322 MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



lectiug as opportunity shall offer. Of course, much the greater 

 part of those acquired are from the Department, but material as- 

 sistance has been derived from the donations of the families of 

 the late Charles M. Hovey and Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, both 

 Ex-Presidents of the Society, and of the oSTew England Historic- 

 Genealogical Society. Some idea of the magnitude of the work 

 of collecting these publications may be formed from the fact that 

 during the year ending June 30, 189G, 376 publications were 

 issued by the Department of Agriculture. The work would be 

 much less but for the great irregularity in the receipt of these 

 publications, necessitating frequent applications for publications 

 to fill gaps ; and too often we are informed, though the appli- 

 cation is made as soon as the hiatus is discovered, that the edi- 

 tion is exhausted. A most fortunate acquisition is the Conclu- 

 sion of " Old and Eemarkable Trees of Scotland," published by 

 the Highland and Agricultural Society of Scotland, a fragment of 

 which has been on our shelves for thirty years. This interesting 

 little work is now perfected. 



Ten volumes of the Silva of North America, by our fellow- 

 member, Charles S. Sargent, have been published, volumes nine 

 and ten having been received during the year now closing. It is 

 seldom that a work of the importance and magnitude of this ap- 

 pears so rapidly and promptly. The Phycotheca Boreali-Ameri- 

 cana, a collection of dried specimens of the Algfe of North 

 America, whose leading author. Prank Shipley Collins, is also 

 a member of this Society, has reached its hfth fascicle. The 

 Evolution of Horticulture in New England, by Daniel Denison 

 Slade, another of our members, though smaller, is more generally 

 interesting, and derives additional value from the lamented death 

 of its author soon after its publication. The authors of these 

 three works have all sought and found in this library assistance 

 in their composition. 



During the year Parts VIII. and IX. of the Marquess of Lo- 

 thian's Monograph of the Genus Masdevallia, completing that 

 magnificent work, have been received. The publication of Fitz- 

 gerald's Australian Orchids, the first part of which was received 

 by us in 1880, which was interrupted by the death of the author, 

 has been resumed, and it is hoped will be soon completed. The 

 Florilegium Harlemense, with colored plates of the flowers of 

 bulbous rooted plants, has been subscribed for and the first num- 



