INAUGURAL MEETING 13 



important to keep this industry going for those who will wish to 

 return to it after the war. 



Second, a vast amount of plant life in greenhouses would be 

 lost if greenhouses should be given up. These plants in many 

 cases have taken years to grow and perhaps could never be 

 replaced. 



Third, flowers surely are not so much of a luxury as costly 

 clothing or jewelry worn chiefly to attract the eye, or the many 

 attractive but not necessary fittings of our homes. If all luxuries 

 are to go, flowers must go with them, but when you consider the 

 great amount of happiness and real pleasure that can be given 

 to the sick and the wounded and those confined to their bed, in 

 some cases far away from home, I say that flowers should be the 

 last of all luxuries to be forced out by dire stress of war. 



In conclusion, let me say that I have received the helpful coopera- 

 tion of all officers and committee members for which I am deeply 

 grateful. I have enjoyed becoming better acquainted with them 

 and shall try to know them even better as we go through this 

 year together and shall hope to retain their confidence and their 

 full support. 



At the close of the address the annual reports of the officers 

 and chairmen of the various committees of the Society were called 

 for and presented in the following order: 



Report of the Treasurer, Walter Hunnewell. 



Report of the Board of Trustees, by the Secretary. 



Report of the Committee on Prizes and Exhibitions, James 

 Wheeler, Chairman. 



Report of the Committee on Plants and Flowers, William Ander- 

 son, Chairman. 



Report of the Committee on Fruits, Edward B. Wilder, Chairman. 



Report of the Committee on Vegetables, John L. Smith, Chair- 

 man. 



Report of the Committee on Gardens, Richard M. Saltonstall, 

 Chairman. 



Report of the Committee on Children's Gardens, Henry S. 

 Adams, Chairman. 



