5 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



The work of Mr. Farquhar, my immediate predecessor, who has. 

 served our Society as President for the past three years, deserves 

 the highest praise from us all. It is seldom that you find one who 

 has such an extended scientific knowledge of horticulture in it& 

 fullest meaning, combined with long business experience and first 

 class executive ability, and perhaps more important still, an 

 acquaintance with all the best horticulturists, not only in this 

 country, but in all quarters of the globe where there are any horti- 

 cultural interests. Can any one who saw that wonderful field of 

 Chinese Lilies (Liliwn regale) in bloom last summer at Mr. Farqu- 

 har's place, fail to recognize his ability to propagate and introduce 

 to lovers of flowers in this country the many attractive new varie- 

 ties which have been recently brought to us from China and other 

 far away parts of the world. Such have been the qualities of your 

 late President, and I take great pleasure in extending to him the 

 thanks of our Society and the earnest hope that he will continue 

 for many years to participate with us in the conduct of its affairs. 



Your Trustees have given careful thought at their meetings 

 during the year to various matters of interest to the Society. 



At the Annual Meeting a year ago, Mr. C. H. W. Foster, one of 

 our well-known members, offered a resolution that the Trustees 

 consider the expediency of making changes in our building which 

 might result in a better commercial return from the property. 



This property, as it stands on our books today, represents an 

 investment of something over half a million dollars, $515,000.00, 

 about $225,000.00 in land and about $290,000.00 in the building. 

 A committee of your Trustees gave much time to this question of 

 altering the building, and consulted with three very well-known 

 architects. All of us must admire the dignified character of the 

 exterior lines of our building, and to undertake to change these 

 outside walls without obliterating the attractive architectural 

 features, is almost an impossibility. 



There is undoubtedly a quantity of interior space in the building 

 which is largely wasted, but to render this space useful either for 

 commercial use or for the use of our Society would require an 

 expenditure of not less than $150,000.00, and some of the estimates 

 ran up to nearly $200,000.00. 



Our land is undoubtedly increasing in value as business is moving 



