1890.] TRANSACTIONS. 19 



benefit or harm, if shielded by law the year round ? Of graceful 

 carriage, they would be pleasant to the eye. Insectivorous, — 

 they might aid in maintaining the due proportion between the life 

 that is beneficent or noxious. Encouraged to frequent and mul- 

 tiply in our homesteads and public grounds, they would soon 

 overcome the extreme timidity that has become innate after gen- 

 erations of reckless slaughter. Perhaps their fecundity and in- 

 crease consequent upon being in-lawed would be of no practical 

 or appreciable use. But that is the point at issue ; one which 

 this Society might well assist in determining. 



Your Secretary has no other interest in this matter than a 

 heart-felt desire that this Society shall elect and follow that path 

 which tends most directly to the public and therefore your indi- 

 vidual welfare. Influenced solely by such concern, he is com- 

 pelled to ask whether we shall enter upon the second half of our 

 first century of corporate existence by inaugurating a new de- 

 parture, of fairer augury to ourselves and the community ! Or 

 rather confess that the premium and gratuity must continue to 

 be our highest aim ; and that only by their lavish award do we 

 expect or aspire to 



"Advance the science and encourage and improve the practice 

 of Horticulture ! " 



An Act of the General Court of Massachusetts whereby John 

 Green, Anthony Chase, Frederic Wm. Paine, George W. Rich- 

 ardson, their associates and successors, are hereby made a Cor- 

 poration by the name of the Worcester County Horticultural 

 Society, was approved by His Excellency, John Davis, A. D. 

 1842, thereupon becoming a Law of the Commonwealth. You 

 can compute for yourselves the precise period of time that has 

 since elapsed. Suflice it for the present purpose to emphasize 

 the fact that, upon the Third of March, A. D. 1892, little more 

 than a twelve-month hence, a Half-Century will have expired 

 since our Founders cheerfully invited the responsibilities to 

 which we have fallen heirs. Should any formal recognition of 

 such a notable event be authorized % Shall its marked influence 

 upon co-eval life and development be noted in a way that shall 

 endure \ Of Horticultural Societies that are entitled, whether 



