58 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1880. 



of feminine tenacity and thrift ; shall it not flourish and multiply 

 SO long as woman l)nds and l)lo()ms ! 



The practice of holding Weekly Exhibitions, adopted by your 

 Trustees as a settled policy, after mature deliberation, is justifled 

 by its results. The examination of specimens, whether of flower 

 or fruit, was somewiiat hampered by the formality of set meetings 

 in the earlier months of the calendar j^ear. But, of tlie excellence 

 of those specimens, shown in com})lete maturity, there could be 

 but one estimate among competent judges. The interval between 

 th<ise Exhil»itions was not so wide as to interfere with or prevent 

 com])arison ; whereby alone can tlie gi'adual or intermittent pro- 

 cess of development be noted. Ampler opi)ortunity is thus 

 aflbi'ded for the introduction of new vai-ieties by the. pioneers in 

 their discovery and cultivation. It is only the simple truth to 

 state that never, since the org^mization of this Society, have our 

 Halls accommodated such brilliant and tasteful displays of Flow- 

 ers and Plants. A pretty rigid enforcement of the Rules, — 

 established in the interest of all, — has tended to educate the eye 

 and guide tlie iiand ; thereby conferring an ultimate beneflt upon 

 some who might at flrst object to the exaction of such unbending 

 conformity. Yet, — if " Order is Heaven's first law," — it surely 

 should not be our last. Precision of definition or requirement 

 tends to the education of crass ignorance and equally to the 

 refinement of trained taste ; without which, in realization or 

 prospect, those who, like your Secretary, have inhaled from in- 

 fancy the sweet fragrance of bud and blossom, would not sufler 

 their names upon the Committee. For, of all things utterly dreary 

 and desolate, that whicdi must be deemed forlorn, beyond rivalry 

 an(i without parallel, is a cultivation that promises no return ; — 

 a harvest whose apples have no savor but of Sodom. 



Nor were you deprived of the chance of contrasting what you 

 had gained with — that which you had chosen not to retain ! Tlie 

 New England Agricultural Society held its usiuil Exhibition of 

 Flowers, Fruit, Photographs, and Parlor Organs, in the early 

 days of September, which was skilfully organized and profitably 

 conducted. But you must have noticed that, save for the finan- 

 cial results, the success of even such an Exhibition is scarcely 

 commensurate with the enormous waste of time and toil that it 



