b MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



His counsel, cheerfully given, never obtruded, was remarkable 

 in this — that full account was taken of the wants of the present 

 day, and the facts of advance were recognized, and, dispassion- 

 ately comparing them with the past, he believed that substantial 

 improvements had been made, and that we were on the road to 

 still greater achievement. 



The future readers of the history of the Society will find it diffi- 

 cult to believe that this man, so prominent in our records, was 

 equally conspicuous in many other organizations, and was at the 

 same time a busy merchant of the city of Boston. But he illus- 

 trated the best charm of horticulture, the relief afforded by it to 

 the tired man of business and to the wearied student. The 

 changes of nature were even more attractive to iiim than the tri- 

 umphs of public life. 



A fund established by the provisions of his will — by which 

 medals are annually to be given for the encouragement of the cul- 

 tivation of certain fruits — will forever be associated with his name. 



" Of no distemper, of no blast he died, 

 But fell like autumn fruit that mellowed Jong." 



It is my good fortune to be able to repeat this year the favor- 

 able financial statement of last 3'ear, and I have the pleasure of an- 

 nouncing to you, that on December 1st we were able to pay $30,000 

 of the mortgage debt of §60,000 which matures in the fall of 1888, 

 and that our only indebtedness today which is not fully provided 

 for by cash in the hands of the Treasurer is tlie balance of the 

 mortgages, $.'50,000, and the Stickney Fund of $12,000, due Har- 

 vard College in 1899. 



Though the Treasurer's accounts cannot be fully presented thus 

 early in the year, it can be stated that the receipts are greater than 

 those of the year 1885 by about $4,000, while the expenditures 

 exceed those of 1885 by about $1,000. 



The occupation of the halls by the Japanese and Aztec villages 

 tluough man}' weeks has fortunately contril)utcd to give us a larger 

 income than usual, but I must again remind the Society that tlie 

 conditions of propert}* of this sort, in this portion of the city, have 

 so far changed in recent years, that wc nuist not be sur[)risod at a 

 pernianent depreciation of the value of the halls for such purposes 

 as can with propriety be permitted by the Society. 



The exhibitions of the year have, upon the whole, been success- 



