1865.] secretary's report. 23 



not touch the caterpillar ; he has no relish for the canker-worm ; he is of no 

 service whatever against the curculio, his little work might be done with a 

 thousandth part of the expense in other ways. He is a confirmed robber and 

 spoiler. Wherefore, my verdict is that he be banished from all our fruit gar- 

 dens. Fruit-growers have only to protect the bird, and allow him to multiply, 

 to learn that the evil grows to be intolerable." That this question of the 

 " Savages of Birds" deserves more careful attention than it has hitherto re- 

 ceived is made clearly apparent from au incident that recently transpired in 

 England. At the last meeting of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science, almost synchronous with your Annual Autumnal Exhibition, the 

 learned and venerable Dr. Crisp is reported to have shown that " sparrows were 

 not, as so generally thought, friends of the farmer, but destroyed several pounds 

 of wheat to one worm ; whereas the hornets, against which there is so much 

 enmity, destroy maggots and other hurtful things." Several gentlemen arose 

 to defend the sparrow, but Dr. Crisp " showed several hundred sparrow-gizzards, 

 which revealed grains of wheat, but no worms at all ! " And yet this sparrow 

 is now recommended to be imported into our own country, in which we are 

 already afflicted with the robin, alike saucy and useless, and the cat-bird — con- 

 gener of everything that is, or ought to be inside of the Baton Rouge, or other 

 penitentiary. 



On Thursday, May 4th, your Secretary received, for distribution, from the 

 Commissioner of Agriculture at Washington, four (4) bags of potato oats, con- 

 taining one (1) quart each. On the 17th of September ult., four (4) bags of 

 wheat, of like quantity, came to hand from the same munificent source. These, 

 with some small packages of onion, lettuce and turnip seeds, represent the bene- 

 fit of said department, for the current year, to this Society. Of what advan- 

 tage it is likely to be in future can be judged from the fact that the only gentle- 

 man of enterprise or sagacity officially connected with it has just been dismissed 

 by the Commissioner. 



The Summer Exhibitions have been maintained with marked success. Not- 

 withstanding the unpropitious character of the season, of which it may well 

 be doubted whether the rains of spring or the drought of autumn was the 

 worst, the number of entries, thanks to the enterprise of our florists, developes 

 a great increase over 1864. And undoubtedly to this attraction is attributable 

 the remarkable and gratifying augmentation in our list of members, more espe- 

 cially of the fairer portion of the community. Where it requires so little effort 

 and time to adorn our library room and fill our stands ; knowing, as they must, 

 the signal advantage of such displays to the Society, ever increasing since the 

 initiation of these exhibitions, and simultaneously enlarging our membership ; 

 is it too much to ask or hope for a continuance of that co-operation, if not for 

 its more earnest development in this most beautiful and fascinating portion of 

 our province ? 



A tabular statement of the entries, or number of articles of each variety ex- 

 hibited during the present official year, exclusive of the display at the Annual 

 Autumnal Exhibition, is herewith presented. That period was covered by 

 12 



