31EDbb0D53T7S54 *te./ *^F^- ■^>^: f ^ ...iiSteK-; o« ^^Ss ^fRST'k* DATE DUE UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS LIBRARY SB 1 W9 1886-87 / TEANSACTIONS OF THE WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, FOR THE YEAR 1886 WITH THE CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. CHARLES HAMILTON, PRINTER, No. 311 Main Street. 1886, asii -7 CONTENTS Page Report of the Secretary 6 Report of the Librarian . 33 Report of the Treasurer 35 Catalogue of the Library i WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. A. D. 1886. AfflUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. To the Members of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. It is not the fault of this Society that the expei-iincnt of holding Exhibitions every week, throughout the later Winter and early Spring, has been crowned with but partial success. Of ne- cessity dependence must be placed upon professional florists, whose wealth of floriage has been largely exhausted by the de- mands of society or fashion. Amateur and private conserva tories are not in such plenty as to afford much assistance in our time of need ; even were their owners always inclined to strip them of their chiefest beauties to help out a brief display in our halls. It is not to the point that a dozen Baldwins, or Hox- bur}^ Russets, are available to illustrate the duration of the apple, since no one disputes that they may be kept the year around. We must not forget that the design of our creation as a Society was, and so continues, to " improve the Science and Practice of Horticulture." You must determine whether it is worth our while to invite the community to an exhibition one week, of a iialf- dozen plants of Priimda Sinensis; the week after to an equally extensive display of Arum ; closely followed by a test of how low the temperature to which Azalea Indica may be subjected and yet survive the exposure ! It occurs to your Secretary if it would not be advisable to try an experinumt of holding Exhibitions once each month, until 6 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. the season for Roses and Strawberries: — commencing say about the period of the vernal equinox, so as to be secure as far as possible from undue risks of intolerable frost. Those who would like to compete for our prizes can conform their methods of cultivation to our appointed dates. We cannot suit the ca- prices or interest of individuals ; nor should the attempt be suf- fered for an instant. Mahomet must go to the mountain. In this way it might perhaps be practicable to present displays in March, April and May, creditable to all who aid in their forma- tion, and of which the Society need not be ashamed. June can be trusted to take care of itself. This plan contemplates the withholding of all premiums for fruit except in Summer and Autumn — the seasons of maturity and perfection. If " good wine needs no bush," it can scarcely be claimed that the Hub- bardston and Northern Spy require further recognition, out of our limited resources, than that awarded to them in such generous measure during October. Your Secretary, cherishing no other motive than a sincere desire for your best interest, advances this suggestion in barest outline, to be filled up by the proper com- mittee, should it find cordial acceptance. In actual trial it might not achieve success. But we have high authority for *' proving all things." The time for " holding fast " is when we have complete assurance that our grip is on something good. This Society possesses a Library, whose intrinsic value cannot be exaggerated ; or its importance, as a means for the continued de- velopment of Floriculture and Pomology, overestimated. There is probably but one other in this wide Republic that exceeds it, and that perhaps because of mere numerical superiority as much as for any better reason. For our good fortune, in this particu- lar, we owe grateful memory to the late Clarendon Harris — so long our assiduous and faithful Librarian — whose rare acquaint- ance with books was supplemented by earnest zeal in your ser- vice. His successors have done what they could to maintain the character of the collection. Your Committee on the Library, mindful that volumes are useful in proportion as a knowledge of their contents is diffused, have taken heed to your suggestion at the last annual meeting, devoting thought and time to the sub- 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 7 ject of preparing a complete catalogue. Thanks to the untiring diligence of Mr. Brooks, a full list of titles and subjects is now ready and, with your approval, it will be in print as soon as a due regard for accuracy will allow. The Committee propose to keep close watch of the book-market ; so as to avail themselves, in your behalf, of the rare opportunities to perfect those sets of serial publications in whose pages may be found so much curious and useful lore pertaining to our pursuits. There are many works that exceed in cost the means of individual horticulturists, yet which are essential to a full and thorough mastery of their profession ; and which ought therefore to become our property whenever the chance presents itself. An Act has passed both branches of Congress and received the approval of the President, establishing Pomology as a divi- sion in the Department of Agriculture. The extent to which any such Division or Bureau shall become useful, must, of