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WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



[1870. 



COMPARATIVE STATEMENT 



In the figures for 1870, may be found slight but significant indications of the 

 remarkable character of the past year. It is true that their number is but 

 small, who remember seasons characterized by heat as fervid and continuous. 

 But after listening to the self-complacent reminiscences of an experience that 

 draws for its facts indiscriminately upon a first or second childhood, we, Grad- 

 grinds that we are^ accept the indisputable present and grow skeptical over the 

 past. And, at any rate, this at least we do know for a verity ; that if, some 

 twenty (20) or forty (40) years ago, the land was cursed with a similar drought, 

 there was not at that time one-quarter or one-half the need of water. In 1870, 

 the small fruits, distinctively so called, were literally burned up. The kindness 

 of Mr. Charles Nash has enabled your Secretary to prepare a tabular statement, 

 the details of which, although gathered for another purpose, amply and clearly 

 illustrate the blighting effects of a lack of rain. This statement comprises a 

 list of persons who grew strawberries for the market in 1869 and 1870, with 

 the ascertained yield per rod, and is as follows : 



