TRANSACTIONS 



^assiariutiscttsi gavlicultumi ^atiti^. 



BUSINESS MEETING. 



Saturday, Januaiy 3, 1885. 

 A duly notified stated meeting of the Societ}' was holden at 11 

 o'clock, the President, John B. Moore, in the chair. 



The President delivered his annual address, as follows : — 



Address of President Moore. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society : — 

 Again we have assembled hereto commence anew our work, and 

 also to look back upon the past and to profit by its teachings. The 

 last has been an eventful year in the historj^ of this Society, and 

 the first in which tlie death of a President has occurred. 



Hon. Francis B. Ha3'es, then in the full vigor of mature man- 

 hood, was, on the 20th of September, suddenly called from his 

 earthlj' duties to a higher life. Mr. Hayes, as President, served 

 this Society well ; he was attentive, energetic, and vigilant in the 

 performance of his duties ; a good financier, an excellent presiding 

 officer, urbane in manner, and courteous to all. He was an enthu- 

 siastic lover of trees, plants, and flowers, and of everything per- 

 taining to rural life ; and constantly' interested in acquiring infor- 

 mation upon horticulture from books, as evinced by his use of our 

 library, as well as of his own. 



His country home, at Lexington, under his lavish expenditures 

 and extensive improvements both in buildings and grounds, was 

 fast becoming one of the notable estates in the suburbs of Boston. 



