96 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT, JAMES F. C. HYDE, 

 At the Annual Meeting, January 2, 1869. 



Gentlemen of the Society: — 



We have been borne along, on the sAvift wings of time, to the opening 

 of a new year. As I stand here to enter upon the duties belonging to 

 this position, I am reminded that it is the third time that I have been 

 elected to this office. It becomes me to acknowledge your kindness, 

 and return my sincere thanks for this renewed evidence of your confi- 

 dence and regard, as well as for your kind and prompt co-operation, in 

 all matters relating to the interests of this Society. Through all the 

 years that I have been connected with this organization, I have observed 

 with pride that the members fully appreciate the merits, and bear pa- 

 tiently with the faults of their otHcers. With this fact strongly 

 impressed upon my mind, I feel that I hazard nothing in relying upon 

 your forbearance for the future, as I have in the past, in performing the 

 duties that devolve upon the President of this Society. The past sea- 

 son, it seems to me, has been one of the most remarkable that we have 

 known for years; one as unfavorable for the horticulturist as we could 

 well have; cold and wet, wet all through the season, with very few 

 bright, warm days. Our hearts were not gladdened in Autumn, by such 

 bright Indian Summer days, such as we generally have when the maples 

 on the hillsides, and along the valleys, are ablaze with scarlet and gold. 

 Cold, dreary, drizzly weather, was the order of the season. Yet, not- 

 withstanding all, there was a good crop of apples of fair quality, a tol- 

 erable crop of pears, though of rather poor quality, few or no peaches, 

 and a plenty of unripe grapes. We have never known a poorer grape 

 year, and if all our seasons were to be such as that just closed, then it 

 would be little use to attempt the cultivation of this fruit, either for 

 home use or market. 



The Summer fruits were more satisfactory, but not equal in quality, 

 to those grown in hotter and dryer seasons. 



Though the past year was so unfavorable, yet the displays on our 

 tables have been good, doing even more credit to the skilful horticultu- 

 rist than in seasons much more favorable to the production of good 

 fruits. There is little difficulty when the weather is fine, and seasons 

 favorable, and everything conspires to happy results, but it is when ad- 

 verse influences are encountered, that the real merits of the skilful cul- 

 tivator are seen. Our tables, at the Annual Exhibition, fully attested 

 the progress we have made, when art and skill have so wonderfully tri- 

 umphed over nature, and drawn forth, even from the naturally hard soil 



