1861.] REPORT OF CONFERENCE COMMITTEE. 43 



The Agricultural Society had the whole field to themselves for twenty or 

 more years before the existence of the Horticultural Society, and what results 

 have they to show for their labors so far as the cultivation of Fruits and Flowers 

 was concerned? At the time of the organization of the Horticultural Society, 

 twenty years ago, a small supply of tolerably good Winter Apples might be 

 obtained by applying in season to the farmers. Very few appeared in the 

 streets for sale, and the market was as bare of the finer kinds of Summer 

 and Fall Apples as the ground is of snow in June. Not a peck of Pears could 

 be purchased during the whole season which anybody now would think fit for 

 any animal but the pigs. Mazzard Cherries were offered in the market, and 

 the red Canada Plums were tolerably plenty, but not a cultivated Strawberry, 

 or Raspberry, or Blackberry, or a Grape fit to be eaten could be had for love 

 or money. And as to Peaches, some of us will remember, at the first exhibi- 

 tion of our Society, that some half a dozen plates of the most miseralily woolly 

 Frost Peaches were all that Worcester could produce in that line. And, more- 

 over, we were dependent almost entirely upon foreign contributors and wild 

 Flowers for a very passable show in our Floral Department. 



What a change you have wTought in the last twenty years, through the 

 efforts of your Society we need not describe. It is familiar to you all. The 

 superabundance of the most luscious fruits which load our tables and crowd 

 our market, and the profusion of beautiful flowers which ornament our gar- 

 dens and dwellings, all testify to the success which has crowned your labors. 

 You have done a great, a noble work, not only in supplying the wants but in 

 cultivating and greatly improving the taste of the whole community. We have 

 no reason to fear any competition of our respected and venerable neighbor, the 

 Agricultural Society ; we would rather bid them God speed in their ambition 

 to rouse up the farmers to a higher and better cultivation of the luxurious and 

 ornamental. 



Theirs is the farmer's institution, designed specially for this useful and hon- 

 ored class. Let them bring in their Apples and Vegetables, and if they have 

 any of the finer Fruits and Flowers, worthy of a premium, as some of them 

 undoubtedly have, let them exhibit them also and take the awards of their own 

 Society. They fairly and honestly belong to them ; and their success need be 

 no disparagement to the progress of our own Society. 



We have accomplished much in our line, and without vanity or boasting, 

 may congratulate ourselves and the community on what we have already 

 achieved. But our work is not yet done. There is a vast field for improve- 

 ment yet open before us ; let us not cease from our labors till we have attained 

 higher and more fruitful results. 



The continued prosperity and usefulness of our Society must depend, of 

 course, upon the exertions and fidelity of its own members. The honor of 

 taking the premiums of our Society should be esteemed vastly higher than that 

 of taking them from the institution of our neighbors, whose efforts are directed 

 almost exclusively to the coarser productions of the farm, and only secondarily 

 to the finer products of the garden. Common courtesy, ever, as well as profes- 



