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SOCIAL MEETING, TUESDAY, MAY 24, 1870. 



THIS meeting was held at the request of several members, to wel- 

 come the advent of spring, the hall being tastefully decorated with 

 stands and hanging baskets of flowers, and to revive the interest in 

 the horticultural department which has been for several years in a 

 quiescent condition. In the early days of the Natural History 

 Society, when a small cabinet contained the entire collection, and the 

 library consisted of a few volumes, recourse was had to the exhibi- 

 tions of fruits and flowers to render the rooms pleasant and attrac- 

 tive, and for twenty years these were our main reliance to secure the 

 notice and the patronage of the public. The exhibitions, at first 

 small and unpretending, soon assumed a proportion that few only 

 exceeded them in magnitude and none in the beauty and size of 

 many of the specimens shown. Not only the finest products of the 

 gardens and greenhouses were arranged upon our tables and stands, 

 but the native flowers usually received special attention, particularly 

 those rare and curious floral gems that are only found in the most 

 secluded and almost inacessible recesses of the woods and forests. 

 A gradual change is perceptible in the appearance of the exhibitions, 

 at clift'erent periods, by the inti'oduction of new and the disappear- 

 ance of the old and familiar species and varieties ; also a similar 

 change among the contributors ; the early pioneers are now passing 

 away ; another generation is taking their places ; may the latter be in- 

 spired with an increased zeal and enthusiasm, and having such a pres- 

 tige and such an accumulation of experiences be enabled to advance 

 still higher the cause of horticultural science. 



The PRESIDENT, in his opening remarks, gave a brief account of 

 the exhibitions of fruits and flowers in the early days of the Natural 

 History Society, and they ^influences in awakening an interest not 

 only in horticulture but in the general objects of the society. The 

 union of the Essex Historical Society in 1848, and the adoption of 

 the present name. The new vigor and zeal imparted to historic re- 

 search by this latter movement, the introduction of field meetings, 

 the different publications, historical and scientific, and the progress 

 made in the fulfilment of its plans and objects. The inducement of 

 Mr. George Peabody, by the success that had attended our efforts in 

 these directions, to place in the hands of nine trustees the sum of 

 $ 140,000 for the promotion of science and useful knowledge in this, 

 his native county, and to empower his trustees to make such ar- 

 rangements with the Essex Institute as may be necessary or expe- 

 dient for carrying into effect the provisions of his trust. The incor- 

 poration of the trustees in 1868, under the nq,me of " The Trustees 



