8 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1895. 



You will observe that this letter of advice bore no date, doubt- 

 less owing to undue haste in transmitting intelligence of such 

 moment ; but the postmark defined plainly enough the close of 

 the year. The answer, stating receipt, &c., is appended: 



4 : January, 189 . 

 Hon. J. Sterling Morion, Secretary Dept. of Agriculture. 



Sir: I have the honor, in behalf of this Society, to acknowl- 

 edge the receipt, this day, of seeds, as follows ; 

 One-Half Ounce (J) Cabbage — Excelsior — Flat Dutch, 



" " <« (J) Carrot — Short-Horn — Early Scarlet, 



" " " {^) Cucumber — Extra Early Siberian, 



" " " (I) Beet — Early Flat Bassano, 



" " " (J) Lettuce — Golden Ball, 



" " " (^) Parsnep — Hollow-Crown, 



Also, 

 One (1) Gill Sweet Corn — Zigzag Evergreen. 



" (1) " " Peas — Blue Peter. 



A postal card had been duly received, doubtless intended to 

 prepare us for the benefaction, the magnitude of which is 

 properly appreciated. Pretty much everything in the list has 

 been known for years to our skilful growers of vegetables, who 

 are glad to learn that the Department of Agriculture recognizes 

 their established merits. Of "zig-zag corn" I cannot speak 

 so favorably ; the Horticulturists of Worcester County, as a 

 rule, preferring to take theirs straight. 



With great respect I have the honor to subscribe myself, 



Edward Winslow Lincoln, 



Secretary. 



Since then the months have rolled by, in regular sequence, 

 but no more corn, zig-zag or rectilinear, has been dispensed in 

 homoeopathic measure to the Horticulturists of Worcester County. 

 Your Secretary was ever dull at the higher algebra. Otherwise 

 he would gladly compute the exact benefit to this great 

 county, having few superiors in the entire Republic, of a gill of 

 seed — the cull and lavish bounty of the Federal Government ! 

 Nay, — he would not fear to essay the problem, illumined by the 

 miraculous draught of Scriptural pouts, of how far the ratio 

 of 16 to 1 might be modified, were six (6) ounces of cabbage or 

 carrot seed annually distributed among the market gardeners of 

 this city and vicinity ! The columns of the contemporary press, 



