30 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The President stated that the Committee on Repairs and Alter- 

 ations of the building felt somewhat embarrassed as to the course 

 to pursue. The question whether or not the Society will make 

 this building its future home had come up for decision, and the Soci- 

 ety also recognized the fact that the building, in its present form, is 

 not the best investment of its value. The Committee were unani- 

 mous in their judgment that an expression of opinion on these 

 points should be asked from the Society. The Inspectors of 

 Buildings had given a statement of the alterations which they 

 thought necessary to prevent the spread of fire, and it was probable 

 that these changes would cost as much as the loss b}' fire ; that is, 

 they would add nine thousand dollars to the cost of restoring the 

 building. 



William C. Strong moved that the next Saturda}^, the 26th of 

 January, at ten o'clock, be assigned for the consideration of the 

 subject mentioned by the President, and after some discussion the 

 motion was cai'ried. It was voted that the Secretary send a 

 notice of the meeting to every member of the Society. 



Adjourned to Saturday, January 26, 1889, at ten o'clock. 



MEETING FOR DISCUSSION. 

 Notes on European Nurseries. 



By F. L. Temple, Somerville. 



To American visitors European nurseries are first of all an 

 inspiration, as they are the old creative centres from which have 

 come to us many of our best fruits and flowers. 



We turn instinctively to them yet, for new and improved forms 

 of plants. Nowhere else are there so many men living so close 

 to the creative forces of nature as there. 



European nurserymen — the best of them — are a distinct class 

 of intense specialists, who have their whole hearts as well as their 

 heads in their work, and we are told that " the heart giveth grace 

 unto every art." They also have the advantage over us that the 

 great plant collections of Europe are easily accessible to them, as 

 at Kew and other places, where the geniuses of the hybridizing 

 brush select the newl}' found species which are to be transformed 

 and blended " into something new and strange." Inherited adapta- 



