1892.] FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY. 55 



possession of a homo of its own is as great an advantage to a 

 society as to an individual — it makes an institution of vchat was 

 before but an association. I lately received a letter from a gen- 

 tleman interested in securing a hall for the Royal Horticultural 

 Society of London — to which we all look with respect as the 

 parent and prototype of all horticultural societies — inquiring 

 how the horticultural halls in this country have been provided, 

 and especially in regard to the financial basis. I said in my reply 

 that I expected soon to attend the semi-centennial of your Society 

 and that I would communicate to him any information that I 

 could gather here which would be of service to him. I mention 

 this to show the far-reaching influence of your Society. 



Your Society may well congratulate itself on the excellent 

 library which it has collected, and wliich is probably excelled by 

 few horticultural libraries in the country. This department is 

 invaluable in promoting a scientific and practical knowledge of 

 botany and horticulture. 



At tlie risk of appearing to bring in personal matters I may 

 say that in looking over the earliest publications of your Society 

 I found that among the members of the Massachusetts Horticul- 

 tural Society from whom contributions were solicited for your 

 first exhibition, were gentlemen from Dorchester, Roxbury, 

 Watertown, Brighton, and Salem. I thought it probable, from 

 the mention of Salem, that my father — whose '^ Pomological 

 Garden" there, contained the largest collection of fruits, especial- 

 ly pears, to be found in the country at that time, then coming 

 into bearing — was one of the contributors, and I am assured by 

 the veteran Secretary of your Society that my inference was cor- 

 rect, and that his contribution was made at the solicitation of his 

 life-long friend, "William Lincoln. Later contributions were re- 

 ported from Salem in which my father probably had a share. I 

 shall venture to mention one which I sent in 1846, after his 

 deatii, which included specimens of the Paradise of Autumn 

 pear, then a new variety having first fruited in this country two 

 years before. It is recorded of the committee that consisted of 

 George Jaques, Dr. John Porter of North Brookfield, John Mil- 

 ton Earlc, and Capt. Silas Allen of Shrewsbury, that " the air of 

 perfect satisfaction which overspread the countenance of one of 



