5 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



success, but it is believed advisable to have monthly exhibitions 

 during the flowering seasons for their educational features. 



Our receipts from exhibitions during the year increased from 

 $2,097.22 to $3,909.14. This opens up good hopes for the coming 

 year. The expenditures of the Society for the four years prior to 

 1916 showed excess expenditures of about $7,700 which is a very 

 serious matter. This year our receipts exceed expenditures by 

 about $1,060 and this small surplus should be applied against losses 

 of previous years or held as a reserve against insurance, large 

 premiums falling due this year. 



In this connection it is pleasing to note that during the year the 

 Society received a bequest under the will of Miss Helen Collamore, 

 daughter of John Collamore, a former well-known resident of 

 Boston, of five thousand dollars ($5,000) which by vote of the 

 Trustees has been added to the permanent fund of the Society. 



Our Library is one of the finest in the country, containing over 

 twenty thousand (20,000) volumes, all well catalogued. Its 

 usefulness will be greatly extended by printing the catalogue, the 

 estimated expense of which is approximately four thousand dollars 

 ($4,000) of which amount fifteen hundred dollars ($1,500) has al- 

 ready been subscribed by members. This subscription by members 

 is another instance of their warm support. 



The lectures of the year maintained a high standard for interest 

 and usefulness as is shown by the following program : 



Ernest H. Wilson Flowers and Gardens of Japan. 

 Dr. George T. Moore The Missouri Botanical Garden. 

 Prof. S. C. Damon Alfalfa Culture in New England. 

 W. T. Macoun The Development of Fruits for Special 



Conditions. 

 George C. Husmann Some History of the Grape in the United 



States. 

 Leonard Barron Garden Writings in America. 



T. D. Hatfield Methods used in the Propagation of 



Plants. 

 Frederick V. Coville Taming the Wild Blueberry. 

 Frank N. Meyer Economic Botanical Explorations in China. 



J. J. Taubenhaus Sweet Pea Diseases and their Control. 



