14 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1884. 



showing an excess of only one-fourth of an ounce over the 



heaviest twelve of 1862. Now, in this year of grace, 1884, 



without any particular stimulus ; assuredly in the lack of such a 



strong temptation as is conveyed in the offer of Two Dollars 



($2.) apiece ; a dozen Bartlett Pears have been shown, that 



turned the scale at Eight pounds three and one-half (8 lbs. 3^) 



ounces. 



What can such figures be made to prove ? Is it not what 



George Jaques (then President) declared when he said that 



"directions how to take such a prize (the $25.00: premium for 

 Bartletts) might be written out as clear and straightforward as those 

 which a traveller reads upon a guide-board. What is essential is 

 mostly comprised under the heads of. a rich soil, of four or live times 

 the depth of ordinary cultivation ; under-drainage, where the subsoil 

 requires it ; cultivation, or mulching of the surface ; thinning out of 

 the fruit ; shelter from the wind, and judicious pruning." 



This will cost money and toil : What does not, that is worth 

 having? 



It was particularly noticed, A. D., 1860, that the specimens of 

 Sheldon exhibited were inferior to those shown in 1859. With 

 what admiration would those shrewd observers have gazed upon 

 the Sheldons that graced your tables, last month, — October 8th, 

 notably, when twelve were found to weigh Ten pounds, two and 

 one-quarter (10-2^) ounces ! 



Nor should that dozen of the Orayige Quince be lost to 

 record, — weighing as they did the unequalled heft of Eleven 

 pounds and twelve and one-half (11-12^) ounces. They were 

 grown in Millbury, but not in proximity to the Blackstone, it is 

 said. Yet, if the soil of that thriving town is so thoroughly sat- 

 urated, as has been sworn to, often ; is it likely that those 

 Quince-bushes entirely escaped the beneficent influence ! When 

 Worcester establishes that Osier-filter for the benefit of the mill- 

 owners a-down the Blackstone, may it not be worth the while to 

 intersperse an occasional Quince-bush in such sanitary plantation ? 

 If to this could be superadded the levy of a customs-tax, discrim- 

 inating against the Portugal Quince, what more could a home 

 producer ask, to enable him to glut the market ? 



At the Annual Meeting of the Trustees, holden, by adjourn- 

 ment, November 14, A. D-., 1883, President Dewey, Vice- 



