the Massachusetts Society for the Promotion of Agriculture, the New
England Agricultural Society, the New England Life Insurance Company,
the Hamilton Bank, the Home Savings Bank, the Grand Lodge of Masons, and
the Second Church of Dorchester. Letters were received from the
Honorable Robert C. Winthrop, president of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, his Excellency Benjamin F. Butler, governor, and the Honorables
John D. Long, William Claflin, and Thomas Talbot, ex-governors of the
State, Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes, the Honorable Dr. George B. Loring,
United States Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Honorable Francis W.
Bird, president of the Bird Club, The addresses and letters are to be
printed in full. A few extracts follow:

Dr. Holmes referred to Mr. Wilder as: "The venerable and venerated
friend who has outlived the fruits of fourscore seasons, and is still
ripening as if his life were all summer."

Mr. Winthrop wrote: "No other man has done so much for our fields and
gardens and orchards. He has distinguished himself in many other lines
of life, and his relations to the Legislature of Massachusetts and to
the Historic Genealogical Society will not soon be forgotten. But his
name will have its most enduring and most enviable association with the
flowers and fruits for whose culture he was foremost in striving, both
by precept and example. He deserves a grateful remembrance as long as a
fine pear is relished or a brilliant bouquet admired."

Governor Rice said: "There is hardly a public enterprise of the last
three generations, scarcely a pursuit in life, or an institution of
patriotism, discipline, or charity, that does not bear the signet of his
touch and feel the vigor of his co-operation. Why, sir, it may be said,
almost with literal truth, that the trees which this great arborist has