36 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1878- 



of our young men and women are Floriculture, or Pomology, aught but 

 a sealed book. But why expect better things from them, so long as 

 our own Society is needless or negligent of its Trust : supinely con- 

 tent with the bestowal of petty awards upon this plate of apples, or 

 that stand of flowers ! 



The Vernal Exhibition, holden, according to assignment, upon the 

 21st of March last, was quite successful. A cold wave prevailed ; the 

 mercury, at 7 A. M., indicating 21° Fahrenheit. The attendance was 

 unusually large ; and, what was more unusual, continuous throughout 

 the afternoon. The Hyacinths were the first that have been shown 

 upon our tables, and were in good form for so late in the season. 

 When Exhibitions are held, without intermission, it may be possible to 

 have a creditable display of these bulbs. As it is, private cultivation 

 seems to have got ahead of the action of the Society. 



The Azalea Indica was exhibited in unwonted number. But some 

 of the best bloomers were drawn, from unilateral exposure to the sun ; 

 an influence that is too often overlooked in the development of all 

 plants : and others were distorted, in shape, to meet the unnatural 

 requirements of their growers. That, however, is a fault of method 

 which can be corrected by a severer taste. That the Azalea, itself, is 

 getting into more general cultivation, is a matter for congratulation. 

 It is easily and simply grown, has few wants, and does not exact the 

 incessant care that is so often gladly bestowed upon plants that are 

 apparently coddled the more, the less they have to recommend them. 



The AnMual Exhibition of Roses and Strawberries was held 

 upon the 20th of June, as it was found necessary to anticipate the date 

 appointed in the Schedule. The intense heat had developed both 

 flowers and fruit so rapidly that the risk of delay was too great to be 

 taken. The result of the whole season has shown that the decision 

 was wise ; although, at the time, it appeared to threaten practical in- 

 justice to some of our prominent exhibitors. Some of the newer 

 varieties of Strawberries were shown, for the first time ; a pleasing in- 

 dication that our members are not unwilling to prove all things, while 

 holding fast to that which is good. Prominent among those novelties 

 was the Crescent Seedling, of whose fecundity nothing had been lost 

 in the published advertisements. Said one of these modest lures for 

 the innocent : — 



"I measured in my field thirteen rods of ground, which was set in the 

 spring of 1876 with 200 plants in rows four feet apart, which produced, 

 in the year 1877, 1,175 quarts of berries, bringing at wholesale eighteen 



