ROOMS AND LIBKARY. 133 



have been reached, had this subject been looked at 

 solely from a pecuniary point of view ; but the Society 

 has justly considered that the object of these exhibitions 

 is not to replenish its treasury, but to improve the art 

 of horticulture, and to educate the public taste in this 

 direction; and with this end in view they have been 

 conducted. 



The holding of horticultural exhibitions involves the 

 necessity of a place to hold them in ; and those occupied 

 by the Society have cost in the aggregate a large sum. 

 As appears from the treasurer's books, the rent of those 

 first occupied was but the modest sum of $25 per 

 quarter, but as the Society grew this expense necessarily 

 grew also, and has amounted in all to more than 

 $15,000. This sum includes only the rent of rooms 

 continuously occupied, and not that paid for halls and 

 tents hired for the annual exhibitions, which is included 

 in the expenses of those exhibitions. To the rent may 

 be added the interest paid by the Society, amounting, 

 December 31, 1878, to $81,000, by far the greater part 

 of this sum being interest on the mortgage debt incurred 

 by the Society in the erection of its halls. 



The formation and maintenance of a horticultural 

 library, to correspond with the character of the Society 

 in other respects, was one of the first subjects which 

 engaged the attention of the founders of the Society, 

 and has every year been a source of greater or less 

 expense. It is true that, particularly in its earlier 

 years, many valuable books have been presented to the 

 Society ; but the greater part of those which the library 

 now contains have been purchased, and many of th^ 

 large illustrated works at a very considerable expense. 

 Of a total expenditure during the first two years of 



