70 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ADDRESS OF CHARLES M. HOVEY, Esq., 



PRESIDENT OF THE MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, 

 At the Annual Meeting, January 2, 1864. 



Gentlemen of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society: — 



Another year has passed away, and we are assembled on the new year to 

 exchange the salutations of the season, and give renewed assurance of our 

 devotion to the interests and objects of the Society. 



It must be gratifying to all of us to know, that in the midst of the terrible 

 struggle which has convulsed the country, and the trying times through which 

 we are passing, occupying more or less the thoughts of every man who holds 

 Freedom sacred and Union dear — the arts of peace have not been neglected, 

 and that Horticulture, which marks a higher civilization, has received a large 

 share of attention ; that its steady and onward progress is the best evidence 

 of the great importance of associations like ours, whose purpose it is to en- 

 courage a taste for, and diffuse information upon, every department of Rural 

 Art. We all have a duty to perform ; and it is ours, who are privileged to 

 remain at home, while our brothers are fighting the battles of our country, to 

 maintain unimpaired the art and science in which we are engaged. 



The exhibitions of the Society, during the last year, though not so large 

 and varied as in some previous years, have, when we consider the various 

 causes, been as satisfactory as could have been anticipated. The season was 

 unfavorable. Flowers were injured by the^ early drought of June, and the 

 drenching rains of August ; and the fruit crop, after a year of unusual abun- 

 dance, was one of limited quantity, and rather inferior quality. Thus it was 

 not possible, however so earnest the desire, to make our exhibitions so at- 

 tractive and extensive. It is a source of congratulation, however, to learn 

 that the contributors were more numerous and an unusual degree of interest 

 manifested in the exhibitions. 



The Annual Show was from actual necessity held in our own hall, and 

 though by no means so large as when abundant room has been at our com- 

 mand, it much exceeded the most sanguine expectations of every member. 

 All were astonished that in a season so unfavorable, the specimens should be 

 so fine. The Chairman of the Fruit Committee, in his excellent Annual 

 Report submitted at a late meeting, has admitted tliat in some particulars, 

 especially in native grapes, the exhibition was the best ever made by the 

 Society. 



