4 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1884, 



precipitation of bntter, — would yet prefer its extraction from the 

 udder as a liquid ; and therefore watch their iierds by night, 



" All sitting on the ground ;" 



from fear that the creain may steal a march upon them ; those 

 alone who, with all this, have been subject to an incessant beck 

 and call, can realize the arduous nature of the duties imposed 

 upon such an officer and how well they have been met in this 

 particular instance. 



Your Weekly Exhibitions have deserved public approval and 

 have received it. Contributions have been ample, — latterly, 

 profuse : in most cases showing a marked advance in cultural 

 skill. Of course, there is a variation in departments, from year 

 to year ; some flowers being in richer bloom, some fruits in finer 

 fragrance or flavor, as drought or moisture dominate the season. 

 But the close observer is able to note the steady annual advance ; 

 the steps in progression which indicate that our mission has not 

 proved a failure, and that the seed sown at our Weekly Exhibi- 

 tions has not been lost in stony ground nor fatally choked by 

 thorns. Those Exhibitions have fulfilled the purpose for which 

 they were designed : — object-teaching of the multitude at a pro- 

 gressive school, without price or restriction. 



Your numbers have been lessened, from natural causes, as 

 elsewhere deplored : but there was also a healthy, because unso- 

 licited, accession of new members. Only those who love Horti- 

 culture, for its own sake, are apt to apply of their own accord 

 for admission to our ranks. None expect to re-coup themselves 

 for the price of their certificate by a prospective dividend from; 

 the sale and distribution of our property. 



" Come, let us kill him ! And the inheritance may be ours !" 



might be the motto of laborers in the Hebrew vineyard, as 

 familiar to Christ. But the disciples of this latter dispensation 

 construct rather than depreciate or destroy. As Horticulturists — 

 they would prefer to build up and consolidate this Society,, 

 instrumental of good as it has been, — rather than disperse and 

 confound it. 



