1891.] TRANSACTIONS. 23 



can be held in this City, which shall be of actual benefit to Hor- 

 ticulture. Of course it is possible, weeks previous, to entice 

 the culls from decaying or stale Apples ; to obtain another last 

 fond ! look at Duchesse de Bordeaux ; even to squander unmer- 

 ited bounty upon the refuse and ruck of greenhouses. But the 

 fruit was in its prime when your Exhibitions closed in Autumn ; 

 and your bounty was then fittingly bestowed. At the vernal 

 equinox, the florist has already found his market ; and could not 

 aflTord, were he so inclined, to reserve his pinks or roses, upon 

 the hazard of obtaining a few dollars in premiums. The florist 

 and orchardist depend upon and seek a ready customer. It 

 does not become this Society to rake after anybody, or to pride 

 itself upon achieving a display of gleanings. I have sometimes 

 thought, latterly, that our Members are getting to regard our 

 Exhibitions as monotonous because of their weekly recurrence. 



One thing appears to be proved. In September, the tenden- 

 cy towards a merger of our identity in the huge conglomeration, 

 yclept New England Fair, seems irresistible. It might repay 

 curiosity, were it worth the while, to analyze the causes of such 

 tendency. Doubtless a gregarious disposition in men and 

 women ; an inclination to go with the crowd ; has much to 

 do with it. People have just returned from their vacations ; 

 and the mild dissipation oftered at the Cattle-Show holds out 

 a strong temptation before settling down to business. Then 

 again the Judges are not so strict, perhaps ; more license of 

 imperfection or positive fault being accorded to specimens 

 heaped in such a huge aggregation, ostensibly from the whole of 

 Nevv England, than when ten or a dozen competitors are en- 

 rolled under a standard that is satisfied with little short of abso- 

 lute perfection. 



In matters familiar to us we are apt to overlook the changes 

 that are wrought by the mere lapse of time. Fifty years ago 

 Horticulture, as it now approves itself, was a novelty to most 

 men. In this community knowledge of it, and taste for it, were 

 essentially restricted within a score of ardent votaries. To see 

 what such could exhibit ; and to go home and profit by what 

 they saw ; tempted men and women of the growing village to 



