144 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



seen rank weeds growing in this apparently barren sand which 



had been thrown up from a depth of eight or ten feet. The party 

 went from Charleston to Savannah in a little steamer, through the 

 Sea Island channels, where, in the month of January, the oranges 

 were hanging on the trees so near that they seemed as if the^' 

 could almost be reached from the boat. 



President Walcott suggested that, as this was the last of the 

 series of meetings for discussion the present season, some 

 acknowledgement should be made to the Committee who had so 

 successfully provided papers and speakers. A vote of thanks to 

 the Committee for their efficiency was accordingly moved. 



Rev. A. B. Muzzey said that the meeting ought not to separate 

 without some recognition of the valuable services which the Com- 

 mittee on Publication and Discussion had rendered to the Society. 

 The programme of the meetings comprised a great variety of 

 subjects, and there was not one that was not interesting and 

 instructive. One of the essayists had taken us abroad and given 

 us information in regard to foreign horticulture. The speaker 

 regarded the Massachusetts Horticultural Society as the foremost 

 of all such societies in this country; its motto is "growth" — 

 one of the most inspiring words in the English language. What- 

 ever we may have done we have power to advance upon it, and 

 we are likely to do far better in the future. Mr. Muzzey thought 

 that these meetings showed progress in the power of extempora- 

 neous discussion on the part of the members of the Society and 

 others who have united with them. There seems to be something 

 in horticultural pursuits especially favorable to intellectual growth. 

 We have only to go on with such progress in the future as we 

 have made in the past to effect the object for which the Society 

 exists. 



The vote of thanks to the Committee on Publication and Dis- 

 cussion was then unanimoush' passed. 



Leverett M. Chase spoke of the importance of increasing the 

 membership of the Society. He thought that it might easily be 

 enlarged by a thousand if the members would take hold in 

 earnest. Within a year he had proposed twenty members. The 

 Society ought to have a membership of two thousand. 



The meeting was then dissolved. 



