1864.] secretary's report. 77 



tered. But yet the enforced absence of some whose time and co-operation ia 

 thus taken from us demands its compensation. Will not others, who have 

 heretofore withheld their active assistance, recognize the duty of making good 

 the places of those who have been called to different spheres of usefulness ? It 

 cannot be denied that the renewed vitality of this Society is almost exclusively 

 attributable to its weekly meetings and exhibitions. Neither is it to be 

 doubted that to " admnce ike science and improve ilie practice of horticulture'''' 

 in its widest significations is, to say the least, a pursuit as noble and not of 

 inferior worth to the production of shoddy or the adulteration of the commoner 

 articles of traffic. He who simply insures a supply of dried fruit for the hos- 

 pitals is a far more valuable citizen than one who affects a superiority based 

 upon nothing better than the magnitude of his business. This point is dwelt 

 upon at such length since it is but too evident that there are many in this com- 

 munity who can discern nothing in a landscape but a mirage of "greenbacks," 

 whose perspective is limited to their individual greed, and who are inclined to 

 make light of the incomprehensible, because unselfish and beneficent opera- 

 tions of our Society. And yet doubtless the combined benefactions of all such 

 scoffers would not equal in practical advantage the blessings which pomology 

 has conferred upon humanity by its gift of vinegar alone. May not the superi- 

 ority of those who affect to look down upon horticulture, its Societies and aco- 

 lytes, be, after all, but the emptiness of assumption? May not their own 

 pursuits be more inane, their own enjoyments more vapid, than those upon 

 which such pretentious indifference is vented ? Surely we need not be ashamed 



who follow, 



"Haud passibus aequis," 



in the footsteps of Berckmans and Brinckle, of Downing and Wilder. If our 

 meetings have lost the charm of novelty, they have gained in solid develop- 

 ment. From our starting-point many steps have been taken towards our goal. 

 But even if the novelty is somewhat less, is not the duty of the conscientious 

 horticulturist all the greater? The year just expired has left behind it its 

 wealth of experience to be collated and treasured up. What Apples have 

 yielded a crop in the old year, and what has been their quality ? What Pears 

 disappointed and what exceeded expectation ? Why did the Winter Nelis bear 

 in such unwonted excellence and profusion? What should occasion the inferi- 

 ority of the Glout Moi'ceau in 1863 to its splendid fruition of 1862? Why 

 did all Pears ripen off so prematurely? And so many so lack flavor? What 

 objection is there to putting the Doyenne du Cornice in the very front rank of 

 Pears ? Why did Grapes disappoint the hopes of their cultivators in coming 

 to maturity ? These and other similar questions should be answered by this 

 Society. Not all its members may be able always to attend. Some may dis- 

 trust their capacity to impart, if not to derive instruction. But there are none 

 who have the power who should not find in the inability of others a mighty 

 stimulus to afford their own co-operation. 



Since the commencement of the official relations of the undersigned with the 

 Society, there have been the following accessions to the roll of its members : 

 11 