course, depend largel}^ u])on the personal qualities of its chief. The first and present incumbent, Mr. H. E. Van Deman, of Kansas, talks well ; manifesting in an address before the new American Horticultural Society a clear perception of possibilities and ex- pediencies. Thus he remarks : — " Perhaps one of the most useful things that might properly be un- dertaken by the Division of Pomology, provided means are given for that purpose, would be the establishment and maintenance of experi- mental stations, where they would best seive the greatest number, and at the least cost." * ' * * * * * * "Piivate experimental grounds already under way, and those of the Agricultural Colleges, might, at least in some cases, be enlarged, assisted, and utilized." ****** "The production and consumption of fruits, both fresh and cured, is in value perhaps scarcely less than that of the cereals, and it is only fair that similar attention be given in the collection of inforraiation and its proper discrimination. Foreign markets should also be investi- gated with a view to benefiting the home producer." * * * * ''Careful investigations of new fruits, and old ones of a special in- terest, and their adaptability to the various sections of our country, deserve prompt and personal attention by those who may be skilled in pomological matters. The same person should examine our fruits as they are found growing under the diversified conditions of soil, climate, and culture." ******** 8 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. This evangel is not wholly novel to you, nor should it fall upon your cars with an unfamiliar sound. Two years since, in his Annual Report for 1884, your Secretary gave expression to his own deeply-felt convictions of a similar pressing need : — "All these problems are speculative, — hypothetical, — exacting ex- periment for a test. Some of them may well be tried in Amherst ; yet location cannot but enter into the accurate determination of others. Why should not this great Pomological County have an Experiment Station of its own, devoted exclusively to the solution of difficulties in Horticulture"? The State Bounty to our local Agricultural Societies might well be devoted to its support. For ampler sustenance a portion of our own income could find no more profitable use, thereby most effectually ' Advancing the science and encouraging and improving the practice of Horticulture,' the explicit object for which we were incorporated, as so often pressed upon your attention in these Reports. The Peach is grown, with greater or less success, in all our lacustrine Towns.* Wheresoever its culture falls short, or fails, such a Station might detect the trouble and discover its remedy. Individual research, or trial, is apt to be uni- lateral or prejudiced : Science is many-sided and impartial ; seeking for truth, if mayhap at the bottom of a well. We now grow much fruit and vegetables with marked skill and success. Is it not our own fault if we omit to avail ourselves of every appliance and method that may serve to detect and explain the latent reason for too frequent fjiilures. The Agricultural Societies are even now legally constrained to hold Institutes, by way of some practical return for the State Bounty. Too often it is like threshing an old bundle of straw. Few pause in the course of hard, daily labor, to note the rea- sons for success or failure ; and, if the mind begins to speculate upon the knotty problem, the thread of inquiry is apt to be lost in the first night's sleep. Fewer still are qualified by natural bent, or by training, to follow a path of original research, usually intricate, mainly obscure, and where the clue is either invisible or impalpable. For all such in- vestigation,— whether of Insect or Fungus ; — which shall teach us to know our Insect Friends from our Insect Foes ; determining the cause of Yellows in the Peach or Blight in the Pear; something more searching and precise is needed than the occasional conference of friends and neighbors. Something more like the keen analysis and * Grafton and Shrewsbury at the foot and by the shores of Quinsigamond, — where, as by the inhind Lakes of Contral New York, the Grape and Puach have flourished for aye ; and upon whose opposite slopes and hill-sides, in conjunction with the projected School of Natural History, a Horticultural Experiment Station could be essayed to the utraust advantage, at the least cost, and with the most effective and sure co-operation. E. W. L. 188G.] TRANSACTIONS. 9 tireless watch of the acute student of Nature, who takes nothing for granted ; but, having discovered the origin and source of disease, is not content until he has also found a perfect remedy. He alone can 'prove ail things, holding fast that wiiich is good.'" The appropriation for the purposes of the Agricultural De- partment has been somewhat meagre, in years past. Nor, during that period, was the sum given always expended with the best discretion and due economy. Commissioner Coleman appears to be totus teres atque rotimdus ; fitted by nature as well as adjust- ing himself to his place. He wastes neither resources, nor time; and is watchful of his opportunities. Your Secretary must be permitted to differ from some of his friends in the Grange ; be- ing Hrm in tlie faith that the Agriculture of the Republic, prop- erly considered, affords a field wide enough for the exercise of any man's talents. And