148 THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 



cations of the Essex Institute " prepared by Mr. Gardiner 

 M. Jones. Two numbers of volume twenty-eight, for the 

 year 1891, are already in print and there is in the hands 

 of the committee enough material to complete the volume. 

 The committee was fortunate in seeming for this volume 

 from Mr. H. F. Waters, some of his "English Gleanings" 

 consisting of extracts from marriage licenses granted by 

 the Bishop of London 1598-1639. These were carefully 

 annotated by Mr. Waters and are of gi-eat interest and 

 value to genealogical students. They will be found in the 

 parts already published. 



There has been one special publication issued by the 

 committee during the year, consisting of a series of articles 

 on "Our Trees," — that is, the trees of Salem and vicinity — 

 written by Mr. John Robinson of the Peabody Academy 

 of Science. By an arrangement entered into with the late 

 Hon. Nathaniel A. Horton, in whose paper these articles 

 originally appeared, and by advance subscripticnis obtained, 

 the cost of this to the Institute was rendered almost nom- 

 inal, and the edition, which was limited to three hundred 

 copies, is practically exhausted. The committee believes 

 that it is within the province of the Institute and will prove 

 useful in keeping alive an interest in local matters to is- 

 sue such publications as this whenever suitable matter for 

 them can be procured, whether it be of an historical char- 

 acter or upon some branch of natural history. 



In publishing volume twenty-seven of the Historical 

 Collections the committee tried the experiment of printing 

 it in a single volume without issuing separate numbers or 

 parts as has been the custom heretofore. This plan seems 

 to the committee to be more satisfactory and it is recom- 

 mended that in future the Historical Collections be thus 

 published. 



While it is not to be expected that there will be a pop- 



