REPORT OF THE SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN. 417 



a Correspoudiug JMember of the Society. Among them are many 

 scarce and interesting catalogues, which will make onr files of 

 these aids to the future historian of horticulture much more 

 complete. 



Among the more important works which have been added to the 

 Library during the year, I may mention Engler & Prantl's Natiir- 

 licheu Pflanzenfamilien, and the Index Kewensis, which will 

 undoubtedly become standard authorities for the names of plants ; 

 Schiibeler's ^'iridarium Norvegicum (Plants of Norway) spoken of 

 in Meehan's Monthly as "possibly one of the most delightful 

 works on arboriculture ever penned ;" Schneider's Book of Choice 

 Ferns, which the (English) Gardeners' Magazine, speaking from 

 a horticultural rather than a botanical point of view, pronounced 

 "the most complete work on Ferns in the English language;" 

 Schmidel's Icones Plantarum, a folio, published in 1762, with 

 plates of unsurpassed delicacy of execution, and several works 

 on gardening and floral arrangement in Japan. The continuations 

 of many valuable works mentioned in previous reports have been 

 received. 



In my last report I spoke of the record of Library Accessions 

 in 1593, as being not quite as long as that of 1892, but when 

 printed it proved to be a little longer. It is impossible at this 

 moment to say exactly how the record for the present year will 

 compare with that of the last, but the probability appears to be 

 that the great increase noted in 1892 will be permanent. 



Many j^ears ago the Library Committee said in their annual 

 report : ' ' Our aim must be high, no less than to make our Library 

 contain a copy of every published work on horticulture." As the 

 means at our disposal has not permitted this, the effort has been 

 to select those most valuable for study and reference. In pursuing 

 this course many books have been added by donation as well as 

 purchase, the immediate usefulness of which may not be apparent ; 

 but those who from day to day answer the calls for books, are not 

 infrequently surprised when some book which may have lain long 

 unused is desired for reference. It is a part of the mission of the 

 Society, even now not fully appreciated, to supply those works 

 which are most useful for occasional reference, of which a com- 

 plete collection would be beyond the means of our members 

 generally, as well as beyond the accommodations of most private 

 houses. In short it should be remembered that although it is our 



