1873.] REPORT OF SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN. 65 



Your Secretary is very decidedly of the opinion that the time has come, 

 and can never be more opportune, for this Society to try the experiment 

 of an Autumnal Exhibition at a late date. And he would recommend 

 that an Exhibition of Flowers, Plants, Fruits and Vegetables be 

 appointed for the four days comprising the 2yth and 30th of September 

 and the 1st and 2d of October. A few varieties in all departments will 

 probably have passed away. But who requires, or is edified by, a display 

 of Bartlett Pears? And what community, Worcester not excepted, does 

 not need to be informed that there are other species as much superior to 

 that general favorite as that confessedly is to its " Button " or " Choke " 

 congener? The possible advantages of a change of time are many. The 

 co-operation of some now exclusively confined to Agricultural Park. 

 Relief from that distraction occasioned b}' the multiplied fascinations of 

 the gay bull and festive stallion. The reasonable maturity of Fruits and 

 Vegetables throughout the County; and the result, — a willingness to 

 contribute to the Exhibitions of a Societ}' that has evinced its disposition 

 to merit success. 



Should this suggestion be adopted, a wider publicity should be given 

 to the Premium-Schedule. At present, the knowledge of the very lib- 

 eral prizes olTered by this Society is confined to its members, to whom 

 alone the volume of printed Transactions is annually sent. Your Secre- 

 tary is of opinion, as he has been for years, that an advertisement of our 

 Premium-Schedule, in at least one ncAvspaper, would be a judicious in- 

 vestment, and one also that would be certain of large returns. 



If our Exhibitions shall hereafter be holden later in the Autumn, let 

 them be conducted upon a scale of liberality commensurate with the oc- 

 casion. Let there be a final cessation of chronic grumbling at every ex- 

 penditure for indispensable table furniture; for Music, which adds such a 

 charm to the other agreeable features of an attractive display. Sanction 

 cheerfully, not grudgingly as heretofore, the employment of help enough 

 to do the necessary preliminary work, as well in the Halls as at the desk 

 of the Secretary. Contributors have a right to prompt attention, but the 

 Society has no right, through ill-timed parsimony, to compel them to wait. 

 Thirty Years ago plenty of aid was offered voluntarily. But the pleasant 

 rural town has developed into a great City, in which fife is too busy to be 

 dawdled away. Moreover, the present oflficers cannot much longer endure 

 the exhaustion consequent upon the excessive toil of the Autumnal Ex- 

 hibition, as now managed. Viewed through a microscope, a picayune 

 will assume the proportions of a dollar. But there was no suggestion of 

 a microscope in the advice to cast one's bread upon the waters. 



Likewise, 3'our Secretary repeats his recommendation that some com- 

 pensation be paid to Chairmen of Committees. We need something more 

 9 



