1874.] 



REPORT OF SECRETARY. 



55 



But, for a more forcible illustration of this point, let us consider the 

 Apples— our staple and most valuable fruit : 



SEPTEMBER EXHIBITION. 



Class Two. (2) Single Plates. 



Contributory. | Plates. Total Specimens. 



36 1 80 i 



Aggregate of Specimens in September, 



800 

 1,16J 



OCTOBER EXHIBITION. 



Classes 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 



Contributors. Plates. Total Specimens 



27 286 2,860 I 45 



Aggregate of Specimens in October, 



Class Seven. (7) Single Plates. 



Contributors. Plates, i Total Specimens. 



184 



1,840 

 4,700 



The inadequacy of the space available for our Autumnal Exhibition (in 

 October especially), was painfully evident. And yet, at that Exhibition, 

 room was assigned to three hundred and seventy-six (376) plates, con- 

 taining three thousand nine hundred and forty (3940) Apples and Pears, 

 which were inferior to others of their kind upon the tables, and whose 

 simple exclusion would not onlj' have involved a proper saving of ex- 

 pense, but also a downright economy of labor. Room must be gained in 

 some.way. In what manner more effectually, or to greater satisfaction, 

 than by the abolition of every remnant of an obnoxious system, which 

 has no other recommendation but that of antiquity! It was well enough 

 a generation since to avail ourselves of the experience of the Massachu- 

 setts Society. But we are now taught by a lifetime of personal observa- 

 tion, and have no excuse for disregard of its admonitions. 



The evil is as apparent in the Vegetable Department, which justly 

 demands so much of your attention, and which, within a few years, has 

 been raised to a position of signal eminence. Competent judges express- 

 ed Ihe opinion that a'better display of Vegetables was never seen in 



