8 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1882. 



were almost continuous ; rendering the application of Hellebore 

 useless, if not impracticable. The necessary consequence being 

 that the currant-worm ( Abraxis grossidariata), had abundant 

 opportunity to put in his noxious work. Why people will not 

 take some slight pains to grow the Currant, and they need be 

 but slight; why, in consideration of the facility with which it 

 may be produced, and its fecundity under only careless and 

 ordinary cultivation, every family with a rod or two of ground 

 does not devote each inch of space to this, the healthiest of all 

 fruits for children that matures in the very season when their 

 vitality is most seriously attacked ; is a puzzle keener than that 

 of the "Mother" who would provide a gymnasium for her over- 

 schooled girls, instead of reducing their hours of attendance upon 

 school ! Of Currants, — notably the Yersaillaise, there was an 

 ample supply for their especial customers, of the most extreme 

 size and acidity, upon the boards of one or two prominent 

 hucksters. Your Secretary has no hesitation in asserting that 

 Currants can be grown, at a profit, for live cents per quart. Of 

 course that is not meant as a denial of the pleasure experienced 

 upon the receipt of a shilling instead. But the actual and 

 earnest contention is, that the Versaillaise, — preferably the Red 

 Dutch, can be grown and marketed at a price that shall leave no 

 excuse for the summer complaint in the families of the poorest ; 

 and which shall at the same time that it bestows the conscious- 

 ness of a kindly action, tickle agreeably the pocket nerve. 



When your Secretary first explored Apricot street in search of 

 the Blackberries which our associate (who so rarely sees the 

 silver lining to a cloud), grows in such abundance ; the heat was 

 oppressive ; the dust suffocating ; and the tantalizing drops that 

 were precipitated, in slow distillation, from the threatening 

 clouds all around the horizon, — a delusion and snare. At that 

 date, there was no discouragement : the injunction was to expect 

 the Snyder in a week and the Wachusett in its own good time. 

 The Snyder and Wachusett both came, in excellent condition, 

 upon their appointed days. What the hill-side, or a clean, strong, 

 virgin soil upon a sunny slope, may have done to invigorate, or 

 secure, is a problem that the writer cannot solve with the facts at 

 his command. He feels well assured, however, that the crop 



