10 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1890. 



rot, are omnipresent if insidious foes. Competitive trial has de- 

 termined that twelve Bartlett Pears may turn the scales at a cer- 

 tain unprecedented weight : a fact of possible value, if any one 

 could tell wherein, or to what degree ! We have also found out 

 that one woman can arrange flowers more tastefully than her 

 rivals in like pretty competition ; likely enough being endowed 

 by nature with a nicer discrimination and a more exact judgment 

 of the proper collocation of colors. We assume, with good rea- 

 son, that there are vicissitudes of climate, extremes of tempera- 

 ture ; natural causes in short, whereof the character and origin 

 are alike inexplicable ; perhaps because we do not investigate 

 them, bnsy as we are in the award of fifty-cent gratuities ! and 

 when these do occur, bow our heads in all the fatuity of fatalism, 

 beneath the dispensation of Providence ! Might we not better 

 take heed, as we look upon orchards defoliated by the canker- 

 worm ; upon our highways tolerant of white birch and wild 

 cherry — convenient breeding places for the caterpillar ; as we re- 

 call the wanton extermination of the game birds that held our 

 insect foes in check and the senseless introduction of varieties 

 that have become a greater plague than chrysalis or larva ; that 

 we cast not our burdens upon the Lord ; but rather see that our 

 own work is not left undone ! The plague of insects is ever 

 with us. Is it more aggravated this year than last? Wherein, 

 if at all, do the unnatural, abnormal winters contribute to multi- 

 ply and disperse the pests, whose unchecked development bids 

 fair to put a speedy end to Horticulture — whether actual or ten- 

 tative. We accept, as inevitable, canker-worm, caterpillar and 

 codlin-moth ; and take no active or efiicient measures to suppress 

 their ravages ; submitting supinely to their invasion. Is eternal 

 vigilance the price of libertj^ ? What think you of sixty (60) 

 cents per peck as the price of Gravensteins when brought, in 

 pristine beauty and perfection, last September, to challenge the 

 pomologists of Worcester ? Shall we therefore cry out for pro- 

 toction to home indolence, that would not safeguard its own op- 

 portunities ? Or shall we try to deserve, and therefore earn, 

 success by our own unremitting diligence ? Shall we first learn, 

 and thereafter, instruct others ? 



Have exhibitions, purely, as such, and not replete with meri- 



