1876.] REPORT OF SECRETARY. 69 



the Society, and others inclined to Horticulture, wont to meet together 

 in this Hall. Here, upon well-filled tables, could they find, with invari- 

 able assurance, the thoroughly ripened specimens of our larger cultivators 

 heaped up in bounteous profusion. Hither came Earle and Colton, 

 Grant and Eipley, with D. Waldo and Levi Lincoln, to discuss 

 the comparative or positive merits of varieties, and to impart the conclu- 

 sions drawn from wide and life-long experience. At these Exhibitions 

 did that skillful orchardist and dilligent seeker after novelties, John C. 

 Ripley, first solicit your attention to such Pears as the Gen. Todleben 

 and Josephine de Malines, with many others of unequal merit. And thus 

 too were you first made acquainted with the Doyenne du Comice and 

 Earle's Bergamot, — the latter, by the way, fast winning for itself a first- 

 class reputation. Hither, too, came Eames, with his Worcester Spy, and 

 Newell Wood with the Red Russett and Stockwell Winter Sweet, — each 

 and all Apples of merit, whose introduction under 3'our auspices tended 

 to fullfil the purposes for which your Charter was obtained, — to wit : 

 *' Of advancing the Science, and encouraging and improving the Practice 

 " of Horticulture." And when, in later years, the storm and passions of 

 war had drifted, leaving tlie hamaner nature to return to that cultivation 

 of the Earth wherefrom CincmnuLus and Washington were wrested, and 

 to which they so gladly returned, — saviors of nascent and heroic Repub- 

 lics, — it soon became plain that the amenities of life were not absolutely 

 tasteless to those whose more recent walks had been among the wastes 

 of the Cotton-plant and the Rice-field. But cities had enlarged, and 

 towns were grown to cities. The garden and small orchard, surrendered 

 to the carpenter and mason, yielded no longer the usual returns of 

 Triomphe de Gand and Bartlett. Yet, in lieu of them, uprose the con- 

 servatory and window garden ; and from the limited Eden thereby ob- 

 tained, 1 he modern Eve, fearless of temptation and exempt from sin, 

 culls as she likes, and as she culls, enjoys. So does the Florist succeed 

 the Pomologist. It may well be doubted if the voluntary display of Fruit 

 within the last few years, had sensibly diminished. But there can be no 

 dispute that the Floral Exhibitions were augmented, to the dullest per- 

 ception, bv the zealous contributions of ladies who were unconsciously 

 instructing themselves in Botany, and developing its rudiments in others. 

 To all who had the welfare of this Society at heart, no more encouraging 

 spectacle could be offered. Frequently something served to provoke in- 

 vestigation, — almost always a rich collection of the useful and beautiful 

 in Nature, to challenge the attention of passing visitors. For many suc- 

 cessive years, with monetary rewards too scanty to be considered, were 

 these Floral Displays maintained. And the latest were the most success- 

 ful, if we are to count for anything the multiplicity of contributors, — of 

 whom a number exhibited a collection or design, for the first time. 

 J 



