1885.] TRANSACTIONS. 9 



and the Dwarf Rocket Larkspur ? Nay, — why cannot we help 

 in the diffusion of botanical knowledge among our school- 

 children by extending pecuniary inducements for the collection 

 and display of distinct species of Wild-Flowers — through the 

 season, — say the best ten or twenty bottles, — from Epigaea 

 repens, along through Solomon's Seal, to Lobelia Cardinalis, or 

 even Solidago in its almost countless variety ? A hodge-podge 

 of Wild Flowers, hitherto, has proved a delusion and snare. But 

 the seasonable display of superior specimens of any conspicuous 

 species, should prove instructive and of interest. For, is it not 

 Revelation, that ye shall consider the lilies of the field ! 



Would it not be better, — until the expansion of the City has 

 absorbed and swallowed up what are now its rural districts, — so 

 to regulate our Schedule that it shall provide for the mass of 

 the community, and be in the highest sense, popular ? Is there 

 a florist of them all who can tame the Fringed Gentian ? 



The verses of the greatest poet of all time were recited at 

 Fairs and Festivals, and the approval of ancient Greece has 

 been confirmed by the consent of successive ages. The mar- 

 vellous plays of Shakspeare are read and gotten by heart, at the 

 rural fireside, where wit and homely wisdom are made to clash, 

 vivify, and find appreciative audience, as of old at Stratford. 

 Modern conceit, — whether embodied in the one idea of the 

 professing philanthropist, — the saponaceous hypocrisy of the con- 

 temporary Pharisee; the deceptive platform of the politician, 

 in, — and who would not be out, — of ofiice ; is alike false-hearted 

 and supercilious; — contemptuous of that plain people, whose 

 instincts are unerring; whose approbation is seldom withheld, 

 when merited ; and whose judgments are fatal, because never 

 finally awarded until longer mercy would be a crime. 



This Worcester County Horticultural Society was incorpo- 

 rated for the explicit " purpose of advancing the Science, and 

 encouraging and improving the Practice of Horticulture." In 

 so far as those objects may be attained, by the visible display of 

 Flowers, Fruits, or Vegetables, the Society has a just right, in 

 political phrase, to " point with pride " to what it has accom- 

 plished. Those who are with us, but not of us, may sneer at 



