26 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1894. 



be the last man to invite interposition by the State. Yet, if 

 self-interest will not dictate and compel an honest count, quite 

 as essential in commercial Pomology as in current politics, it 

 may be well worth considering whether public inspection should 

 not be exacted and enforced, alike in the interest of the Com- 

 monwealth and its individual citizens, as to conserve the fair re- 

 pute of the County of Worcester ! 



A problem that often recurs to your Secretary, as he watches 

 our Weekly Exhibitions in their unfailing sequence, seems to 

 him one that deserves your serious consideration. Does speci- 

 fication constrict the ambition of our members? Do they confine 

 their eifort within the rigid conditions and limits appointed by 

 us in our Schedules? We invite competition between certain 

 classes of Flowers or Fruit, designating by name the varieties 

 that we wish exhibited. Our members respond ; sometimes 

 offering twenty or thirty lots of each stereotyped, preferred kind. 

 What else do they grow ; if aught, so far as the Society is in- 

 formed ! May we not, unintentionally, discourage the introduc- 

 tion of novelties of standard excellence, that would challenge 

 notice and merit study ! Before the formation of this Society, 

 individuals were thrown upon their own resources, having to 

 find out as best they might, if Bartlett or Baldwin were worth 

 cultivation. Vision and judgment were not aided, year after year, 

 by a proffer of premiums to the amount of Three or Five Dollars 

 ($3.00 or $5.00), for graded dozens. Now, naturally enough, 

 it is not sur})rising that our judgment should be accepted with- 

 out dispute — our election admitted without cavil or hesitation. 

 Indeed, were such not the case, it might well appear that our 

 Half-Century of corporate existence had been wasted. Unless, 

 in all these years, we have achieved a solid reputation for know- 

 ing what is most worthy of being grown in this our County of 

 Worcester, whether it be of Flower, Fruit, or Vegetable, we 

 may as well acknowledge that our efforts have been misdirected, 

 and go out burying our inadequate talents in the first cabbage- 

 leaf that will serve for their shroud. 



But if we have actually established our title as a Society which 

 has attained its aim in howsoever insufficient measure, thereby 



