October 1 and 2. The show of pears was smaller than usual, but apples were abundant. Many fine specimens of apples were shown, but no outdoor peaches and very few plums. Benjamin G. Smith, of Cambridge, one of the oldest members of the Society, celebrated his eightieth birthday, October 1, by exhibit ing sixty varieties of hardy native grapes, the largest exhibit ever made by one individual. The show of vegetables was in the lower hall, and included all the standard varieties, which were all well grown and of good quality.

The Annual Chrysanthemum Show opened November 10 and continued four days. The lower hall was filled with cut flowers. Seven large vases were filled with some of the choicest varieties. The tables from the door to the platform were completely filled with a superb display of cut flowers. The upper hall was devoted to the pot plants. In the centre of the hall were fine groups arranged for effect. Palms and other foliage plants were used with the chrysanthemums; the effect was very fine. On one side of the hall were arranged plants in twelve-inch pots that were seven feet broad and five or six feet high, and complete masses of bloom. For large flowers, fine color, and perfect form the Chrysanthemum Show of 1896 has never been equalled. Respectfully submitted,

GEORGE CRUICKSHANKS,

Delegate.

REPORT

OF THE

COMMITTEE ON THE LIBRARY

FOR THE YEAR 1896.

Cultivators continue to send here for exhibition more illustrations of their skill than can be satisfactorily shown in our limited space; and, in the same way, books and pamphlets continue to find their way to the library regardless of the lack of accommodations they find here; but the increase of exhibits and of books is not a matter to be deprecated—still less to be curtailed. The remedy in each case is the same, and we should no more cease to acquire books and pamphlets than we should cease to send plants, flowers, fruits, and vegetables here to delight and instruct the crowds that throng our halls on all special occasions. The exhibitions, the discussions, and the library are three agencies which have taken and will continue to take an equal share in sustaining and extending the renown of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society.

The

As usual there is but little to say about this department. work here continues to fully occupy the Librarian and those who are associated with him. The accessions, which will be enumerated as a supplement to the report of the Librarian, have been. of the usual number and importance, and those which have been purchased from the income of the Stickney Fund and from the Society's appropriation have exhausted the entire amount as usual. The Card Catalogue of plates will proceed henceforward on a different plan. Mrs. Andrews has retired from her labors, having written cards for nearly every plate which is not in Pritzel's Index, and it is thought that all the cards made neces

sary by new acquisitions can be prepared by the force regularly employed. It will be desirable to include in it sometime all which we possess that are in Pritzel's Index, but that time is not yet.

Your Committee, believing that the library is an agency of very great value, regret that the fund to which it owes so much of its growth is soon to pass into other hands, and hope that means may be found which will enable it to continue its increase in size and usefulness.

For the Committee,

W. E. ENDICOTT,
Chairman.

REPORT

OF THE

SECRETARY AND LIBRARIAN

FOR THE YEAR 1896.

As Secretary I have to report in regard to the TRANSACTIONS of the Society that the first part for 1896 has been printed and distributed to members and correspondents of the Society. Of the preceding TRANSACTIONS, the List of Library Accessions, which has previously been published in the second part for each year, was, by direction of the Committee on Publication, omitted in 1895, in order not to delay other matter, and will appear later as Part III. of the TRANSACTIONS for that year. This is the most difficult part of the whole, and requires more labor to present it correctly, but it is now nearly ready for the printer. The Schedule of Prizes for 1896 was, as promised, ready at the beginning of the year, indeed a few days earlier, — and it is expected that that for 1897 will be equally prompt. The various records of the Society and of Committees, and the correspondence, have been kept up, to the best of the ability of those immediately employed on them.

The List of Library Accessions, though not much longer than last year, shows a steady increase. The work of completing sets has been pursued as heretofore. A special effort has been made to procure such publications of the United States Department of Agriculture as we did not already possess. The full list of these publications, received in March, has afforded much assistance in this work; and the result is that we have now 123 bound volumes and 708 pamphlets of that Department, which was established in 1862, and of the Agricultural Reports of the Patent Office which preceded it. This is more than three-fourths of the whole number, and it is intended to continue the work of col

lecting as opportunity shall offer. Of course, much the greater part of those acquired are from the Department, but material assistance 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 New England HistoricGenealogical 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, 1896, 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 application is made as soon as the hiatus is discovered, that the edition is exhausted. A most fortunate acquisition is the Conclusion of Old and Remarkable 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 fellowmember, 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 Algae of North America, whose leading author, Frank Shipley Collins, is also a member of this Society, has reached its fifth 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 Lothian's Monograph of the Genus Masdevallia, completing that magnificent work, have been received. The publication of Fitzgerald'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