28 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1892. 



difference between success or defeat. Who can say by how 

 much the growth of Cornice or Sheldon was diminished, because 

 of the fierce winds which hurled them to the ground towards 

 the close of last September? Every day, as the period of 

 maturity approaches, adds to the size of those superb Pears ; 

 and in their case bulk, gradually attained, is never inconsistent 

 with quality. Again, would not two or three weeks longer 

 upon the tree have developed yet more strikingly the para- 

 mount excellence of such Greenings and Hubbardstons as were 

 lately taken to Boston, to show Civicus what Rusticus can do 

 when he sets about it ! The late John Milton Earle was 

 emphatic in the expression of his opinion that the last four 

 weeks, just prior to maturity, did more to augment the size 

 and improve the quality of Apples, and Pears, than the entire 

 previous period of growth. Even were that position extreme, 

 it cannot be denied that those Autumnal Fruits are best whose 

 harvest is deferred until the peril from freezing is too imminent 

 to be risked longer. 



Whatsoever our plans for the Columbian Exposition, to be 

 timely they must be early determined. We must effect an 

 understanding with the Massachusetts Horticultural Society 

 whereby we may ascertain if the rule is inexorable that contri- 

 butions shall have been grown in 1892, as now so curtly an- 

 nounced. The Columbian Exposition, itself, is not to open 

 until May, 1893. Why then should such an irrational condi- 

 tion be imposed upon the products of Horticulture, annual in 

 development, and which should be shown in perfection, if at 

 all ! Is there any other Department in which it is to be a pre- 

 requisite that articles must be shop-worn or stale ? The fruit 

 of a preceding year no more represents the actual product of 

 an orchard than does a nurseryman ! " Grown in 1892 and 

 preserved in cold storage," forsooth ! Not by such methods 

 did Massachusetts attain her proud position in the Horticultural 

 Exhibition at the World's Fair in Philadelphia, A. D. 1876; 

 and by no such agencies will she be able to " maintain the same 

 hioh standard of excellence." Individuals are untrammelled 

 and can contribute, or withhold, as suits their judgment and 



