30 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



as President. But his interest in tlie management of the Societ}' 

 did not cease with that event. My virtue of the oflice of President 

 he had been Chairman of the Executive Committee from 1841 to 

 1848, and he continued to be a member, either as an Ex-President 

 or by election, until his death, and no one was more constant and 

 punctual in attending its meetings than he. He was a member of 

 the Committee on Flowers in 1837 and 1838 ; a member of the 

 Committee on the Librar}' in 1838, 1839, and 1840, and Chairman 

 in 1842 ; Chairman of the Committee on the Synonymes of Fruits 

 from 1844 to 186^ ; Chairman of the Finance Committee from 

 1849 to 1858, and with the exception of one year a member from 

 that time until 1866. He was also frequenth^ appointed on im- 

 portant special committees. B3' his will he bequeathed to the So- 

 ciety, as a fund to perpetuate his memorj-, the sum of one 

 thousand dollars ; the income of which is to be awarded in prizes 

 for the improvement of the Pear and the Grape. 



Mr. AVilder's interest in agriculture and labors to promote its 

 improvement were hardly less than those in horticulture. The 

 first organized effort in which he joined in this behalf was on the 

 lirst Saturday in April, 1840, when several gentlemen who felt 

 tiiat nothing is so conducive to right thinking is good eating 

 and drinking met at the Exchange Coffee House to form a club 

 to dine together monthly for conversation and the interchange of 

 opinions relating mainly to agriculture. This association was 

 named the Massachusetts Agricultural Club, and its meetings have 

 been held regularly until the present time. The tirst President 

 was Cheever Newhall, who continued in that position until his 

 death in 1878, when he was succeeded by Mr. Wilder, whose in- 

 cumbency also was terminated only with his life. It was around 

 this social board that many of the projects for the advancement of 

 agriculture in which Mr. Wilder took a leading part were dis- 

 cussed and brought into shape. The first of these was the Nor- 

 folk Agricultural Society, formed in February, 1849, when he was 

 chosen President. In his first address before this Societ}' he 

 uiged the importance of agricultural education — the first general 

 efiovt for the promotion of this interest in our country. Governor 

 IJriggs, Lieutenant Governor Reed, Daniel Webster, Edward 

 Everett, Robert C. Winthrop, Ex-Governor Lincoln of Massachu- 

 setts, Ex-Governor Hill of New Ham|)shire, Charles Francis 

 Adams, Josiah Quiucy, Sr., Josiah Qiiincy, Jr., Gen. H. A. S. 



