S2 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTlCULTtlRAL SOCIETy. [1870. 



both hands without exhausting the tally of fingers. What true horticulturist 

 would not esteem his eveaings well spent in listening to Asa Gray, could that 

 profound student of Nature be induced to unfold her botanical secrets in his 

 own consummate style of simple lucidity ? The learned professor ot the Pea- 

 body Institute might occupy some hours, to mutual advantage, in imparting a 

 portion of that minute acquaintance with insects injurious to vegetation of 

 which the printed page could contain but a tithe. Would not the relation of 

 their experience by Breck, and Rand, and Strong, be of as much worth to the 

 florists and pomologists of Worcester, as to their fellows in West Newton? 

 Your favorable judgment of the policy, thus faintly outlined, is earnestly invoked. 

 Simultaneous with our own Autumnal Exhibition, another was held, as 

 inferior in character as it deserved to be from the ignoble purpose by which it 

 was prompted. The W^orcester Agricultural Society appears to have delib- 

 erately concluded to resume those displays of flowers and fruits which, upon 

 the organization of the Horticultural Society, were tacitly if somewhat reluc- 

 tantly i-elinquished. Yet, in this fact, can be found no reason why we should 

 be startled from our equanimity. We might, it is true, if equally oblivious of 

 comity, propose premiums for the game-cock or velocipede, and so contribute 

 our share towaid the further demoralization of the community. It is even 

 possible that, with good trotting, a crowd of pleasure-seekers would be attracted 

 as eager to fill an exhausted treasury as those gaping throngs which now flock 

 to witness the restricted, or stipulated speed ! of sluggish racers from the classic 

 purlieus of Pine Meadow or the ova-rian plaius of Tasseltop. Happily, we are 

 reduceJ to no such humiliating expedients. Public sentiment discriminates 

 surely, if slowly. Even did it not, we could but pursue the even tenor of our 

 way, seeking and attaining excellence in our exclusive pursuits. Let others 

 avoid our exhibitions, suspecting the impartiality of our committees and the 

 fairness of their awards, thereby betraying their own lurking bias to injustice. 

 Let others refrain from honorable competition, because specimens, fit only for 

 a third rate display, maybe eligible to agricultural premiums derived from the 

 bounty of the Commonwealth. Let him who prefers such investment, gain the 

 whole world at the expense of his own soul ! At this synchronal and rival 

 exhibition, there was also displayed, according to the contemporary press, "a 

 very superior collection of vegetables — the produce of the Worcester Poor 

 Farm." Possibly the disposition of such produce rests wholly in the discretion 

 of the steward, who has doubtless sound reasons for shunning competition with 

 those not having, like himself, the benefit of unpaid labor. Or, more likely, 

 the cause of this discrimination against our own exhibition, by the City of Wor- 

 cester, may be found in the fact that, whereas the Agricultural Society is 

 exempt from taxation upon its large and valuable tract of land, the Worcester 

 County Horticultural Society is mulcted in an annual tribute of six hundred 

 dollars, to replenish the exhausted treasury of the busy municipality in which 

 its Hall is located. 



