25 



expiration, or leave to tlie Society a much larger sum to en- 

 courage the objects to which it is especially devoted. 



Your Committee cannot here omit to contrast the present 

 condition of the Society with its condition in 1843, when it 

 decided to purchase the old Latin Schoolhouse in School Street, 

 for the sum of |18,000. With only 115,000 of available funds 

 for the purpose, it then almost unanimously voted to erect a 

 building upon the site, which, with the land, would cost about 

 <|40,000. If the attempt to build now can be termed a hazard- 

 ous enterprise, with its increased means, much larger number of 

 members, and the far greater general public taste for horticult- 

 ure and rural art, what must the action of the Society have 

 been deemed in 1813 ? Its prospective income could not then be 

 considered, at the outside, at more than $2500, and the mcome 

 from the building less than five per centum ; and to carry for- 

 ward the work it was necessary to execute a mortgage for 

 $15,000, besides the use of all the income from Mt. Auburn 

 for four years. Yet it went on prosperously, meeting all its lia- 

 bilities promptly, distributing veiy liberally of its means for the 

 encouragement of Horticulture and Pomological Science, and, 

 thanks to those who labored so faithfully, we are now receiving 

 the benefits of the sound judgment and foresight, united with 

 the zeal and energy of those who laid the foundation of our 

 success, and gave to the Society extended influence and the 

 means of far greater usefulness. 



In conclusion, your Committee would advise the immediate 

 erection of a building worthy of that art and science which is 

 henceforth to be its home, and spread therefrom its benign influ- 

 ence throuo-hout the land. 



Who that treads the shady paths and winding avenues, or 

 reclines beneath the sacred groves of that g-arden of graves, the 

 inception of the founders of the Society — or surveys the broad 

 expanse of cultivated country now reaching to the Pacific, 

 teeming with rich fruits and beautifiil flowers, would wish, with 

 the means at our command, and the known public spirit, to 

 erect a lesser monument to the triumphs of civilization. 



