20 MASSACHUSETTS nORTlCULTUBAL SOCIETY. 



for the best Plautation of Trees for Ship Tini])er for the year 

 1887. 



On motion of "William H. Spooner, it was voted that the Exec- 

 utive Committee consider the subject of employing experts to 

 award the prizes at some of the larger shows of the Society. 



On motion of Edward L. Beard, it was voted that the Executive 

 Committee report the most feasible method of limiting the number 

 of annual members of the Society. 



Francis H. Appleton moved that a committee of five be ap- 

 pointed to nominate a candidate to fill the vacancy in the Execu- 

 tive Committee caused by the death of Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. 

 The motion was carried and the Chair appointed as that Committee 

 ]Mr. Appleton, Warren Ileiistis, Benjamin G. Smith, William H. 

 Iluut, and E. H. Hitchings. 



Mrs. p. D, Richards, of West Medford, 

 having been recommended b}- the Executive Committee as a mem- 

 ber of the Society, was on ballot duly elected. 



Adjourned to Saturday, January 8. 



Biographical Sketch of Hon. Marshall P. Wilder. 



The Committee on Publication have thought it best to insert here a 

 short biographical sketch of Mr. Wilder, which has accordingly been 

 prepared by the Secretary of the Society. Several such sketches 

 were published during Mr. Wilder's life, some of which, especially 

 that in the " Biographical Encyclopedia of Massachusetts in the 

 Nineteenth Century," have been used in the preparation of the 

 following memoir. The address of his pastor at the funeral has 

 also afforded assistance. The portrait of Mr. Wilder prefixed to 

 this volume was contributed by his family. It was engraved in 

 1872. 



Marshall Pinckney Wilder was born in Rindge, New Hamp- 

 shire, on the 22d of September, 1798. His Christian names were 

 given in rememl)rance of Chief Justice John Marshall and General 

 Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, both prominent Federalists at the 

 time of his birth. His father, Samuel Locke Wilder, was a nephew 

 of Samuel Locke, D.D., President of Harvard College; he held 

 several important offices in the town of Rindge, and was also a 



