22 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [iS/Q 



gested ; but it became necessary to anticipate the schedule 

 date. Remarkable for the number of new varieties shown for 

 the first time, whose value for general cultivation is at least 

 questionable ; and, at any rate, too uncertain to be demon- 

 strated, or even tested, without much ' pains and toil, by the 

 average pomologist : it was still more noticeable for the absence 

 of species, approved by experience, and proved to be adapted to 

 our varying conditions of temperature and soil, as well as tempt- 

 ing to the common palate. It would be a grievous error to 

 drop the Downer, or Jenny Lind, the Triomphe de Gand, or 

 Wilson, from garden cultivation ; because Presidents, Ameri- 

 cans, or Monarchs, have swollen like puff-balls. Bulk is not 

 inconsistent with excellence, as the Doyenne du Comice illus- 

 trates among Pears : but what concerns you chiefly, as would-be 

 cultivators, is not how many bites there may be to a cherry, but 

 whether that especial cherry is good enough to pay you for 

 disputing its possession with the "worm i' the bud." 



A dish of Hovey's Seedling was exhibited by one of your Vice- 

 Presidents that elicited a note of interrogation from the Com- 

 mittee, which was strangely mistaken : — 



Then necks were craned and heads are louted low 

 In puzzled inquisition : ears wave pendulous and slow. 

 Each bundle tempted : Hovey ? or not ! Alas ! 

 Leave it unsettled ; — own yourself an ass ! 

 The plants from Hovey came, and Hovey knows 

 Whether skunk-cabbage ever smelt like rose. 

 And yet, committees sometimes justly bray 

 Since Beurre d'Anjou ripens Suzette de Bavay. 



Currants were exhibited, during their season, in about their 

 average force and variety. With rare exceptions, however, cul- 

 tivators appeared to have limited their efforts to La Versaillaise 

 and the Red Dutch. It is to be hoped that the latter will never 

 be utterly supplanted. Other kinds may yield larger berries ; 

 although abundant manure will do much to equalize apparent, 

 rather than real deficiencies : but, for an ample crop of honest, 

 ripe, sweet fruit, the good old Red or White Dutch can hold 



