WORCESTKll COUNTY 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nth January, A. D. 1894. 



ADDRESS 



BY 



Hon. HP:NRy L. PARKER, President. 



The opening address was made by the President of the Soci- 

 ety, Hon. Henry L. Parker. It was informal in its character, 

 and his topic was the "Condition and Needs of the Society." 

 After discussing the financial position and the work of the past 

 year, he said : — 



What we most need in the immediate future, in my own judg- 

 ment, is to increase the efficiency of our library, by making its 

 contents better known and more readily accessible, by com- 

 pleting valuable sets of books that are now incomplete, like the 

 Transactions of the Royal Horticultural Society, Curtis' Botan- 

 ical Magazine, Icones Plantarum, and others that might be 

 named, and by the addition of such books of recent publication 

 as will make the library up with the times in scientific research 

 in our special department. I do not intend by this any criticism 

 of our Library Committee. They have doubtless done the best 

 they coukl with the sums they have felt warranted in expending. 

 I am simply calling attention to what seems to me a pressing 

 need, as soon as the condition of our treasury shall admit. 



We are accustomed to speak of our library with great pride, 

 and to call the attention of visitors and strangers to our many 



rare volumes, elegantly illustrated, which we affirm cannot be 



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