that a position in the Cabinet must inevitably divert his attention to questions wherewith he need not, and cannot profitably, concern himself. Magnify his office, styling him Minister of Terrseculture, if you like ! multiply his functions, when you must ! but do not neutralize his efforts for the United States by dissipating them throughout the earth. The Department cannot always be directed by statesmen ! with am- bition exceeding their capacity ; even the contingent from Essex being limited in number and the duration of their existence fall- ing wofully short of immortality. The Worcester Grange nobly achieved what it well and wisely undertook. It proposed to itself a certain aim : an accomplished superiority in Massachusetts, within well defined limitations. But yet is it pretended that the Grange thereby attained the earth and the fulness thereof ? It is not so understood in their case ; as neither was it left for speculation by a late Grand In- coherence who, speaking for his constituents, owned frankly that they do want the earth and — mean to have it ! But to all Grangers, or Incohonees, — alike ; as to the horticulturists, in jpartibus infidelium ; are repeated in their ever sad refrain, the " Words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem : The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be ; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. 10 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. Is there any thing whereof it may be said, see this is new ? it hath been already of old time, which was before us. ^Vierg ^s no remembrance of former i/i^;^^s / neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after." So that neither shall the uninitiated Horticulturist exalt him- self,— nor the Granger feel abased ; — as they recur to a Report made by Dr. Knfas Woodward thirty-four years ago, wherein that conceded export declared that " the whole number of va- rieties presented to the notice of your committee, was Two Hun- dred and Fifty-Six ; a larger number, we will venture to say, than has ever come under the notice of any former Committee. Of these, one hundred and twenty are well known, valuable va- rieties, hardy, productive, and in every way adapted to our soil and climate," Two years later, but still a generation removed from us, George Jaques, — than whom this Society never enrolled a more skilful Pomologist ; reported upon the current exhibition (A. D. 1854:): "The Exhibition, in the department of apples, — was exceedingly rich and beautifnl. The Committee indeed, are of the unanimous opinion that, not only in the number of varieties* of established repu- tation, but in the size and beauty of the specimens, the display of this great staple fruit was superior to anything of the kind ever before witnessed in this city." * * '* * * * * " And, although it is quite probable that, in one or two of the col- lections, there may have been a very few apples not grown within the above-mentioned limits, yet the number of these was so utterly insigni- ficant, that the Committee may rightfully claim the eritire exhibition of apples as the product of Worcester County J" It was scarcely an exaggeration — a remark at the late show of the Bay State Society, that about every farm in Worcester County could exhibit its own Seedling Apple. That is as true now as in the olden time when, as wrote Dr. Woodward, "there are growing obscurely, in this County, several apples deserving to be more extensively known. Among such might be classed the Forbush Apple, the Sutton Beauty, and the Harvey, both cultivated by Mr. Joel Knapp, of Sutton, Hunt Russet, Ca- pron's Pleasant, and probably others." *The number of plates of apples was 960: contributors, 107. 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 11 Within a few years, the Worcester Spy of Mr. William Eames has earned its place upon our Schedule. Seedlings of Mr, Thomas A. Dawson afford extreme promise, alike of quality and beauty. May we not hope that the existence of such new varieties will be carefully noted, henceforth ; their peculiar merits observed ; that they may be brought to this Hall for a test by experts, of their points of pre-eminence, so that all men shall be obliged to concede a superiority once thoroughly estab- lished. A new variety of fruit, of surpassing excellence, is at once a credit to him who originates and the place whence it springs. The fame of Worcester County is widely diffused among the Pomologists of America. But that repute may be augmented. That it shall be, must depend largely upon the well directed ambition and sustained energy of the members of Societies like our own, whose existence is avowedly for " the purpose of advancing the Science and encouraging and improv- ing the Practice of Horticulture." And there must be, surely, more effectual ways of promoting such advance and improve- ment than what are limited to perennial awards of money prizes to the Bartlett and Baldwin ! (?, si sic omnia ! Little has been added to our positive knowledge of the Pear Blight, within the year just past ; if indeed any knowledge can be termed positive, where at best it is but more or less plausible theory. The Blight we have : its causes are still a mystery. The evolution of Bacteria is not a sufficient explanation of this mysterious disease. That they may follow from it and be an evident effect, is plainer to many close observers. Quite re- cently,— Professor