Massachusetts Horlicultxiral Society. 593 



10. Horticnltural Pursuits — Inexhaustible sources of study and delight — 

 rewarding all who participate in them with the enjoyment of health and 

 strength, and the luxurious indulgence of nature's choicest gifts. 



11. The memory of three distinguished patrons of horticulture — John 

 Lowell, Jesse Buel, and Thomas Green Fessenden. "They rest from their 

 labors, and their works do follow them." 



12. The Clergy — Always sowing the good seed — may the}-, at the ingath- 

 ering, be rewarded with an abundant harvest. 



13. Woman— 



"A seedling sprung from Adam's side, 



A most celestial shoot. 

 Became of Paradise ihe pride. 



And bore a wjrld of fruit. ^' 



After the delivery of these to^^sts, Mr. Wilder, the President, made 

 a veiy neat and appropriate addres.?, substantially as follows: — 



Gentlemen, — It is rather my duty to solicit remarks from you, 

 than to offer them myself; but I cannot refrain from briefly advert- 

 ing to the present flourishing condition of the Massachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, and to the success that has attended the efforts of 

 its members since its organization. 



It was formed in February, 18:19, and held its first anniversary and 

 exhibition of fruits and flowers in September of the same year, and 

 we rejoice to number among its members on this occasion, some who 

 were its founders and progenitors, and to whom we now most cheer- 

 fully accord a de!)t of gratitude for the benevolent motives that 

 prompted them to its formation. 



Its oliject was to promote, improve, and disseminate a love for the 

 science of horticulture, to correct ami simplify the confusion wh;ch 

 then existed in the nomenclature of fruits, and, by a liberal bestow- 

 ment of premiums, to excite the emulation and to concentrate the 

 individual skill of its members, to bring to notice such native and 

 foreign fruits and flowers as should be deemed truly valuable, or 

 worth}' of cultivation. 



How well this has been accomplished, will be seen by taking a 

 retrospect. At the time of its origin, there were but a limited num- 

 ber of fruits of acknowledged excellence to be seen in our markets, 

 and, although many of the new and popular varieties had been pre- 

 viously introduced into the gardens of the opulent, they had not gen- 

 erally been disseminated or proved — while, at the present time, there 

 are members of this Society who have exhibited during the year, 

 forty, fifty, and, at the present exhibition, a single member, R. Man- 

 ning, Esq., Salem, has placed on our tables one hundred and twenty- 

 nine varieties of the pear; and the same worthy and persevering in- 

 dividual has also proved and fruited in his own grounds nearly three 

 hundred varieties of this fruit, sixty-three of which are su|)posed to 

 be of American origin; and one hundred and eighty-five apples, 

 eighty of which are of American origin. I might notice a compara- 

 tive increase in other fruits, but what has been stated is sufficient to 

 give some idea of what has been accomplished. 



A similar advancement has also taken fdnce in the introduction of 

 choice and rare plants, and the dihlia, which, thirteen years since, 

 was but little known with us, has become so popular, and so increas- 

 ed in the number of its varieties, as not only to require a grand 

 VOL. VII. — >'0. X. 50 



