1865.] secretary's report. 25 



Of Gooseberries, sound and healthy specimens were presented by the Judge 

 of the Worcester Police Court, and, conformably to his own practice, officially, 

 they were immediately " seized and condemned." Later, Mr. Gideon Harris, 

 of Northville, displayed a collection of varieties that evinced either singular 

 good fortune or admirable tact in culture. Still, it continues questionable if the 

 fruit, except to a comparatively few palates, is worth the trouble and uncertainty 

 of its culture. Whether, in fact, the rapidly swelling host of insect enemies to 

 the currant do not more imperiously require our attention to the preservation of 

 a fruit of which we shall not appreciate one-half the value until, by inattention 

 or indolence, it is irrevocably lost. 



Of Grapes, the display at the annual autumnal exhibition was unprecedented 

 in the history of the Society. Varieties were then and there contributed, of 

 handsome appearance, novel origin, and good promise, as respects both the 

 quality of the fruit and the hardihood of the vine. As this is an official report, 

 and not a medium for advertisements, the names, and fancied or assured merits 

 of those vai-ieties, may be left to the trumpet of their originators which, in Sep- 

 tember last, to the personal knowledge of your Secretary, " gave no uncertain 

 sound." Since our autumnal exhibition, nothing of consequence, as the pro- 

 duct of the vine, has been shown, if exception is made of a few Rogers' Hy- 

 brids, No. 4, in good condition and quality ; and fewer still of No. 15, badly 

 mildewed, from Mi*. J. C. Lovell, of West Boylston. As regards other varieties, 

 in this immediate vicinity, of what the mildew spared, the cat-bird and robin 

 can make the fullest report. 



The causes of the lamentable failure in the crop of Apples and Pears are 

 well known. To allude to them here, much more to recite them, would be a 

 work of supererogation. Suffice it to repeat, once for all, that if the Pomolo- 

 gists of this great agricultural and horticultural county do not intend to sur- 

 render the cultivation and use of the apple, they must take immediate, effective 

 and thorough measures to rid themselves, and their trees alike, of the canker 

 worm, the caterpillar, the coddling moth, and the curculio. No holiday task, 

 certainly ; but neither was that of our ancestors, if different in degree and na- 

 ture. Yet they went doggedly and sturdily to work. How effectually they ac- 

 complished what they set themselves to do, and extirpated their foes, let him 

 tell who would fain discover a lingering Pequot or Wampanoag within our bor- 

 ders. With " Thorough'''' for our motto in this good, as once before in an evil 

 cause, and we may hope to assure the permanence of that most valuable ot 

 fruits, failing which pies would miss their relish ; Thanksgiving be shorn of one- 

 half its glory; and the long evenings of winter, confined exclusively to whist 

 and shagbarks, lose a chiefest attraction. 



But few Vegetables have been laid upon our tables at the weekly exhibi- 

 tions, and of these the most noteworthy were the sweet potatoes, raised by Mr. 0. 

 B. Hadwen. Owing to the favorable season for its especial genus, the Yoko- 

 hama Squash, exhibited for the first time at the last annual exhibition, was de- 

 veloped in greater perfection. Your Secretary found his own doubled in size 

 and advanced, in far greater proportion, as to quality. Mr. Isaac Mills, whose 



