1885.] TRANSACTIONS. 19 



Society, of such established reputation as is this ; standing for a 

 County that yields precedence to none in the just fame of its 

 Pomology ; should not suffer laws to be passed upon matters of 

 vital moment to its best interests, without closest watcli and 

 ward. Your Secretary has heretofore expressed decided opinions 

 upon this subject, and they are reinforced upon each recurrence 

 of the occasion. He would repeat the views of yore in their 

 original form, and with added emphasis : — 



" Our delegation was small in number, if not restricted as to physical 

 size.* ' Tempora mutantur /'/ — as ray ' captatores verborum ' inti- 

 mate, heretofore suggested in these Reports. It was not a pilgiimage 

 to Boston, — to your next-door neighbor : nor could due representation 

 dovetail with household shopping. But this lack of adequate 

 attendance, liable to become more significant as distance extends, 

 impresses upon me still more forcibly the duty of advising a remedy. 

 Should not this Society recognize it as an inevitable obligation to be 

 represented at each recurring Session of the Aimerican Pomological 

 Society? Should it not take all proper means to ensure that its 

 representation shall be effective? It cannot always command the 

 gratuitous service of members who will defray their own expenses. 

 It has no reason to expect such service to be volunteered ; and it 

 should have too high a regard for Horticulture, — whether as a Science 

 or Practice, — to be willing to accept such proffer if tendered. That 

 we should be represented, commends itself as eminently fit. That 

 we should be represented by competent men, is, of course, your 

 unanimous judgment. That the common treasure should support the 

 common burden, must be admitted by you, upon reflection, — needing 

 no argument. And, therefore, I do not hesitate to advise that the 

 travelling expenses of our delegate to Philadelphia, A. D. 1883, be re- 

 imbursed ; and that this Society adopt a settled policy of representa- 

 tion, within sharply defined limits, at all future meetings of Societies 

 of cognate pursuits." 



The American Pomological Society adjourned to meet in 

 Boston A. D. 1887. This was done at the request of its venera- 

 ble President, who desired, should his life be spared, to gather 

 the delegates once more around him and to give them his final 

 welcome ("absit omen!") to the familiar scenes of his home. 

 But, although this appointment comes very close to your own 

 Fiftieth (50th) Anniversary, your Secretary cannot believe that 

 you will permit it to serve as an excuse for a denial of your 

 claim to a Session of the American Pomological Society, here in 

 Worcester, A. D. 1892. That occasion will be exceptional, of 



* The delegation — a unit, — has not yet been coaxed upon the hay-scales. 



E. W. L. 



