1893.] TRANSACTIONS. 7 



teaching that which wo, better not learn. The General Court 

 perplexes itself witli local snarls concerning shoals of unsavory 

 fish, floundering about in ho[)eless entanglement among the 

 raeshes woven for inferior sculpins. But tiie Experiment Station 

 so sadly lacking in such localities as this; the imperative wants 

 and possibilities of research and discovery in every branch of 

 Terraaculture throughout a County so large as Worcester, with 

 its diversity of climate, soil, and geographical contour; are 

 wholly overlooked, or dismissed with scornful indifterence. Wiiat 

 is the field ripe for the harvest ; or the orchard laden with 

 bounteous promise; to the Professors of Labor! forsooth, who 

 toil not, neither do they spin ; but from out whose mouths issue 

 yarn never ending in tissue yet constantly attenuating in thread; 

 the sinuous demagogues of glib tongue, whose religion is ofiice 

 in continuous tenure, and who live up to their faith ! It is not 

 that this Society, in particular; or Horticulturists elsewhere in 

 Massacliasetts ; are suppliants for public bounty: their conten- 

 tion is simply that they shall not be singled out, as the only class 

 of producers in this Commonwealth able, and therefore com- 

 pelled, to take care of tiiemselves. A Republic can only endure 

 strong and prosperous, when the equality of its citizens is recog- 

 nized, as well in practical administration, as in ofiicial lip-service 

 at Cattle-Shows and Horse-Trots ! 



For matter of fact, perhaps it is fortunate that this Society 

 was not formally represented at Chicago. It happens to be the 

 Odd Year, as known to Pomology, when for some reason not 

 universally acknowledged, yet mayhap not wholly inexplicable, 

 our most valuable Apples r6turu scarcely any liarvest. Our 

 tables may siiow sample-plates of Baldwin, Hubbardston, or 

 Mother, in Autumn : for the day will never dawn while life 

 endures, when tiie Orchards of Worcester County shall refuse to 

 yield measurabl}', if not immoderately, as too often wrongly 

 allowed in the even year. But when it is our purpose to chal- 

 lenge the Pomologists of the Republic for pre-eminence in 

 especial classes, we cannot but wish, or insist, that our eSbrts 

 shall not be handicapped by unnatural conditions. Chief among 

 which may be counted, because of recent experience, unbroken 

 drought at the formation of the embryo, prolonged throughout 



