1892.] TRANSACTIONS. 23 



The Chronicle declares, finally, that the " whims and caprices 

 of mere pleasure-seekers " should never be suffered to guide or 

 determine the policy of the Royal Horticultural Society. 

 Should our own organization yield to such fickle or pernicious 

 influences? Wherein does Horticulture profit, in Worcester, 

 if the old rounders fill the wall-seats punctually as our exhibi- 

 tions are held ! For a rule, they are disciples of the lucrative 

 faith that patient waiters are no losers ; so, wherefore should 

 not their laps be ready to catch flower or fruit, if perchance 

 contributors do not care to take them home ! This may sound 

 cynical to some ; yet who of all that have been beneficiaries of 

 our hospitality and gratuitous instruction, have been moved to 

 pay the small sum that would constitute them members of the 

 Society ! How many grudged even the pittance that was neces- 

 sarily charged for admission to our late peerless display of all 

 the choicer autumnal fruits ! 



But still there are signs that our work has not been wholly 

 unprofitable. At no exhibition, in later years, were there so 

 many new contributors as upon October 13th, ulto., when our 

 tables were heaped to profusion. Unwonted names met the 

 eye of your Secretary as winners of awards ; and he could but 

 wish that it might be his good fortune to inscribe them upon 

 certificates of membership. Having taken the first easy step, 

 let us trust to their good judgment to impel them forward, 

 until they finally conclude to affiliate with the Society. For 

 indeed it is greatly to be desired that our ranks, perceptibly 

 thinned of late, should be strongly augmented by the enlist- 

 ment of worthy recruits. Upon a single morning of October, 

 last past, it became my official duty to minute upon the record 

 the concurrent deaths of three who for years have shared our 

 fortunes. Such losses a Society like our own, from its very 

 character restricted in numbers, can ill afford. Shall we not, 

 each and all, make an individual and collective effort to secure 

 the accession of that very considerable number who perhaps 

 require but the invitation that shall assure them of welcome. 

 The payment of an inconsiderable sum at once opens to them 

 the free use and enjoyment of our library, in its specialty 



