The evening he devotes to study, This system he has steadily pursued for a long course of years; and in his strict adherence to it lies the secret of his success, and of his elevation to the distinguished position which he holds as a merchant, a horticulturist, and an agriculturist.

In the early history of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, we find him honorably associated with the lamented Dearborn, Phinney, Coleman, Fessenden, Lowell, Manning, Perkins, Story, Everett, Webster, and others of fair feme who still live. The object of this association was the promotion of horticulture. As instruments in their favorite work, its members early contemplated the publication of its transactions, the formation of a library, exhibitions of fruits and flowers, an experimental garden, and a rural cemetery. Of these objects the two latter were sought by the purchase of Mount Auburn, for a garden and cemetery; the ground for this Pere La Chaise of America was bought, laid out, consecrated, and the sale of lots commenced in 1831. But the proprietors, many of them, felt but little interest in horticulture. They valued chiefly the liberty of free access to the grounds of the cemetery, and the exclusive title to their respective family lots and tombs. Their interest in Mount Auburn was so distinct from the commanding object of the Horticultural Society, that with such of its members as were more closely allied to them in taste, they sought to form a separate organization.

The subject was discussed, and at the motion of Mr. Wilder, was referred to a joint committee, of which Judge Story was Chairman. Mr. Wilder was also a leading member. The committee made many unsuccessful attempts to agree upon the terms on which the society should transfer to the proprietors of the Cemetery the exclusive title to its grounds and appurtenances, and to the fund which had been created and would be increased by the sale of lots.

To Mr. Wilder's foresight is to be accorded the honor of suggesting the resolutions which harmonized these conflicting interests, by providing that one fourth part of the gross proceeds from the annual sale of lots, after abating certain expenses, should be paid, year by year, to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. The adoption of this resolution, in 1835, has proved highly beneficial to both organizations. It has brought a large sum into the treasury of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, for the enlargement of its library, for the erection of its Hall in School Street, and for the encouragement of cultivators by premiums. It has enabled the Cemetery Association to prosecute its object with more energy and singleness of purpose, to adorn its grounds, and to erect its beautiful Temple and Observatory.

Five years from the date of this transaction, Mr. Wilder was elected President of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, an office which he held for eight years, and the duties of which he discharged with distinguished ability and success. During his administration, its number of members, its library and funds increased, and it erected its commodious Horticultural Hall - at the laying of the corner-stone and the dedication of which he delivered appropriate addresses reported in its transactions and in the journals of that date. Its triennal festivals ranked among the most popular gala-days in that metropolis, assembling from city and country, persons of all professions, and of both sexes in the "Old Cradle of Liberty," and crowding it to its utmost capacity. Tastefully decorated on these occasions, it seemed like the temples of Flora and Pomona, where these goddesses vied with each other for supreme control over their devotees. These occasions will long be remembered for their luxurious entertainments, and for their soul-stirring addresses from Webster, Everett, and other chief masters of eloquence.

Mr. Wilder's speeches and sentiments at these festivals evince a perfect self-control, and a delicate sense of propriety and practical wisdom which characterize him, and admirably qualify him for a presiding officer. When he retired from the Presidency of that society, its members expressed their sense of obligation for his long and valuable services by a vote of thanks, which they accompanied with an elegant silver service. Both before and since that period, he has contributed largely for the advancement of pomology, by the annual importation of fruit trees from the chief European cultivators, by the encouragement of nurserymen, by the cultivation of trees and plants in variety in his own grounds, by his extensive correspondence with fruit growers, and by his addresses and communications devoted to this interest His skill and success in the cultivation of fruits and flowers is well known, particularly of the Pear, of which he has exhibited, at one show, more than three hundred varieties, and also of the Camellia, of which he has raised several superb seedlings.

Of these, Camellia Wil-derii and Camellia Mrs. Ably Wilder deservedly rank among the finest varieties of this queen of flowers.

Our readers are already aware of the prominent part which he took in the organization of the National Society Of Fruit Growers, now the American Pomological Society, and of which he was elected President at its first meeting in the city of New York. At its session in Philadelphia, September, 1852, he delivered, by appointment, a most eloquent eulogy on the life, labors, and death of his intimate friend, Andrew Jackson Downing, the great rural architect and landscape gardener of America, who perished in the conflagration of the steamer Henry Clay, on the 28th of the preceding July, a gentleman who was an honor to his country, and was honored by her; and was distinguished on both sides of the Atlantic for his numerous publications and valuable services. With him he had enjoyed a long, most cordial, and mature friendship; and he executed the trust in a manner which secured the commendation of that body and of a large assembly. The closing paragraph of that production we will quote as an illustration of the force of Mr. Wilder's diction, and the beauty of his style: