26 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1888. 



did 80 and why should 1? Can you not see that the glut in the 

 market, whereof you complain, is caused by this over-production 

 of good, indifferent, or positively bad, which offend the eye and 

 repel the taste ? " There is room enough at the top ! " said 

 Daniel Webster to the young lawyer who sought encouragement. 

 More now than ever do men desire the best of everything. And 

 he who supplies it, without evasion or fraud, will surely com- 

 mand the success that he deserves, though at times the reward 

 may seem slow of coming. 



For the pomologists of this Society, at least, tliere can be no 

 valid excuse. Wliat they might accomplish can be predicated 

 from their past and present acliieveinents. They go to Boston, 

 or to Springlicld ; and wliether fronri the banks of the Charles or 

 Connecticut, return laden with spoils. The Massachusetts Hor- 

 ticultural Society admits their evident superiority, and the Bay 

 State Agricultural concedes its supreme awai-ds. Why then not 

 compete with the farmers along the valley of the Gaspereau for 

 more lucrative returns ? Shall we confess inferiority to the Blue- 

 Nose ; own that for skill in culture and honest}^ in marketing, 

 we have at last met our superiors ! Home Industry ! prate less 

 about it, but illustrate it in practice ! Rest assured that in this, 

 as in all other material affairs, where there is a will there is a 

 way ! And that, if we elect to sit with folded hands, waiting 

 for the gods to provide ; there is no good reason why the orch- 

 ardists of Nova Scotia, who prefer to work out their own salva- 

 tion, should not reap quick and rich reward from their assiduous 

 labor. 



" The spoiler is fallen upon thy summer fruits, and upon thy 

 vintage," wailed Jeremiah, of old ; and the townsman and granger 

 of this latter day may well echo his lamentation. There is a 

 law against Truancy ; and Truancy is the commonest offence. 

 There are statutes prohibiting Theft ; and like most prohibitory 

 statutes, they are more honored in the breach than the observ- 

 ance. " Thou shalt not steal ! " is the burden of many a lesson 

 at the Sunday-School ; blazoning its own suggestive legend upon 

 the tablets that adorn the walls of the sanctuary. But the small 

 boy, — and the children of a larger growth, — approve themselves 



