ADDRESS. 



Members and Friends of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 CULTURAE Society. 



Ladies and Gentlemen^ — Assembled as we are under 

 the auspices of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 and in its own temple, to commemorate the completion 

 of its first half-century, it is natural to take a glance at 

 the way over which we have travelled. 



From the days when Peregrine White planted the first 

 apple-tree, and Gov. Endicott the first pear-tree, within 

 the limits of our State ; from the time when Gov. Win- 

 throp planted his garden on Governor's Island, or Black- 

 stone his orchard in Boston, — Massachusetts has been 

 famous for her gardens. But the progress of horticul- 

 ture was for a long time slow and feeble. It is eminently 

 one of the arts of peace ; and we find, that, after the close 

 of the Revolution, the first organized attempt in this 

 country to advance the progress of agriculture (which 

 includes hoi:ticulture) was made by the formation of the 

 Philadelphia Society for Promoting Agriculture, which 

 was soon followed by the formation of the jNIassachu- 

 setts Society for Promoting Agriculture. In like man- 

 ner, the close of the last war with England was followed, 

 in 1818, by the organization of the first horticultural 

 society in the country, — that of New York. The next 

 society, that of Pennsylvania, was organized in Novem- 

 ber, 1827, and is therefore the oldest society in the 

 country which has had a continued existence to the 

 present day. 



