56 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1873. 



American Agriculturist, The; vol. 31, 1872; 1 vol. Folio; Society. 



Uorticulturisf, The; vol. 27, 1872; 1 vol. 4to; Society. 



Floral Cabinet, The Ladies'; vol. 1, 4to; Society. 



Country Gentleman, The; vol. 37, 1872; Society. 



Hard}- Trees, Shrubs and Herbaceous Plants; Decaisne and Naudin; 

 Abridged by llemsley; 1 vol. Loudon; Societ3\ 



Floral Magazine, The; Loudon; vols. 1-11; Society. 



State Charities, Ninth Annual Report, Board of; E. Earle. 



R'jse Amateur's Guide; Rivers, London; 1 vol. 10th ed.; Society. 



Dictionarj', Paxton's Botanical; new and revised ed.; London; Society. 



Horticulture, Journal of; London, vols. 22 and 23; Society. 



Gardener's Magazine, The; 1872, vol. 15; London; Society. 



American Pomological Society, Proceedings of the Thirteenth Session; 

 Hon. M. P. Wilder. 



You will notice that there has been no excessive increase in the number 

 of volumes. Every new work of known value, which commended itself 

 to the Committee as likely to be of use to members, and Avhose cost did 

 not transcend their available means, was seasonably placed upon our 

 shelves. But the policy, outlined in the Report for 1871-2, wherein the 

 opinion was expressed that the richest fruits of contemporaneous inquiry 

 and culture will be gathered from the seria^l publications of our own and 

 foreign countries, still sways the judgment of the Librarian and his col- 

 leagues of the Committee, and has governed their purchases. The prin- 

 cipal acquisition, for the past year, was the entire set, from its commence- 

 ment, of the ver}^ beautiful Floral Magazine, than which even the Flore 

 des Serres can scarcely claim to be more precious. It is quite desirable to 

 complete the series of other magazines, of which only detached volumes 

 are now in our possession. Should you concur in this view of the Com- 

 mittee on the Library, it may be practicable to accomplish this object dur- 

 ing the coming year. 



The Summer ExniBixiONS of the Society have achieved an unexam- 

 pled and most gratifying success. In former years_^ it is true, there were 

 always entries of Flowers and Fruit; but they were almost invariably the 

 contributions of the veterans, by whom the Societ}'^ has been upheld from 

 its infancy, and to whom it has become a second nature to toil in its be- 

 half. During the season just past, however, it was pleasant to note the 

 steady accession of new exhibitoi's, whose fresh enthusiasm, constantly 

 stimulated by rivalry, served as a sharp incentive to their older and more 

 jaded competitors. In his Annual Report for 1872, your Secretary sub- 

 mitted a recommendation, which it may be well to recite: 



" In this connection it may be proper to suggest the expediency of estab- 

 lishing a line of demarcation between the collections of the Amateur and 



