INAUGURAL MEETING 9 



The lectures are certainly to be continued for another year. 



The award of the George Robert White Medal of Honor: A 

 continuing vote of thanks from the members of the Society is 

 due to Mr. White for his gift to the Society of seven thousand five 

 hundred dollars ($7,500) which enables the annual award of the 

 substantial gold medal to the one who has done most for advance- 

 ment of the interest in horticulture in recent years. This year 

 the medal was awarded to W^illiam Robinson of Sussex, England, 

 who has stimulated so much interest by his writings on horticul- 

 tural subjects. 



Now let us turn our thoughts to the coming year. It should be 

 the aim of the Society, first, to stimulate a broader interest in 

 horticulture in all its branches, flowers, fruits, and vegetables. One 

 of the means for best accomplishing this result is to increase our 

 membership. We have now 760 life members and 165 annual 

 members; a total of 925. In 1915 we had 934 members. In 1871 

 we had over 1,000 members. We have really gone back a bit dur- 

 ing the year. Let us increase the membership at least 100 dur- 

 ing this year. 



Exhibitions: A year ago the Trustees conceived the plan of 

 having one or two special shows during the year. It was the show 

 in May, last year, the object of which was to attract exhibits from 

 a wider field, to stimulate the growing of new varieties, to eliminate 

 as far as possible repetition from year to year of the same class of 

 exhibits, and to effect this result, it is proposed to have the special 

 shows come at different times of the year. 



The special exhibitions this year are to be the March Show, the 

 Outdoor June Show, and the October Fruit Show. March Show: 

 Something over $4,000 in prizes have been provided for this Show, 

 this being a favorable season for indoor products. June Outdoor 

 Show: The Society has held out-of-door shows three times during 

 its existence, — the first in 1852, Public Gardens ; the second in 

 1855, Boston Common; the third in 1873, on Boston Common 

 under the supervision of Mr. HoUis Hunnewell and Prof. Charles 

 S. Sargent. Mr. Hunnewell guaranteed the Society against loss 

 from this show, but instead of resulting in a loss, the Society made a 

 handsome return. Prof. Sargent and Mr. Walter Hunnewell may 

 be called the sponsors for the coming show in June. The grounds 



