18 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



the softer fruits. Now we prefer to grow our own Peaches, 

 and do so when we can. But for some cause inscrutable as yet, 

 we cannot rely upon a sure harvest whether of cling- or free- 

 stone. Therefore we seek to trade with Hale, recking little if 

 he counts himself a citizen of Connecticut, or Georgia, and 

 being unwilling to submit to any interruption of our traffic that 

 is without adequate excuse. The influence of this Society, if not 

 its official cooperation, should surely be cast upon the side of 

 every effort that promises to facilitate the utmost freedom of 

 trade between the States of the Republic ! A freedom whereof 

 the desire tended more than aught else to promote a more per- 

 fect union; and in the absence of which we should find but 

 wretched substitutes in custom-house and standing army. 



In the matter of publicity, during these latter days, wherein 

 is involved the comparative utility of entire ignorance or pre- 

 sumptuous misinformation, how shall we decide ! Shall old 

 creeds pass away and all things, if only novel, obtain accept- 

 ance? Yet a writer of prominence, in the Massachusetts 

 Ploughman, treating of the growth of "Small Fruits," runs 

 counter to all standard authority, audaciously declaring that the 

 planting of them should be done in Spring instead of Fall. Yet 

 in Spring, when the ground is free from frost, there is apt to be 

 a series of weeks in which no rain falls, and drought, more or 

 less severe, usually supervenes. Whereas in Autumn the fine, 

 hairiike rootlets start rapidly into growth and, if not favored by 

 timely rain, are sure to derive benefit from seasonable snows 

 unless, which is rarely the case, the earth may have frozen pre- 

 maturely. Again : speaking of Raspberries, the writer declares 

 that " of the red, or sucker varieties, he does not know that the 

 land can be made too rich." Possibly not, — as he understands 

 it; yet, when rich enough, why waste an excess of manure that 

 is sorely needed in corn-field or orchard ! Years ago that theory 

 of Manure and Manure yet again was preached as a sort of 

 saving grace for the degeneracy of Pears. And so our pat- 

 riarchs — Butman and Rice*, with others, their peers — 

 wearied not in the application of stimulating material, little ap- 



*George T. 



