Soon after the Massachusetts Horticultural Society was formed, Mr.
Wilder was associated with the late Gen. Henry A. S. Dearborn, its first
president, and from that time till now has been one of its most
efficient members, having two years since delivered the oration on the
occasion of its fiftieth anniversary. One of the most important acts of
this society was the purchase of Mount Auburn for a cemetery and an
ornamental garden. On the separation of the cemetery from the society,
in 1835, through Mr. Wilder's influence, committees were appointed by
the two corporations, Judge Story being chairman of the cemetery
committee, and Mr. Wilder of the society committee. The situation was
fraught with great difficulties; but Mr. Wilder's conservative course,
everywhere acknowledged, overcame them all, and enabled the society to
erect an elegant hall in School street, and afterwards the splendid
building it now occupies in Tremont street, the most magnificent
horticultural hall in the world. In 1840 he was chosen president, and
held the office for eight successive years. During his presidency the
hall in School street was erected, and two triennial festivals were held
in Faneuil Hall, which are particularly worthy of notice. The first was
opened September 11, 1845, and the second on the fiftieth anniversary of
his birth, September 22, 1848, when he retired from the office of
president, and the society voted him a silver pitcher valued at one
hundred and fifty dollars, and caused his portrait to be placed in its
hall. As president of this association he headed a circular for a
convention of fruit-growers, which was held in New York, October 10,
1848, when the American Pomological Society was formed. He was chosen
its first president, and he still holds that office, being in his
thirty-third year of service. Its biennial meetings have been held in
New York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Boston, Rochester, St. Louis,
Richmond, Chicago, and Baltimore. On these occasions President Wilder
has made appropriate addresses. The last meeting was held September,
1881, at Boston, where he presided with his usual vigor and propriety,
at the advanced age of eighty-three.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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