14 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. 



seldom falling below the smaller number, and oftener exceeding 

 the largest. A. D. 1860-61, occurred a winter signalized by a 

 blizzard that so reduced the temperature as to split open the 

 trunks of the Stone-Fruits, blighting them root and branch. 

 "What with this wholesale destruction and the concurrent outbreak 

 of Civil War, is there reason for wonder that Orchardists became 

 discouraged ? The recovery has been slow. But is not one rea- 

 son to be found in the reliance upon stocks enfeebled by exces- 

 sive bearing, or intense frost ; and the failure of recurrence to 

 the lavish bounty of Nature? Whence came originally the 

 Cooledge, and Royal George, the Crawfords and Large Red Rare- 

 ripe ? Are there not fish in the sea as good as ever were caught? 

 And still the question is an uncomfortable one, confronting us 

 at every turn; one that will not be suppressed by assumption, or 

 conceit of superior wisdom. Take, for illustration, the Potato ! 

 that most valuable of the esculent plants — unless we except Maize 

 — which man has subdued to his own use and nourishment. Where 

 are the Mercer, St. Helena, or Jackson White ? all. in their day, of 

 admitted excellence and in general cultivation. Do people grow 

 them by stealth, dig them furtively, and jealously guard the 

 secret of their exclusive treasure? Or have they actually disap- 

 peared, leaving no trace ! Have we not instead various Roses, 

 Pearls of Savoy or elsewhere ; Beauties of Hebron, and less sanc- 

 tified localities; with Potentates, whose swa^'^ is restricted to the 

 domestic hearth ! What is the legitimate inference from tho 

 facts as they appear before you ? Do we not owe every variety 

 of Potato, in common cultivation, to the labors of Goodrich and 

 Bresee, with their co-adjutors, who recognized the existing failure, 

 and for its remedy went back to the origin of species? It has 

 seemed to your Secretary a part of the Natural Law, as it were, 

 whereby it is decreed that life shall depend upon labor and that 

 man's bread shall be earned by the sweat of his brow. Could we 

 count with perfect assurance upon the precise return from our 

 toil ; could we plant and know that we should certainly reap 

 thereafter so many bushels to the acre, without further trouble 

 on our part; the strongest incentive to individual industry would 

 be removed. Varieties become less and less prolific until they 

 are found wholly unprofitable. The soil will not yield an average 



