MEMORIAL OF EX-PRESIDENT HOVEY. 257 



BUSINESS MEETING. 



Saturday, October 1, 1887. 



A stated meeting of the Society, being the Annual Meeting for 

 the choice of officers and standing committees, was holden at 11 

 o'clock, Vice-President C. H. B. Breck in the chair. 



The Recording Secretary being absent, owing to illness, the 

 Chair appointed Edward Frost Recording Secretary pro temjMre, 

 who stated that the requirements of the Constitution and By-Laws 

 in regard to notice of the meeting had been complied with. 



In behalf of the Committee appointed to prepare a memorial of 

 the late Charles M. Hovey, William C. Strong, Chairman, 

 reported as follows : 



The Committee appointed to prepare an expression from the 

 Society in memory of the late Charles M. Hovey, submit the 

 following : 



The Massachusetts Horticultural Society desires to place on 

 record its appreciation of the eminent ability and life-long service 

 of the late Charles M. Hovey in the cause of horticulture and the 

 Interests of this Society. From very boyhood Mr. Hove}' is said 

 to have displayed a love of this art. At the early age of twenty- 

 two, in the year 1832, he established his nurseries in Cambridge 

 in connection with his brother, retaining this as his principal pur- 

 suit with unflagging interest until the day of his death. 



During this long period of fifty-five years, what a vast amount 

 of service did he render ! What revolutions in the art did he 

 witness ! To him the high honor must be accorded of having 

 contributed as much as an}' other man towards advancing the 

 interests of horticulture to the present stage of progress. A man 

 of ceaseless activity, untiring energy, keen observation, retentive 

 memory, boundless enthusiasm, he brought to his work qualities 

 which ensured progress. The many products of his skill were 

 as sure to appear as the ripe fruit is sure to follow the careful 

 c.ulture of the seed. In every branch of cultivation, native or 

 exotic, fruits or flowers, trees or plants, he was equally interested ; 

 and the results of his labors are seen in seedlings or valuable 

 introductions in all departments of plants. 



Such activity would exhaust the strength of most men. But 

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