more racy and acceptable because unfettered by the written page. 



The first step taken in the formation of this Society was in 

 the fall of 1840. On September 19th, 1840, several gentlemen 

 desirous of forming a Society for the advancement of Horti- 

 cultural Science, organized by the choice of the following 

 officers : 



President. — Dr. John Green. 



Vice-Presidents. — Dr. Samuel B. Woodward, Stephen Salisbury. 



Recording Secretaries. — Benjamin Heywood, L. L. Newton, 

 J. C. B. Davis. 



Corresponding Secretaries. — William Lincoln, Dr. Joseph 

 Sargent. 



Trustees. — Dr. John Park, Isaac Davis, E. F. Dixie, S. D. 

 Spurr, Thomas Chamberlain, Nathaniel Stowell, A. D. Foster, 

 Lewis Chapin, J. G. Kendall, Emory Washburn. 



Of this number only one, J. C. B. Davis, so far as I know, is 

 now living. 



