ANNUAL KEPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



To the Members of the Worcester County Horticultural Society : 



At a special meeting of the Trustees, on the 20th day of February, 

 A. D. 1876, it was voted : 



" That the use of the Hall and Library of the Society be tendered to 

 " the State Board of Agriculture, during its country meeting, which is to 

 " commence on the Fourteenth (14th) day of November proximo." 



AX&o, voted: "That in the event of an acceptance of this invitation, 

 " there be held simultaneously, in one of the Halls of the Society, a Free 

 " Exhibition of Flowers and Fruits grown any where within the State." 



In his Annual Eeport for A. D. 1876, your Secretary, calling the atten- 

 tion of the Society to the subject, suggested that a public and social 

 Beception, in the evening; whereat delegates and visitors might have an 

 opportunity to become better acquainted with each other than would 

 be afforded in the restriction of otficial intercourse; would be a suitable act 

 of hospitality, gracefully supplementing the formal invitation. That 

 meeting of the State Board of Agriculture was duly held, and, in connec- 

 tion with it there was a creditable display of Fruits and Vegetables in 

 your Hall of Ceres. The liberal subscriptions of your members, and of 

 some gentlemen whose largeness of heart thoroughly qualifies them for 

 an association that they have too long neglected, provided a Banquet in 

 the Hall of Flora which would have done no discredit to a far more pre- 

 tentious occasion. As an attention without precedent at their meetings, 

 it may have made an unusually favorable impression upon our visitors. 

 That it proved so acceptable to them was, of itself, a suflticient reward for 

 those who originated and realized the idea, and incidentally maintained 

 the fair repute of Worcester. 



The official sessions of the State Board of Agriculture, for the transac- 

 tion of its specific business, v/ere largely attended. And, although much, 

 whether of essay or discussion, had no clearly strict relation to our imme- 

 diate pursuits and studies, yet he must be an indifferent Horticulturist 

 who could fail to derive benefit from the detailed conclusions of those 

 expert and wary observers. No field of research in the broad and almost 

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