22 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1866. 



requirements of the future? In at least two of the six years since your Secre- 

 tary has lield office, (and in one of the six there was no exhibition,) when the 

 crop of apples and pears was only moderate, at least one-half of his own limited 

 room was exacted for the display of specimens, for which purpose it cannot be 

 spared and is besides utterly unfit. And there were no plants, of consequence, 

 to demand such ample space and verge. At the late annual exhibition, three 

 separate individuals offered to fill with cut flowers every stand in our possession. 

 If we had owned the additional forty stands where could they have beeu placed. 

 Ladies from abroad were obliged to return home with their flowers because there 

 were no stands left in which to display them. Others from the city could not 

 obtain a moiety even of what they wished. And, to follow an illustrious 

 example and " swing around the circle," there would be no space available for 

 them if procured. Shall we be faithful to our trust, if we fail to take timely 

 warning from the experience of the past? Your Secretary, to whose notice 

 this subject is continually, and often unpleasantly, presented, has felt that he 

 should not discharge the obligations resting upon him did he not invoke for it 

 your seasonable and earnest consideration. 



The Library is in good condition, and, as will be seen by the customary 

 comparative statement, has been very generally used. This increase of readers 

 is one of the most encouraging signs of continued interest in the aims of the 

 Society. The attention of those who consult these volumes is more closely 

 attracted, their knowledge becomes enlarged, and the bread thus cast upon the 

 waters re-appears, after many days, upon our tables. The whole number of 

 volumes taken out, without reckoning those consulted in the library room, when 

 open, was as follows : — 



In 1860, . 72 volumes. 



In 1861, G4 " 



[At this date the library was removed to its present quarters.] 



In 1862, 114 " 



In 1863, 133 " 



In 1864, 179 " 



Jan. 1st, 1865, to Nov. 1st, 1865, 318 " 



Nov. 1st, 1865, to Oct. 31st, 1866, 387 " 



[In 1865 there was an alteration of the official year.] 



During the past year the liberality of our friends has placed us under weighty 

 obligations. A most valuable donation is that of Hon. Andrew H. Green, of 

 the city of New York, comprising the 2d, 4th, and 9th Reports of the Commis- 

 sioners of the Central Park, quorum magna pars est, accompanied by a promise 

 of the numbers still deficient, should it be possible to procure them. Their 

 value to a society like this is obvious upon the most cursory inspection. We 

 are also indebted to our esteemed ex-president, George Jaques, for all the copies 

 that he still retained of his original issue of the " Transactions " of this Society. 

 By this generosity it is rendered possible to bind together the separate series 

 into a complete whole, thereby supplying a connected history of the proceedings 

 of the Society from its early organization to the present day.j 



