STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 61 



to me in the short time I have acted as Secretary to draw out these 

 things in my ccrrespondence, often writing repeatedly to the same 

 persons till the clue first given was fully followed out, und the 

 materials so obtained havp been embodied for the society in one 

 form and another, but mainly in what I shall call the "Secretary's 

 Portfolio," after the manner of Secretary Garfield in the Michigan 

 Reports, and it will be furnished for publication if deemed desirable 

 of the society. I am glad to find that the prominent Horticul- 

 turists to whom there has been occasion to write for information 

 are found free to communicate all the aid in their power; there 

 is an eager ambition to acquire and to extend knowledge, 

 among, in fact, all the thoughtful men and women in the profession, 

 and some of thera are devoting their lives, not as martyrs, but as 

 enthusiastic students of nature's school, to the solving of the great 

 problems upon whi^h depend the successful horticulture of the 

 future, working gladly from the love of the work— and some 

 of them, like Agassiz in zoological science, having no time to make 

 money. All honor to such men as Wilder and Warder, and their 

 younger brethren on the heights! Their works will be their honor- 

 able and lasting monument, for they will be read in trees and 

 plants when marble shafts erected to the memory of man shall 

 have crumbled into dust. 



At the meeting of the executive committee held at Rochester in 

 September last. Prof. Porter and myself were appointed a commit- 

 tee to arrange a device ior a seal for the use of tlie society and to 

 procure samples of blank diplomas to be shown at this meeting for 

 selection of one deemed most suitable by the society. The com- 

 mittee h.tve only progress to report at present; but on Prof. 

 Porter's next trip East he will make some further investigations, 

 and it is hoped that a suitable diploma can soon be obtained, and a 

 seal furnished in time to show its impression on the face of the 

 annual report for this year. 



FJ.l'fAKCIAL STATEMENTS. 



At the present writing I have not received from Secretary Hol- 

 lister any formal report of receipts, disbursements, and orders 

 drawn, but presume they will appear in the Treasurer's report 

 covering all transactions up to the date of my appointment as 

 acting secretary. Since that date I have received and paid over to 

 the treasurer — 



