56 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1876. 



ance of the vines. Since 1840, such promises of abundance were not 

 seen." And yet what frightful stories have we not been told of the 

 Phylloxera Vastatrix ! How France had been swept as with a besom 

 and, trivial obstacles like the English Channel surmounted — the almost 

 fabulous vine at Hampton Court would be the next to succumb. Yet, 

 after all, it appears that the Grape — co-eval with Noah — and of which 

 it would at least be curious to determine the two species that were select- 

 ed for that unique voyage in the Ark, — may be destined to furnish an 

 exemplar of the survival of the fittest. The writer picked clusters of the 

 Barry, grown upon a Northern exposure and fairly ripe, on the 12th, 

 and of lONA, well sheltered, on the 21st. days of October. And, Phylloxera 

 to the contrary, his faith abides that the promise of a sure harvest was 

 not restricted to corn or oats. Our American vines, certainly, seem vig- 

 orous enough. 



The condition of the Library will be stated to you by the officer in 

 whose especial charge it is placed As Chairman of the Committee upon 

 the. Library, however, the writer would call your attention to the very 

 valuable addition to it, within the last year, of the Third Series of Curtis' 

 Botanical Magazine, in thirty volumes, illustrated with as much profu- 

 sion as elegance. The Committee believed that the opportunity to make 

 this purchase should not be lost, although the cost was such that its liqui- 

 dation was necessarily spread over a period of three years. But the value 

 of a Library like ours — the loss of which even now would be irreparable 

 — consists mainly, and mu>t continue to be found, in its- possession of 

 those costly works upon special or general subjects of Horticultural inter- 

 est which individuals have not the means to procure. This policy, upon 

 which the Committee have ever acted, will continue to guide them, un- 

 less in the discretion of the Trustees, they should be instructed to the 

 contrary. The Committee advise the purchase of a suitable table upon 

 which the Weekly and Monthly Magazines may be kept, for a while, that 

 the memliers shall more and more incline to resort to the Hall of Flora 

 for pleasant intercourse or instruction. 



In his two-fold capacity of Chairman of the Committee on the Library, 

 and Secretary of the Society, the writer has had constant occasion to visit 

 Horticultural Hall. He has had perhaps, from this cause, a better oppor- 

 tunity to notice the condition of your property and the fidelity with which 

 it is guarded, than most of you whose presence is all too infrequent. Ke- 

 membering vividly the reckless waste in the early stages of the war, when 

 the rafters served for kindling-wood and sawdust spittoons received half- 

 burnt cigars ; retaining an equally keen perception of the omnipresent 



