64 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



thousands of admiring visitors. So long as we continue as we now are we 

 shall fail to secure the sympathies of the people. 



Your President has alluded to the labors of the Committee appointed to pur- 

 chase a site for a new building, who have selected a most central one, possess- 

 ing in an eminent degree all the conveniences we could require, and as a 

 report will come before you for your consideration, I shall not occupy your 

 time in reference thereto ; but I wish to record my sincere hope that such a 

 favorable opportunity may not be allowed to pass, and that the exertions now 

 making will succeed. Your Committee contains among its members, gentle- 

 men of great financial abilities, who seek nothing but the permanent interests 

 of the Society — gentlemen, too, who foresee its future greatness and rank. I 

 trust their good judgment will meet your approbation, and that they will be 

 supported in their endeavors to place the Society in the position its condition, 

 its wants, ahd its resources demand. 



To accomplish this, however, I must urge you to make no needless expendi- 

 tures, but to husband all our means beyond our actual wants. Our premiums 

 — the life of the Society — should be liberal, but other expenditures guarded. 

 The Library, already large, should have every popular work added to it ; but 

 beyond that we should not go. We do not wish to bury beneath its shelves 

 the ponderous tomes and elaborate works valuable only to the student. 



We meet together under more cheering auspices than at the incoming of the 

 past year. Yet we cannot but deplore the cruel warfare that still goes on, 

 saddening many homes and devastating lands; causing thousands of sorrowing 

 hearts and tasking the energies and resources of the country. May the reward 

 be equal to the sacrifice, and its end be a peace which shall bring renewed 

 energy to every branch of industry, and fill our land with homes where flowers 

 shall bloom, and trees shall be laden with delicious fruits. 



In conclusion, let me hope that harmonious action will be the guiding prin- 

 ciple in all our duties. Let honorable competition cement, rather than weaken 

 our ties. We come together Aveekly or monthly to exhibit our beautiful flow- 

 ers and handsome fruits — to show to eacli other the results of our skill and 

 care. May all these meetings be characterized by such unity of feeling and 

 good will, that our declining years may be solaced by the happy recollections 

 of the past. 



