58 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



other cause, was much less than the amount received the four previous years, 

 which averaged .^5,()90 per year. 



The income from tlie Society's funds should be sufficient to meet the ordin- 

 ary expenses of the Society ; and the income from Mount Auburn should be 

 sacredly set apart, to increase capital, against the time when we shall be pre- 

 pared and ready to erect a hall or establish an experimental garden. 



Every year we have some extraordinary expenses that cannot always be 

 foreseen. We are liable to be called upon for our proportional part of any 

 expenditures that may be made by the corporation of Mount Auburn, in any 

 improvements in which we are hereafter to receive a benefit; such as the com- 

 pletion of the Columbaria or Catacombs, or any work of like kind. 



Our Annual Exhibitions have been rather expensive of late years. The one 

 of the past year was most successful, so far as regards quantity, beauty, 

 variety, and excellence of the fruits, and display of plants, flowers, and vege- 

 tables, but the receipts fell short of the expenditures in the sum of $700. 

 Our Annual Exhibitions are a necessary and most import-ant item in the opera- 

 tions of the Society, and have been the means of disseminating a vast amount 

 of horticultural knowledge, and must be continued, although it may be neces- 

 sary, occasionally, to draw upon the treasury to make up deficieni'ies. This 

 draft has been too heavy of late years, and some measures should be devised 

 to lessen the evil. 



In looking over the records of the past, I find that the exhibitions of the 

 years 1 8.50-1-2-3, including one in the Public Garden, and two on the Com- 

 mon, which were certainly most successful exhibitions in all respects, and which 

 were attended with as much labor and expenditure of money, as any exhibitions 

 since, brought the Society into debt in the small sum of $24 only. One of 

 these exhibitions on the Common, brought the Society into debt in the sum of 

 $450, but the other exhibition put nearly as much into the treasury. I have 

 not had an opportunity to examine the records of the years 1854-5-6, but find 

 that in the last six years, the sum of $3,141 27, Has been drawn from the 

 treasury to make up the deficiencies of these six Annual Exhibitions. The 

 exhibitions on the Common were of the most interesting character, and 

 attracted crowds of visitors. The expenses were necessarily large, but not 

 much larger than the^ have been on spme occasions at the Music Hall. 

 Perhaps the repetition of a tent exhibition, would be so much a novelty as to 

 attract a greater number of visitors, and thus reduce the expenses. 



There have been admitted to the Society the past year, 8 life and 20 sub- 

 scription members. Three life and 9 subscription members have died, and 13 

 have discontinued ; making a gain of only 3 members. The present number 

 of life members is 247 ; subscription members 318 ; total 565. 



The past year has been a remarkable one, particularly in the unprecedented 

 crop of apples, pears, and gapes, and most of the smaller fruits. The year 

 will be noted as one of wonderful plenty, dull sales, and low prices for fruit ; 

 a state of things wc, as a Society, have been laboring for years to bring about, 



