30 AVORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1866. 



and in a bleaker position, but protected by earth, the canes of the former were 

 killed to the ground, while those of the latter were never raised in better con- 

 dition or proved themselves more abundantly fruitful. 



And of the last-named fruit — the Raspberry — indigenous to our soil in some 

 of its species — alien to other countries in varieties — the latest product of semi •^ 

 nation, or, as in Canada, of hybridization, where the experiment, though prom- 

 ising everything, is yet too recent to insure success — the inquiry may well be 

 put, why is its culture so universally neglected? For five (5) successive weeks 

 your Secretary exhibited, this year as last, specimens of his own growth and of 

 the same species. The Rev. Dr. Hill, of this city, states that he picked an 

 abundance of berries from his canes for seveii continuous weeks. Can a pro- 

 longed yield like this be predicated of the strawberry, with its almost unlimited 

 modern development, whose name is legion, and whereof, in most instances, no 

 man can detect the excellence? You may possibly, by judicious and extreme 

 care, produce one or the other of innumerable varieties of strawberries for fottr 

 weeks in succession. But any person, who has studied the nature and habits of 

 the raspberry, knows well, from individual experience, that it is unrivalled for 

 extent and duration of fecundity ; that, in public estimation, it is but slightly, 

 if at all, inferior to the strawberry ; that it is the hardier of the two, only requir- 

 ing to be covered lightly with earth in the late autumn ; and that the gathering 

 of the fruit, instead of demanding a painful "crooking of the pregnant hinges 

 of the knee," can be accomplished uprightly and with ease. As yet attacked 

 by no insects strange to our poor methods of prevention, why should it not re- 

 ceive more notice from the pomologists of a society, in which every new straw- 

 berry is welcomed at the countless perils of drought, frost, and last — inevitable 

 g,nd most destructive — the Robin, only to culminate in the ultimate delight of a 

 precarious crop, picked wearily and by the sweat of the brow, beneath the final 

 sweltering suns of June. 



The cherry, strange to relate, as if desirous to vindicate itself from ihe official 

 condemnation of our Society, in declining to recommend its culture, blossomed 

 and fruited with pristine luxuriance. The predictions of our wisest pomologists 

 were signally yet pleasantly falsified. Even aged trees appeared to revive from 

 the almost mortal injury occasioned by the terrific cold hurricane of 1861, and 

 strove to atone for repeated deficiencies. The canker-worm forbore its ravages 

 to a great extent, confining itself in the main to the barren, though stately, 

 maple. It is truly gratifying to be able once more to cherish a hope of the 

 permanent recovery of this palatable, convenient, and useful fruit. 



The usual comparative statement of the entries, or number of articles of each 

 variety exhibited during the past official year, exclusive of the display at the 

 annual autumnal exhibition, is herewith presented : — 



