8 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [l906 



bitions arranged by your committee, which include a dinner in 

 your own dining hall, and I also extend a hearty welcome to 

 the distinguished guests who honor the occasion with their 

 presence. 



It will be 65 years to-morrow since the first horticultural 

 exhibition was held, on October 13, 1840, in the town hall. 



To be brief, these were the preliminary movements which 

 resulted in the formation of the Worcester County Horticultural 

 Society. An invitation was extended through the newspapers 

 of the town to the public generally to contribute to the exhibi- 

 tion the best products of their fields, orchards and gardens. 

 These invitations received a hearty response, not only from the 

 people of the town and county, but gentlemen of the Massachu- 

 setts Horticultural Society also contributed largely to the success 

 of the first exhibition. 



To compare the first exhibition to the present would be 

 comparing infancy to well-developed maturity. The annual 

 growth from then until now has been truly marvellous, and who 

 can correctly measure the advance of the future which is sure 

 to come from the science and practice of horticulture. 



No employment is better than that encouraged by horticul- 

 tural societies. Twenty-four exhibitions have been held this 

 year — two for children (extra) and ten for lectures and discus- 

 sion. 



Mr. Hadwen said that he thought he was the only man 

 present who had attended the first exhibition, and requested 

 that if there was any other person there who attended the first 

 exhibition, 65 years ago, that he or she would stand up. Maj. 

 F. G. Stiles then stood up and said that he was present at the 

 first meeting and had been a good attendant of them ever since. 



Short addresses were made by Mrs. E. M. Gill, Edward 

 Wilder, J. Lewis Ellsworth, Hon. George L. Clemence, Lester 

 Cudworth, W. D. Ross, Nathaniel Paine, S. A. Burgess, 

 Major Fred Stiles and A. A. Hixon. 



The winter meetings have been well attended, but the Com- 

 mittee have felt for several years as though some of our meet- 



