376 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of the current reading of our best practical horticulturists. AVe 

 divide that field, as a matter of course, with agricultural and 

 horticultural publications which members procure, for home read- 

 ing, in other ways. But the books by the possession of which 

 this Society enjo3's an enviable prestige, and which make its 

 library the prized resort of scholars in, and lovers of, the ever 

 advancing art of horticulture, are of a class whose utility is to 

 be measui'ed, if at all, by another standard than that of more or 

 less extensive cu-culation. • 



For many years the need of additional accommodation has been 

 pressed upon the attention of the Society, in the reports both of 

 the Library Committee and the Librarian. An impression prevails, 

 in the minds of some, that the crowded state of the bookcases 

 causes inconvenience, and adds to the labors of the Librarian, 

 only when a book is wanted for use ; and it seems desirable to 

 correct this not unnatural misapprehension. Not alone when a 

 book is called for, but daily and continually there is need, for 

 every volume, of a place where the Librarian can swiftly and 

 surely lay hand upon it. However infrequently consulted, all 

 books kept as the propert}^ of the Society should be so shelved as 

 to be familiar to him, both as to contents and position, — to the 

 end that each new book arriving may promptly take its right 

 place, in right relations to the rest. 



Failing this, classification is simply impossible, and disorder 

 and perplexity must increase in a constantly advancing ratio. 

 Let him do his best and struggle his hardest, the odds are against 

 him and are daily growing greater ; his most strenuous endeavors 

 cannot meet and overcome the confusion inevitably entailed by 

 over-crowded shelves, and compulsory stowage in widely separated 

 and inaccessible places. 



ROBERT MANNING, 



Secretary and Librarian. 



