40 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1891. 



rosy, scrofula and kindred diseases (although sanitary science has 

 done much), is due to a very large extent to the increased con- 

 sumption of fruit and the various kinds of vegetable food. 



On the aesthetic side it has ministered to the spiritual needs of 

 man. It has gladdened the face of nature. It has adorned and 

 brightened many a humble home. It has poured into the lap 

 of the temperate zone the glowing colors of the tropics and en- 

 riched the English park with arborescent beauty. It has made 

 the English landscape a picture on which the eyes of the tourist 

 delight to dwell. A picture which becomes forever afterwards 

 a pleasant memory. 



I have attempted to sketch thus briefly the work of the Lon- 

 don Horticultural Society, not only as the most striking illustra- 

 tion of the influence and public benefits of such societies, but as 

 leading the way and laying the foundation of the societies which 

 have followed. What it has accomplished has been done not for 

 the benefit of England alone but for all other nations. Our own 

 Society and the Massachusetts have received the benefit of its 

 work, and we have followed its lead though not with equal steps. 

 We have done as best we could with our limited membership 

 and the limited means at our disposal. We have not been able 

 to fit out botanical expeditions or to send collectors to foreign 

 lands. Nor have we found it necessary. This work was accom- 

 plished for us by the Royal Society. And many other lines of 

 investigation pursued by the Royal Society have been anticipated 

 by other agencies. 



At our agricultural colleges chairs have been established in 

 entomology, meteorology, and botany and at both the Agricultu- 

 ral College and Experiment Station, special attention is given to 

 the study of fungi and to the various diseases incident to plant life. 

 The Agricultural College and the Agricultural Experiment Station 

 with the State and National treasuries behind them have vastly 

 greater facilities for these lines of work than any we could ever 

 hope to attain. We have thus been compelled by the force of 

 circumstances to move in a narrower circle. But jjvithin that 

 circle we have accomplished much. Our collection of books 

 forms a library of Horticultural science which, outside of that of 

 the Massachusetts, cannot be duplicated within the limits of this 

 continent. 



