14 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY 



including prizes and medals, was $16,336.05. The total gate 

 receipts were $7,573.50, showing a net deficit of $8,762.55. 



All the other exhibitions of the year were free and we will ask 

 your patience to consider a few more figures. At the Exhibition 

 of Native Orchids there was an attendance of 22,000. It cost the 

 Society $623.00. But it gave more pleasure to more people at a 

 less cost 'per capita to the Society than any other show of the year. 



Next ranks the Dahlia Show when there was an attendance 

 (during two afternoons) of 5,300. Then follows the Gladiolus 

 Show with 4,959, next th'e Iris with about 4,000, then Peonies with 

 3,889, then Sweet Peas with 3,619, and then Roses with 3,523. 

 This matter of attendance, or the response of the public to our 

 endeavors on its behalf, is the most extraordinary and inexplicable 

 with which we have to deal. Seemingly the largest crowds are 

 attracted by novelties, or special and unusual features. If we 

 estimate the popularity of everyday flowers to accord with the 

 attendance at the exhibitions we obtain the following scale: 1. 

 Dahlias, 2. Gladioli, 3. Irises, 4. Peonies, 5. Roses. 



The question of music at our exhibitions has been much discussed, 

 and the consensus of opinion, so far as we are able to judge, seems to 

 be that it adds enough to the pleasure of the average visitor to 

 justify it as an adjunct. In quality it should be appropriate to 

 the occasion and therefore should be entrusted to the good graces 

 of some person of undoubted taste in such matters. 



Fashion in flowers is as capricious and as unstable as it is in my 

 lady's gowns. That which is top-notch today is in the ash heap 

 tomorrow. As an example take Chrysanthemums. Ten years ago 

 they dominated our autumn exhibition and attracted crowds. Now 

 we do not get enough entries to fill the hall and the crowds of 

 visitors have disappeared. In a measure this may be attributable 

 to the very attractive shows the dealers make in their shops and 

 show windows, the psychological fact being that the public will not 

 pay to see an exhibition when they can get the same pleasure for 

 nothing. 



One more question arises which is a debatable one; a question of 

 policy, and is brought up by the rather astounding figures we have 

 given you relative to pay and free exhibitions. Our Society being 

 primarily an educational one, its effort should be to reach as large 



