26 -WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1850. 



It will be perceived that while the number of plates contributed for the 

 present show is handsomely above the average of the seven years, the number 

 of contributors is considerably below that average, being the smallest recorded 

 in the period designated. The Committee deem this circumstance a cause of 

 regret, worthy of mention, and demanding the attention of all the members of 

 the Society who cultivate this fruit. As some of the larger growers increase 

 their varieties, it is to be hoped that those, who. for any reason, have but few 

 varieties, will not fall away from our exhibitions. The owner of a single tree 

 mjiy be as useful to the public by his single specimen, as the contributor of 

 twenty varieties of inferior cultivation. Upon the tables of this exhibition, in 

 several instances, the very best illustrations of quality and cultivation have 

 been found in the contributions of those who had but one or two plates to offer. 

 The Committee earnestly appeal to all who cultivate the Pear, to an extent 

 however limited, not to be deterred from offering their fruit at the annual exhi- 

 bitions by any considerations having reference to the probabilities or improba- 

 bilities of commanding a premium. 



Of the fifty-seven contributors at this year's show, thirty in number, or more 

 than one-half, have brought in more than ten varieties each. This proportion 

 should be changed. Let the larger growers come in, each year, witli their 

 extended catalogues ; but we desire to see, also, a greater number of those who 

 can present only one or three or five specimens. It is by such practice and 

 such observance that the benefits of Pear culture are to be most widely diffused. 



The market demand for the Pear never presented a higher stimulant to 

 increase and improve cultivation than it now does. Experience and observa- 

 tion demonstrate that the supply of luxurious fruits is not likely for the next 

 ten or twenty years, if ever, to correspond to the demand. The demand rests 

 upon tastes, which, the more frequently they are gratified, the more frequently 

 clamor. Probably there is no cultivation in this community which can be 

 made to bring back such large pecuniary reward as that of good varieties of 

 Pears. A member of this Society states that he was solicited by a fruit-seller 

 in New York to furnish a barrel of one of our varieties, and to receive thirty 

 dollars in return — the interest of five hundred dollars. Another member sent 

 a bushel, not one of the best varieties, to Boston, expecting to be paid in lump 

 or gross, and found his return computed at the rate of six cents for each pear ; 

 upon which the retail dealer probably doubled, at least, for his own profit. 

 And it may be doubted whether this consideration of compensation should be 

 addressed solely to the sterner sex. There is not a woman, capable of super- 

 intending a pansy or a violet, who may not, within the next five years, by petting 

 and cherishing from one to five dwarf Pears, receive a largely disproportionate 

 pecuniary reward ; not having, in the meantime, suffered any detriment to her 

 lungs, or complexion, or sensiljilities. 



If, going beyond the inducements of the market, we regard fruit culture in 

 its relations to social progress and individual taste, there is so much that might 

 be said — and yet all so obvious — that the Committee refrain from the attempt. 

 The better argument is the annual illustration which our exhibitions present of 



