1872.] REPORT OP SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN. 65 



may be able to enjoy the presence, and profit b}'^ the experience, of the 

 famous Horticulturists who will then and there assemble from all parts of 

 the Republic. Our Society can furnish a display, in any department, with 

 a reasonably propitious season, which we need not fear to submit to the 

 most critical inspection. His mind must be indeed cast in a narrow mould 

 who argues that Fruit or Vegetables must necessarily be pre-eminent in 

 the precise proportion in which one city surpasses another in population. 

 It is time that the Pomologists of "Worcester County sloughed off such 

 provincialism, and no 'igency could be devised so efficient to develope a 

 proper self-appreciation and relegate metropolitan snobbery to the back- 

 ground, as a free and social intercourse with gentlemen whose position 

 places them above pett}- local prejudices. The expense of a special train 

 and the cost of a suitable entertainment might doubtless be defrayed by 

 subscriptions, in the event of the Society feeling too penurious to extend 

 open-handed hospitality. A flying visit, as here suggested, could be made 

 fruitful of happy recollections, out from which would continually loom 

 the jirospect of a Session of the Congress itself, at some day not very 

 remote, in our own attractive and thriving city. Indeed, by way of 

 familarising the minds of delegates with the idea, it might not be unwise 

 to extend an invitation to the American Society to favor us with one of 

 its stated Sessions, as soon as may be without the manifestation of undue 

 partiality for any particular section of the country. The membership of 

 our Society is larger than that of the Massachusetts. Our Exhibitions, in 

 the opinion of thoroughly competent judges, are, as a whole, fully equal 

 to those held in the metropolis. Possessing every convenience for the 

 proper accommodation of the American Society, why should we not exert 

 ourselves to secure for our fair city the manifold advantages to be derived 

 from one of its regular Sessions '? 



From the very earliest organization of this Horticultural Society, its Ex- 

 hibitions have always been synchronous with those of its Agricultural 

 compeer. The question presents itself to the minds of many of your 

 members, recurring each year with constantly increasing force, whether 

 it is absolutely essential to our prosperity that we should continue for all 

 time to be a tail to the bucolic kite ! There never was more than a single 

 reason in favor of this practice, and were that allowed its full force, our 

 Exhibition would be held, of verj^ necessity, much earlier than at present. 

 For Flowers would be far surer to escape untimely frosts, while Summer 

 Pears and Apples, of the highest quality, would not, as now, have entirely 

 disappeared. Our latter experience should teach us that it is not always 

 prudent to challenge the untoward influences of the Equinox. The pro- 

 prietors of the largest orchards, throughout the country, allege as their 

 excuse for not entering the lists in competition for our munificent 

 9 



