36 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1879 



monly accepted as t\\& Doyenne Boussoc ; — was man "sent forth 

 " from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he 

 "was taken," under the dire sentence : — "in the sweat of thy 

 "brow shalt thou eat bread!" Hortus — the garden — was 

 Paradise, in its sinless innocence. Ager — the field, or farm, 

 was sentence and punishment. " Cursed is the ground " — 

 tellus, vel ager, — "for thy sake ; " " in sorrow shalt thou eat of 

 " it all the days of thy life. Thorns, also, and thistles shall it 

 " bring forth to thee ; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field." 

 How different the lot of the Horticulturist ! "And out of the 

 "ground" — in the garden — "made the Lord God to grow 

 " every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food." 

 The envious and outcast may wonder when and in what manner 

 Paradise was regained. That is the exclusive secret as it is the 

 sole privilege of Horticulture. Those who deny that ours are 

 the " trees pleasant to the sight and good for food," may dis- 

 pute, if it pleases them, that " the fields bring forth thorns also, 

 "and thistles." 



Shall the Worcester County Horticultural Society, under the 

 spur of resentment, or at any other instigation, reverse its recent 

 course and resume the Annual Exhibitions that were abandoned 

 after a full conviction of their utter worthlessness .'' Your Sec- 

 retary would unhesitatingly deprecate any such policy as a step 

 backward in the path of progress. True ; — it is not pleasant 

 to see others " reap where they have not sown and gather where 

 " they have not strewn." Yet that is the way of the world: 

 for, since the first furrow was turned, the tramp has ever trodden 

 upon the heels of the husbandman. Our professed and actual 

 aim is, — " to advance the Science and improve the practice of 

 Horticulture." What ought to concern us, chiefly, is; — in 

 what best and most effectual manner may our object be 

 attained ! 



It is not proposed to consume your time, and exhaust your 

 patience, by repeating the arguments in favor of a final aband- 

 onment of the Annual Autumnal Exhibitions. Such as they 

 were, — they have satisfied your Trustees for the two years 



