380 Festival of the 



The number of contributors on that occasion was thirty-two. 



The baskets and dishes of Fruits less than one hundred, and the amount 

 of premiums offered less than $ 200. 



During the present anniversary, there have been placed on our tables 

 more than/oMr^een hundred dishes of Fruits, and the premiums offered by 

 the Society this year exceed $ 1300. 



And as a further illustration, I notice by this Report, that the contribu- 

 tion of Robert Manning, the great Pomologist of America, consisted of but 

 one basket of peaches, while, at the present exhibition, the family of that 

 lamented man have sent us 240 varieties of the pear. And in a note that I 

 received from him but a short time previous to his decease, he stated that 

 he had gathered into his own collection, from a point of time but a few 

 years antecedent to the formation of this institution, nearly 2,000 varieties 

 of fruits. 



Similar advances have been made by other members, and those whose 

 names were not then borne on its roll, and some who had not even com- 

 menced the good work, are now among its largest contributors, presenting 

 forty, fifty, and an hundred varieties, and the same success and correspond- 

 ing increase has been attendant on the productions of the floral and vegeta- 

 ble kingdom. 



Among the pleasing incidents of the present year, may be noticed the 

 completion and occupancy of our new edifice in School street ; but who 

 would have predicted that, ere the present Exhibition had closed, there would 

 still exist a demand for further and enlarged accommodations? 



I congratulate the Society on the liberal and increasing patronage of the 

 community — on the addition of more than 100 new members to its ranks 

 during the last nine months — on the continued improvement in the produc- 

 tions exhibited — on the honorable and elevated standing our institution sus- 

 tains both at home and abroad — and on the harmony and union that prevail 

 among us. 



We have assembled to commemorate its 17th anniversary. We are met 

 in this Temple of Liberty, whose time-honored walls have oft resounded to 

 deeds of patriotism and benevolence, and we too have come up hither for a 

 benevolent object. We have not come to prepare by exciting debate for the 

 political contest, nor for the discussion of those subjects that agitate society 

 to its very centre. 



After paying a compliment to the ladies who had joined in the festival, 

 he concluded with the following sentiment : — 



Cultivation, Manual, Mental, and Moral, — The three great sources of wealth, fame, 

 and happiness. 



The President then read other sentiments. 



New England, — The home of the Pilgrims,— the birthplace of Liberty, — her rude soil, 

 cultivated by hard hands, now teems with the choicest products of every clime. 



The Governor of the Commonwealth, — From the rough and rocky soil of the Berk- 

 shire Hills, he appears to have learned the art of raising a large c7-op of esteem in every 

 county in the State. 



