INAUGURAL MEETING, 1920 9 



increasing admission fees and assessments, it might be advisable 

 to give a year's notice of such proposed change. Annual payments 

 for those who have already joined the Society should not be 

 changed. The fee for life membership is now thirty dollars, which 

 is lower than that of most other societies of equal standing and 

 importance. Several Societies of late years have increased their 

 fees. The Society of American Florists has raised its life member- 

 ship fee from thirty to fifty dollars, and its annual fee from three 

 to five dollars, and the life membership fee of the American Rose 

 Society is fifty dollars. 



At the beginning of 1919, the membership of our Society con- 

 sisted of: 



Honorary members 3 



Corresponding members 42 45 



Life members 790 



iVnnual members 195 985 



At the end of 1919, 51 new members (36 life and 15 annual) have 

 been added, but as there has been a loss by death and discontinu- 

 ance, of 34, our increase is only 17, or a total of 1002, the largest 

 since 1876, when the membership was 1008. In the history of the 

 Society, the largest membership was in 1871, when our members 

 were 1035 in number. It is incredible to me that our membership is 

 so small. Mr. Saltonstall stated in one of his addresses that there 

 were, in 1914, 14,400 Fellows in the Royal Horticultural Society of 

 London. It cannot be that there are so few people interested in 

 horticulture throughout this Commonwealth. The more I think 

 of it, the more I am convinced that the Massachusetts Horticultural 

 Society is little known outside of Boston. The policy of the Society 

 for years has been such that its interests and activities have been 

 centered in Boston and its vicinity, to such an extent that little 

 assistance or information or instruction upon horticultural or agri- 

 cultural subjects has ever been given outside of this immediate 

 neighborhood. Considering that the Horticultural Society is a 

 state institution, free from Federal and State taxes, this policy, 

 to say the least, is an unwise one. 



The cause of horticulture can best be served at this time in Massa- 



