Walker, the present president of the Institute, bore this testimony to
his efforts in its behalf at the in banquet to Mr. Wilder on his
eighty-fifth anniversary: "Through all the early efforts to attract the
attention of the legislature and the people to the importance of
industrial and art education, and through the severe struggles which so
painfully tried the courage and the faith even of those who most
strongly and ardently believed in the mission of the Institute, as well
as through the happier years of fruition, while the efforts put forth in
the days of darkness and despondency were bearing their harvest of
success and fame, Colonel Wilder was through all one of the most
constant of the members of the government in his attendance; one of the
most hopeful in his views of the future of the school; ever a wise
counsellor and a steadfast ally."

He was one of the twelve representative men appointed to receive the
Prince of Wales in 1860, at the banquet given him in Boston, Edward
Everett being chairman of the committee; also one of the commissioners
in behalf of the Universal Exposition in Paris, 1867, when he was placed
at the head of the committee on horticulture and the cultivation and
products of the vine, the report of which was published by act of
Congress.

In 1869, he made a trip to the South, for the purpose of examining its
resources; and in 1870, with a large party, he visited California. The
result of Mr. Wilder's observations has been given to the public in a
lecture before the Massachusetts State Board of Agriculture, which was
repeated before the Boston Mercantile Library Association, Amherst
College, the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Dartmouth College, the
Horticultural Society, the merchants of Philadelphia, and bodies in
other places.