82 WORCESTEK COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1880. 



self to the pursuits of horticulture and agriculture, those employments, 

 in his own graceful Ian guao-e, 'the best substitute to our proarenitors 

 tor tlieir loss of Paradise, and tlie best solace to their posterity for the 

 evils they entailed.' The results of that taste and skill in his favorite 

 occupations, early imbibed, ardently cherished, and successfully culti- 

 vated, have been freely and frequently communicated to the public in 

 many essays, useful and practical in matter, and singularly elegant 

 in manner." 



Of how many varieties of Apples, Peaches, and Pears, accumu- 

 lated by the good Doctor, do we owe our knowledge to that little 

 Nursery, formed with liis own liands by Mr. Lincoln upon the 

 ground now covered by the estates of Joseph Mason, Esq., and 

 Ex-Gov. Bullock ! The writer well recollects what pains he took 

 to gather peach stones ; requesting people to save them, and 

 going in person to collect any considerable quantity of wliich he 

 was advised. His stock, budded from sound trees of the red 

 and luscious Rareripe, the early and late Melacoton ; and widely 

 disseminated from the perfect trust reposed in his integrit}^, did 

 much to preserve these varieties — than wliich none have since 

 been found superior, — in local cultivation. Were the same 

 method adopted now ; — would it be too much to hope for like 

 or equal results ? With pits from, sound fruit, and buds from 

 healthy stocks, — what should prevent the County of Worcester 

 from enjoying the Peach, once more, in superabundance ? Once 

 in a generation, mayliap, occurs a frost to which the very trees 

 will succumb. Such was the case A. D. 1860, but that extrem- 

 ity of cold was equally fatal to the Cherry and Quince. With 

 health, no fruit-tree is hardier than the Peach : and with 

 unhealthy trees Mr. Lincoln, knowingly, had nothing to do. 



Few men have lived, in this communitv, more sternly guided 

 by an inflexible sense of duty. Once convinced of the right 

 thing to do, in an emergency, and he never shrank from doing 

 it, — no matter at what personal inconvenience or loss. Twice in 

 his life — all too short for the pul)lic good, — was this markedly 

 the case. As Representative to the General Court, he voted to 

 equip the Cushing Regiment for the Mexican War: knowing 

 right well that, for so voting, he would forfeit the suffrages of 

 his constituents and be denied the customary re-election. 

 Twenty years later, — he maintained the indefeasible right of 



