80 AVORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1864. 



Those who are now zealous will then be discouraged by the memory of what 

 was omitted when it might have been done to advantage. Those who affect to 

 disbelieve that an interest can long be maintained in such matters will wrap 

 themselves up in selfish isolation, (of such the numlier is even now legion !) and 

 excuse their indifference with the "I told you so ! " of the wise iu his own con- 

 ceit. The undersigned, from reflection, not less than from the observation of 

 his three years of official life, is firmly persuaded that in our operations, as in 

 all other, aggression is the one thing needful. We may compel the public 

 attention and co-operation, or, by timidity, we can forfeit the proud position of 

 the Society and prove ourselves unworthy of stations which imply corresponding 

 duties. 



The present is not a period iu which to relax our hold upon the sympathies 

 of the community. At a time when there is a growing tendency, even in our 

 own rural city, to contemn the cottage with its inappreciable wealth of bloom 

 and fragrance, its umbrage of honey-suckle and rose ; and to huddle in barracks 

 of mere architectural pretension, to the relinquishment of that whole charm of 

 outward adornment so conspicuous in a neat lawn or a well-kept garden ; this 

 Society, which has done so much to originate and foster a cultivated taste, 

 should least of all weary in well doing. One step in advance can only be sus- 

 tained by another. For us not to advance is to recede. Barbarism results 

 from and is the effect of an extreme civilization as well as precedes it. Those 

 ■who delight in the pursuits of horticulture are among us, and of to-day. Who 

 shall answer for the morrow, unless our children are trained to the amenities 

 in which we rejoice? 



All which is respectfully submitted. 



EDWARD W. LINCOLN, Secretary and Librarian. 



Worcester, January 6, A. D. 1864. 



