18 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1888. 



Ghent Horticultural Society — ' Harmonie.' In the city of 

 Ghent alone it counts 2,000 members, and of them only 30 are 

 professional gardeners." 



The Renaissance^ as it were, of Herbaceous Perennials, and 

 the increasing appreciation of their beauty, should encourage us 

 in the present and stimulate to greater effort in the future. They 

 are the flowers of any who choose. Hardy and handsome, — 

 what more can be desired ? Whether you look to plant or shrub, — 

 you may stock a park or crowd Ji garden. An absurd fancy for 

 bedding shams, conceived in the cupidity of professional garden- 

 in<r, relegated them for a while into a neglect that had almost 

 become oblivion. Returning sense and a better taste recalls them 

 to our service, and lo ! Forsythia, Syringa, Althaja, Hydrangea, 

 in their succession ; and Rose, Iris, Pteony, Lily, Phlox, in such 

 gorgeous and multiform glory as almost to dazzle while it at- 

 tracts. Be it ever our policy, as it was that of the founders, to 

 take learners by the hand, helping their first feeble steps. If 

 these Exhibitions, so generously thrown open to a public that 

 taxes us upon the slender resources whereby alone they are sus- 

 tained, are worth anything save as a convenient way of distrib- 

 uting net income, it is because of the object-teaching that arouses 

 interest and challenges rivalry. The curious of either sex see 

 what others have done. Cannot they do as well ? The thought 

 haunts them ; and sooner, or later, if such thought was not 

 wholly aimless, the result will be conspicuous in these Halls. 



So long as we allow ourselves to be content with the award 

 and distribution of money — premiums, as our highest ultimate 

 aim and purpose, perhaps, we achieve a measurable success. The 

 quality of the Fruit and Vegetables for sale in the markets of 

 this city, contrasted with those of yore upon which they show 

 such a marked advance, is the actual evidence of what has been 

 done under the kindly auspices of this Society. Shall such lim- 

 ited achievement continue to be our restricted object ? A. D. 

 1892, but four short years hence, a Half-Century will have 

 elapsed since this Society was incorporated, 



"For the purpose of advancing the Science and encouraging 

 and improving the Practice of Horticulture." 



