18 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1883. 



the present richly earned credit ; — the undying renown of actual, 

 solid achievement. 



Still, without petty jealousy, it may be our high privilege to 

 foster and support. It has occurred to your Secretary tiiat a 

 subscription for a generous number of copies of that work would 

 be a creditable act ; and that those copies might well be kept for 

 award as gratuities throughout the Floral Exhibitions of the 

 ensuing year. 



And, again : to promote our own declared aims ; as well as to 

 assist those of similar tastes who are groping, as it were, in the 

 dark ; I would most earnestly recommend tliat the use of our 

 Library, under such restrictions as may be deemed indispensable, 

 be proffered to any and all students of Botany that shall be 

 accredited to us by the officers of the Natural History Society. 

 Labor, time, and money, are often needlessly wasted, in the effort 

 to found Libraries devoted to some especial braiich of science ; 

 when all that is essential had been long since accumulated 

 in those larger collections of books that are established upon a 

 wider basis. Liberality in this particular, will enure to our 

 own ultimate benefit. The botanical student of to-day will be- 

 come the florist and exhibitor of to-morrow. The talent, put out 

 at interest, will yield returns, scar(;ely to be computed : and that 

 which is now almost a dead investment upon our shelves, loaned 

 out, circulated, and consulted, shall broaden and strengthen the 

 foundation upon which this Society must build its faith of per- 

 petual vitality and usefulness. 



The letter way of displaying Flowers, at an Exhibition, has 

 never been reduced to one precise, unvarying Rule. The Basket, 

 or Yase may adorn; the Design, — heaven save the mark! be- 

 wilder or perplex. The average, uncultivated taste appears to 

 incline toward the massing system ; those aggregations, by what- 

 soever name, that blend and sink all individuality, whether of 

 genera or species. But the incoming tide is irresistible. The 

 single Dahlia is in the ascendant; and the bedding mania has 

 ceased to cloud the popular judgment. And, after all, — why 

 should there be any doubt ? As a Horticultural Society, you 

 aim at perfection. If achievement is your avowed object, — you 

 must favor the production of specimen flowers. To determine if 



