26 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [186G. 



The Premiums that have been offered at the Summer Exhibitioxs of the 

 Society have been paid, when chiimed, out of a fund contributed by a number 

 of public-spirited members. It was not anticipated that the entire sum, 

 amounting to nearly one hundred and fitly dollars ($150.00) would exceed the 

 demands of a couple of seasons. But, by judicious management, and still 

 more, by the generosity of contributors to the exhibitions, who either declined to 

 take their premiums, or applied them to defray the admission fee of their 

 friends, it has been possible to protract the system of pecuniary encouragement 

 throughout four (4) successive years. The fund is now exhausted. It there- 

 fore devolves upon the Society to determine whether an attempt shall be made 

 to continue the Summer Exhibitions without the stimulus of monetary induce- 

 ments, the fate of which attempts can safely be predicted ; or whether these 

 exhibitions themselves shall be abandoned, thereby incurring a serious risk of 

 perilling all the advantage heretofore derived from an ability to command that 

 constant attention of the public which is indispensable to candidates for the 

 popular favor. Of course, resort can be had to the treasury of the Society, if it 

 is deemed expedient to subject it to new burdens, as, perhaps, in this case, it 

 may be. Some decision, however, is required, that proper action may be taken 

 at the right season. 



Among the matters of minor importance that demand your attention, with a 

 view to their remedy before another general exhibition, the most urgent by far 

 is the provision of suitable bottles or vials for the arrangement and display of 

 cut flowers — of a much larger supply of them — and, also, of an ample number 

 of stands on which they may be disposed. The late lamented chairman of the 

 Committee of Arrangements was painfully alive to this deficiency. Our present 

 vials are almost worthless, besides being utterly insufficient for any but the most 

 ordinary occasions. 



The supply of plates for the array of fruit is equally inadequate. Every year 

 we are compellod to hire a large lot of crockery, paying a high rate for^its use, 

 and incurring all the risk of fracture and loss. Most of the plates in our pos- 

 session are too small, holding conveniently about four Seckel pears. For this 

 reason they are seldom or never used. The Society may elect to hire, rather 

 than to own, the necessary table furniture. If not, and a new assortment shall 

 be procured, which cannot be greatly in advance of the necessity for it, it should 

 be an absolute condition that the form should be quadrilateral or oblong. Much 

 tabular space will thus be saved, which is now wasted by the present invariable 

 circular shape. 



The Committee of Arrangements, and all the officers of the Society who have 

 had anything to do with the conduct of the Annual Autumnal Exhibitions, 

 are clear in the conviction that some method must be devised and enfoi'ced of 

 distinguishing members from those who are so unfortunate as not to enjoy that 

 privilege. The number upon our roll is altogether too large for any personi 

 beholding them but once in the year, to be able to discriminate between the 

 true and the false — the genuine and the impostor. To send a ticket of adniis- 



