18{>1.] TRANSACTIONS. 7 



And ever as we turn from them — our Founders, let us not 

 forget to pay due honor to the memory of Oliver Fiskc, — the 

 ardent patriot, the good physician, the pioneer Horticulturist of 

 Worcester ; — City or County. 



Man, like his accredited progenitor, is an imitative being. 

 When he sees a good thing he appreciates and covets it. Some- 

 times it is right before his eyes ; and yet he does not see it. 

 Such was the case with Adam ; who fell asleep one Sunday after- 

 noon, when he had cradled his rye, and, during the nightmare 

 that followed, or as its sequence, found himself married. Then, 

 what must his wife do but call his attention to a particularly fine 

 specimen of Nonesuch just above his head ! I am aware that 

 my friend Hadwen insists that it was a Sutton Beauty. But 

 Eve was not, at that early period of her life, so near Purgatory ! 

 And besides, being herself a Nonpareil., she may safely be pre- 

 sumed to have known, and not gone back upon, her own family. 

 However ; — to get out of Eden ; and more creditably than did our 

 common ancestor, who left because his grapes were sour ; let us 

 revert to the value of object-teaching ! When I was a mere lad, 

 I first saw Red, and Yellow Antwerp Raspberries, and was en- 

 trusted with their care. That twig got a decided bent ; and the 

 tree has had a special inclination ever since. How many of you 

 derived your first impressions of floral beauty from blooms ex- 

 hibited before this Society ; or learned by actual test, or inspec- 

 tion, that the Fruit, or Vegetable, made known to you in this 

 Hall, was well worthy of your generous cultivation ! How 

 would you ever see them, busy as you are, unless brought to 

 your notice ! Where else could they be so well shown, as in a 

 place erected for, and specifically assigned to them? And when 

 thus and there displayed, it should be your own fault if you do 

 not learn all about them from those by whom they were intro- 

 duced. Did our late associate, — Joseph ('. Lovell, ever come in 

 from West Boylston, that he did not assume, by right, his 

 proper })osition as preceptor of the first class in Viticulture ? 



You point with pride to our attractive homes and quickened 

 testhetic public taste for evidence of the extent to which our 

 Society has fulfilled its mission. Largely, — you are correct in 



