1890.] TRANSACTIONS. 11 



tricious lures, grown monotonous and therefore unattractive? 

 Our older Members are rapidly passing away : is there promise 

 that their vacancies will be filled ? Certainly there can be no 

 hope of it from the County which, save in title, has ceased to 

 maintain any distinctive connection with the Society. Since my 

 last report, Ward and Hapgood of Shrewsbury ; Banister, Hill, 

 Tainter,* and, but yesterday as it were, Newton, of Worcester, 

 have gone to pluck the apples of the Hesperides, wherefrom, if 

 they extract celestial juice, it may be hoped that they will not 

 subject themselves to the espionage of angelic spotters ! Their 

 successors may appear ; but will their places be filled ? is the 

 question that should concern a Society that has the reputation of 

 our own, — a position in Horticulture which is so much easier to 

 lose thari acquire. 



Cultivation recedes from us, repelled by the expansion of the 

 City. The suburban farmer sells his orchard or flower garden 

 for house lots, and cuts coupons in the eight hours that consti- 

 tute a modern working day. Green-houses are built, it is true; 

 but mammon presides at the laying of their corner-stones and 

 dictates tlieir management. The professional florist may adorn 

 his own windows : he cannot sacrifice his stock in trade to make a 

 display in our B.k\\. It speaks well for us, so far, that we have 

 been able to acliieve so much. But, looking straight ahead, what 

 reasonable prospect is there of keeping up — let alone advanc- 

 ing — the position and repute of the Society in Floriculture! 



Who introduces novelties of promise or evident merit? A 

 peach-pit is thrown away ; and thereafter, it may be, a choice 

 seedling is brought to our Hall. It is a result of chance, in which 

 design had no place, however slight. It gets a more or less ap- 

 preciative notice, at the moment; and disappears, — out of sight, 

 out of mind. No one secures buds, since that would involve the 

 taking of a few steps and some trouble. And so it is that, in a 

 latitude and longitude which favored the origin of Coolcdge and 

 Crawfords, it has come to be a sort of accepted creed among the 

 faint-hearted, in whose elbow is little power, that the peach is a 



* Mrs. Daiik'l Tainter, a j-osarian in especial. 



