REPORTS OF THE STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 361 



dead beneath the churches, and in the church-yards attached, had 

 been a matter of thought and anxiet}^ among many of Boston's 

 wise and careful men, and although attempts had been repeatedly 

 made to secure a tract of land, large enough, varied enough in 

 character, and near enough to Boston, suitable for a rural cemetery, 

 none which met these requirements, and which could be pur- 

 chased, had up to this time been found. Boston had been incorpo- 

 rated as a city but seven years previous to the organization of this 

 society; from 1630 to 1822 she had gloried in the pride of her 

 Puritan government ; of selectmen managing the affairs of the 

 town, as directed by the people in that most Democratic of all 

 Governments under heaven, the "Town Meeting." But since 

 that, in 1829, she had wonderfully increased her population from 

 forty to sixty thousand, and her valuation from eighty millions to 

 eight times that. The territory was limited, and there was a very 

 general and spontaneous feeling that intramural sepulture must 

 be stopped. 



About a 3'ear after the incorporation of this Society, a suitable 

 tract of land, sixty acres in extent, was found lying in the towns 

 of Cambridge and Watertown, and as the Society wanted land for 

 an experimental garden, it was thought wise by its leading mem- 

 bers, and those most active in the cemeterj' project, that the whole 

 should be bought and placed in charge of the Society, which should 

 reserve and use what was necessary for a garden, thus securing 

 the most intelligent care of the grounds, and giving an added 

 beauty to the cemetery. 



The land was bought by a subscription of those who thereby 

 constituted themselves as members, and in the spring of 1831, the 

 Legislature authorized the Massachusetts Horticultural Society in 

 addition to the powers already conferred on it, "to dedicate and 

 appropriate any part of the real estate, now owned or hereafter 

 to be acquired bj' them as and for a rural cemetery or burying 

 ground, and for the erection of tombs, cenotaphs, or other monu- 

 ments for and in memory of the dead ;" and on the 24th of Sep- 

 tember following it was dedicated with proper and imposing cere- 

 monies. 



Thus it is that to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, we 

 owe the selection, purchase, and consecration of Mount Auburn, 

 this lovely rural cemetery, in locution, character, natural and 

 artificial beauty unequalled in this country. 



