36 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1870. 



passing upon the details of the bill, was pointed out, and accordingly the 

 amendments adopted were only such as seemed to be clearly called for. The 

 chief of them were those which strike out two sections on the subject of duck, 

 teal and brant, and which strike out, the permission to kill robbins in the act of 

 destroying fruit, etc, etc. The bill was ordered to a third reading, but the 

 House was very thin and hardly more than a quorum was present." 



Another reporter remarks that "several attempts to be funny, on the part of 

 members, excited some laughter." Such levity is not inexplicable. The peti- 

 tion was merely from some fruit-growers, desirous of protection in the enjoy- 

 ment of the results of their arduous toil : while the bill under discussion, to 

 use an expressive if somewhat slang phrase, had no moncji in it ! For it is 

 to be noted that a silence as of the grave hushed the risibilities of this same 

 House, when the fate of a measure, in behalf of which no petition had been 

 offered, but which was designed solely to enhance the value of stock and bonds 

 accruing to the members by purchase or otherwise, trembled in the balance. 



. It is respectfully recommended that a similar petition be presented at the 

 next session of the General Court, and thai one or more members of the So- 

 ciety be designated to appear before the proper Committee to enforce its prayer. 

 The experience of another season strengthens the position uniformly main- 

 tained in these reports. The advocates of immunity have pointed to the angle- 

 worm as the habitual food of the birds (the turdus migraiorius in especial), 

 that are sought to be outlawed. But, as the angle worm, innocuous at worst, 

 has descended to the antipodes in search of moisture during the late tropical 

 summer, it would be curious to learn upon what else than fruit these fledgeling 

 sciolists and clod heads suppose their untamed aviary to have gorged ! A con- 

 cession of the prayer of your petition would occasion but trifling destruction of 

 the obnoxious birds. The whole frugivorous tribe are naturally timid. Their 

 bills protested upon presentation, they would offer their notes to those who pro- 

 fess to desire them for an accompaniment to their morning nap. Possibly our 

 honored ex -president,* might welcome large flocks, and hesitate yet more be- 

 tween the sensible delights of the palate and those tuneful memories A'hich he 

 evokes from the resources of an exhaustless fancy, or tha depths of his inner 

 consciousness. To him — the music — heaven save the mark ! harsh, disonant. 

 incessant; without strawberries, or pears, or grapes. To our friends upon 

 Sunnyside, the Seckel in unmarred perfection, as it was not exhibited, in this 

 Hall, on the thirteenth of October ult. To the rest of us peace at the last, as 

 we find ourselves left, unmolested, to reap the reward of our toil in the fruits 

 which we love. 



The establishment of a decent compensatiou for the Chairman of the Com- 

 mittee of Arrangements, and a suitable addition to the salaries of the Treasurer 

 and the Secretary and Librarian, are commended to your serious notice and 

 favorable action. In the infancy of the Society, and even later while it was 



Ex-Governor Bullock. 



