30 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1877. 



boundless domain of TerriBCulture, can be so alien or remote from another, 

 that it shall not readily assimilate the profitable instruction of practical 

 or scientific analysis. Agricola and Horticola are equally interested in 

 all knowledge; — whether it pertains to the mutations of the seasons; the 

 reciprocal influences of forest aud rain-fall, of desert and drought; or 

 whether, in an humbler sphere, it limits itself to protecting home indus- 

 try in the frugivorous bird and granivorous insect. Even Prohibition af- 

 fects them: warning the gi^ower of countless apples not to feed with them 

 the worm that ravageth ceaselessly, and covering the Turdus migratorius 

 with the asinine shield of an endless close season. Literally may Ihey 

 sing, with the Poet: — 



Civis llomanus sum ; nihil humani 



A mo alienum puto. . 



That session of the State Board of Agriculture was prolific of other and 

 more direct benefit. Under its influence, and largely stimulated by that 

 example, members of your Society were induced to prepare essays upon 

 the propagation and culture of the various Fruits and Vegetables; and to 

 read them at successive weekly meetings, held throughout the ensuing 

 winter. Many of those essays were quite elaborate, meriting preservation 

 in some more permanent form than the columns of a newspaper. Should 

 there be no objection, on your part, the Committee on Publication may 

 think it advisable to incorporate the whole, or a major portion of the more 

 thoughtful of them, in their next volume of Transactions. The Society 

 would not thereby commit itself unreservedly to the opinions of the au- 

 thors : but it would pay them the decent civility of placing their views 

 before a larger audience, than the exigencies of daily business could per- 

 mit to assemble at the time of their original delivery. Few might be at 

 leisure to listen to them; comparatively many would " inwardly digest" 

 them off the printed page. 



Under the date of February 15th, A. D. 1877, your Secretary received 

 an Official Notification from the Director-General of the United States 

 Centennial Commission that the " Group Judges" had reported in 

 favor of an "Award" to the Worcester County Horticultural Society for 

 its "Product" — " Sixty (60) varieties of Apples" for the following rea- 

 sons, viz.: "Large and interesting collection of Apples; the following 

 " very well grown : — Leicester Sweet, Winter Harvey, Pomme Water, 

 "Beauty of Kent, Williams's Favorite, Holden Pippin, Porter, Summer 

 " Pippin, Mexico, Roxbury Eusset,Gravenstein, Maiden's Blush,Cogswell, 

 " and Primate. Also, for " Salisbury's Seedling," and a seedling from 

 " Northern Spy,— both thought to be worthy of trial." Which Eeport, 

 the Centennial Commission had accepted, approving its reasons and 

 decreeing an " Award " in conformity therewith. 



