ADDRESS 



OF 



Hon. FRANCIS H. DEWEY, President. 



Delivered on Thursday Evexixg, Sept. 17, 1868. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the Worcester County Horticultural Society : 



Assembled on this Twenty-ninth Annual Exhibition of our Society, to listen 

 to the reports of the Committees appointed to award the premiums, I consider 

 that an elaborate address from the President will not be desired by you, nor is 

 it, in my opinion, appropriate to this occasion. Bat custom has given you the 

 right to expect from me a brief statement of the present condition of the 

 Society, and such suggestions as to the future as I deem acceptable to those 

 interested in its prosperity. 



Commencing its operations in the year 1840, the Society has from a feeble 

 condition grown till it has attained a position of great strength, and become one 

 of the permanent and most useful institutions of our County. The number of 

 members upon its roll is nearly 1100. 



FINANCIAL CONDITION. 



The Society is the owner of the valuable real estate known as Horticultural 

 Hall. The annual rental of the .stores and hall is now $.3000, after making the 

 reservations for our own use. 



The amount due on the mortgage on the estate is $3005, it having been re- 

 duced since November 1, 1867, $900. 



Since the last meeting of the Society, the Trustees have purchased a small 

 tract of land in the rear of our estate, which is of great value to us, both as 

 securing to us light, and in enabling us to enlarge our stores and Hall when 

 desirable. The price paid was §1528, of which $328 has been paid from the 

 rents, and there still remains due the sum of $1200, making our entire indebt- 

 edness at the present time $4205, which amount can easily be paid in a few 

 years, without reducing our proper expenditures for other objects. 



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