1912-13] report of the secretary . 9 



Wednesday, March 13, 1912 



Annual Reunion and Banquet 



The usual reception was held in the hall, from 5.30 to 6.30, 

 by President and Mrs. Edward W. Breed, Secretary and Mrs. 

 Leonard C. Midgley, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur J. Marble, Mr. and 

 Mrs. Charles Greenwood, Mr. and Mrs. Arthur E. Hartshorn, 

 Mrs. Percy G. Forbes, Mrs. Scott F. Pierce; Miss Lucy M. 

 Coulson, Mr. and Mrs. Herbert R. Kinney, Burt W. Green- 

 wood, Myron F. Converse, J. Lewis Ellsworth, and Joseph K. 

 Greene. Over three hundred guests were present. 



After the reception, dinner was served in the dining hall, 

 which was decorated with flags, and with flowers furnished by 

 Mr. Midgley. Divine blessing was asked by the Rev. Mr. 

 Taylor. Following the dinner was a short programme of 

 after-dinner speech-making. President Breed made a short 

 address, which was, in part, as follows: 



''It gives me pleasure to greet the members and guests of 

 the society, and welcome you all to our annual banquet, which 

 has, this year, a special significance. This reunion brings us 

 to the threescore and tenth anniversary, and we seem to have 

 strengthened, instead of abated, as we have grown older. It 

 looks as though we were ready, not only for the fourscore, but 

 many more. 



''Birthday anniversaries are looked forward to with pleasure, 

 until a certain date. Instead of saying that we are seventy 

 years old to-day, we might say that we are thirty-five for the 

 second time. We celebrate another birthday to-day: that of 

 our winter meetings, which commenced thirty-five years ago, 

 and we hope they will continue to be the important factors in 

 our work, that they have been in the past. 



"As we look back to the first exhibits, we find that they con- 

 sisted chiefly of apples and pears in a limited number. Squash 

 was the principal vegetable; dahlia, the principal flower 

 exhibited in those days. Those early exhibitors, however, had 

 a great love for horticulture, and their exhibits were made more 



