MR. hovey's address. 61 



member. It has been my pleasure to be present and preside at all the meet- 

 ings of the Society during my Presidency, except on a few occasions when 

 detained by sickness. 



I caunot vacate the chair without first expressing my thanks to the members 

 of the Society, for their continued kindness, patience, and support, which I 

 have invariably received, notwithstanding my many imperfections as a presid- 

 ing officer. 



And now, gentlemen, it becomes my duty to resign the chair to the one you 

 hav3 delegated to receive it ; a gentleman well qualified to occupy this import- 

 ant post — whose attainments and experience in all the departments of horticul- 

 tural knowledge, are equal, if not superior, to any other member of the Society ; 

 who, I trust, will so discharge the duties and responsibilities he is now about 

 to assume, as to redound to his own honor, and to the advancement of the 

 interests and prosperity of the Society, 



With these remarks, I bid you farewell. 



The newly-elected President, Charles M. Hovey, on taking the chair, 

 addressed the Society as follows : — 



INAUGURAL ADDRESS OF PRESIDENT HOVEY. 



Gentlemen of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society: — In 

 taking the chair to preside over your deliberations, I do so with a full sense of 

 the duties and respoilsibilities of the office, filled as it has been by so many 

 eminent men, and especially by the excellent and worthy President who now 

 retires from the position he has occupied so honorably for four years. I had 

 felt that the honor you had conferred upon me in electing me your President, 

 was in a great part due to my long and active connection with the Society — 

 extending back to the period of its organization in 1829, and the deep interest 

 I had taken in its proceedings, rather than to any especial merits of my own, 

 and therefore, calculated upon your indulgence in the discharge of my official 

 duties. But your kind President has passed such an eulogium on my humble 

 labors, that I fear you will expect more than I am able to perform, and that I 

 may fail to meet your anticipations. Permit me to say, however, that if a life- 

 long interest in the science of Horticulture,— an enthusiastic devotion to its 

 study and practice, and an abiding faith in the mission of the Society, are any 

 of the qualities which fit me for the office, I shall endeavor to deserve, as I 

 hope to secure your cordial approbation and support. 



I deem the custom, now become so well established, of opening the year 

 ■with a brief address from your President, a most happy one. It brings him in 

 closer communication with the members — allows him to foreshadow his views, 

 and gives him the opportunity to offer suggestions that may appear to him best 

 calculated to extend its influence. To me it is a pleasure to perform this duty, 



