HORTICULTURAL OPPORTUNITIES 

 OF TO-DAY 



Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



As it is near the beginning of the New Year it seems fitting 

 that I should bring its greetings to you, so I wish you all a 

 happy and prosperous New Year and hope that this society 

 may have a year of great usefulness. 



I shall try to state fully this afternoon the reasons why we 

 are in a position to be helpful to others and the possibilities 

 that are ours. To-day seems to be the beginning of a new era 

 in the affairs of the world. We hear the politicians speakiug 

 about the new nationalism, the farmers talking about the 

 new agriculture, and busmess men conversing about the new 

 commercial era. It is along these lines I think we are justified 

 in taking up the subject, Horticultural Opportunities of To- 

 Day. 



In speaking of these opportunities I want to take up Horti- 

 culture in its broadest sense, and perhaps trespass in the fields 

 of Agriculture. I am glad we live to-day in the good new 

 times, I am glad that we live in New England, and in Massa- 

 chusetts and in Worcester County, for, I think the opportuni- 

 ties we have here are as good as they are in other places, and 

 it is interesting to note that while many have followed Horace 

 Greeley's advice to go west, the time has come when the tide 

 has changed, and New England farms are being bought by the 

 people of the Western States. 



The two greatest factors that mould the Horticultural 

 world to-day are the scientific, or educational, and the com- 

 mercial, or business. Practical farmers and book farmers 

 have become one. Years ago we considered them two distinct 

 persons. To-day they are one and the same. 



In the matter of education it is interesting to note how much 

 more practical it is at the present time than formerly, and how 



