6a 



are mole hills, while ant hills are mountains to the vacillat- 

 ing and fearful. Mature your plans, work with a calcula- 

 tion beforehand, have a fixed object in view at the begin- 

 ning of the year and bend all etforts toward that object. 

 He who has an object in view at the beginning of the year,. 

 will have an object to view at the end of the year. The first 

 records we have of a fruit tree is one that grew on the- 

 banks of a river Euphrates. This was a peculiar tree, it was. 

 an apple tree. I have often wondered what kind of an ap- 

 ple tree it Was, but judging from the mischief it caused I 

 believe it must have been a Ben. Davis apple tree. We read 

 that a garden Vas the primitive paradise and even now a 

 tastefully planned^ judiciously planted and well kept garden 

 has still lingering about it many of the charms we like to 

 attribute to the original Eden. To the true lover of rural< 

 life it seems in the fullness of its summer beauty to be in- 

 deed almost a paradise regained.. 



This Society is an educational gathering where theories- 

 are discussed, where methods and experiences are given, 

 where varieties are talked about and their adaptation ta 

 our conditions of soil! and climate made the test of value to 

 us. Horticultural science as well as other sciences is born- 

 of human necessity. As population increases smaller areas 

 are compelled to supply our wants and better systems of 

 cultivation must be devised and varieties more suited to 

 our immediate vicinity must be produced. 



It is true that the successful fruit grower and experi- 

 menter has a multitude of obstacles to overcome, much of 

 his labor must of necessity be in vain, and does not have the 

 promise of a sure reward. The cold blasts of winter, the 

 searching rays of summer sun, the extremes of dry and 

 wet, the untimely frosts, the feathered creation and the 

 ever alert tree agent all come in for a share of his labor. 



As we meet once more in this hall of our birth one 

 familiar face is absent, since last we gathered here he has 

 passed into the Great Beyond, but he went "Not like the 

 quarry slave scourged to his dungeon but sustained and^ 

 soothed by an unfaltering trust in that Divine Being that 

 smooths the pillow for such as he." One of the founders- 

 of this organization, a President of the Worcester County- 

 Horticultural Society and also of the Masachusetts Horti- 

 cultural Society, a Trustee of the State College, one of the 

 Park Commissioners of y.our beautiful City of Worcester- 