Arthur is credited with writing to England to learn the truth and facts of a statement by a British Pomologist, that a tree had blighted when the rays of the sun struck its limbs after they had been wet with rain. Ampler and more de- cisive details, to that effect, might have been gathered, nearer home. It were hardly necessary to cross the ocean to determine so little. In almost every instance within the observation of your Secretary, — and his personal experience has been grievous enough, — the most destructive attacks of Fire-Blight have ensued upon thunder-storms at night, or continued spells of close, misty weather, succeeded by hot sunny mornings. And yet that 12 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. proves nothing: for althoagli there have been few thunder- storms this season, and the Blight has scarcely troubled tlie writer, the complaints of its ravages by his friends in this vicinity are frequent and emphatic. Electric influence has been suspected, at times; but it is a mere suspicion, with nothing more to warrant it than the singular concurrence of thunder- storms, with fresh attacks of Blight, very possibly fortuitous after all. One fact within the individual observation of the writer, has impressed him very forcibly. That is, — the marked susceptibility of certain varieties to the blight ; and the especial significance that, in every case, those varieties have been of excessive fe- cundity. Take, for example, the Belle Lucrative, — from one tree of which, in one season, he thinned out, by actual count, two thousand specimens, allowing twice too many to remain, at that. Consider the fatality to Clapp's Favorite; — another va- riety whose prolificacy is equally remarkable. Rank growers and heavy bearers: like other spendthrifts, they burn the can- dle at both ends and meet a similar fate. Some analogy might be traced to consumption in the human subject ; were it not for the lightning-like rapidity wherewith the Pear-Blight makes its onset. And again : the writer knows of no variety that he would prize more highly than Glou Mor9cau, — were it secure from this disease. Years since, — after cutting off pretty much all the limbs in the vain effort to save a much prized tree he, in utter despair, double-worked Josephine de Malines. There has been no blight since. The original stock was Belle Lucrative. Sub- sequently,— not willing to give up the Glou Mor9eau, he grafted it upon the Lawrence. That tree has not blighted yet ; although it is only fair to state that it has not borne much to date. In the case of the Belle Lucrative, — it would almost seem to be a mat- ter of heredity. Earle's Bergamot, upon whose local origin and special excellence so much local hope and pride have been based, blights sadly and threatens to pass out of existence. The pa- rents of this variety were the Autumn Bergamot and — once more, the Belle Lucrative 1 Doubtless care is not enough exer- cised in the choice of the stock for grafting. Like putting new 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 13 wine into old bottles, the stint is too great for a growth that has passed maturity. Instead of the most thrifty, vigorous stock in their orchard, people who wish to possess and perpetuate a new and choice fruit, are too apt to graft into a tree that lias become prematurely worn out by excessive fruition. Anotlicr point upon wliich stress may be laid : the suitability of stock and graft. The writer does not believe that an early winter variety can be grown with permanent success upon a tree whose natural habit is summer-bearing. In other words, — his contention is that the Glou Mor9cau or Anjou should be worked upon the Vicar, a close, hard-grained wood, and not upon the Belle Lucrative or Boussoc. If ^^ shii'dla similihus curantnr^'' — why should not the character of the parentage control the genesis of a variety or species ? In the judgment of the writer, founded upon long years of observation, too little care is used in selecting the proper stock to graft. We see and taste a new variety, novel to us at any rate, and forthwith we must insert a scion in the first tree that comes handy. The Bartlett bears about as soon as its roots get fairly settled in place. The Bosc or Urbaniste yield their superb fruit to the patient waiters of twenty yeai-s. The Bart- lett grows like a weed, and produces like a rabbit. The Bosc uprcars itself deliberately; supplying, when it does bear, a sure crop of quite uniform excellence and quantity. What affinity have such varieties for each other ? Their wood is of different grain ; the sap does not start in them simultaneous^ ; their pe- riods of ripening are months apart. These varieties have been named hap-hazard. But a compulsory union between them would be no more incongruous or unnatural than those that are continually attempted. The members of a Society that exists to "promote the Science and improve the Practice of Horticulture" should never " plough with an ox and ass together." Who can estimate the number of varieties that have been enfeebled in con- stitution or have been wholly lost to cultivation, by such irrational practices ? A suitable relationship between scion and stock ought to be as rigidly enforced in Pomology, as an adequate foundation for the superstructure, in building. 14 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. The Massachusetts Horticultural Society reposes in a fame that is world-wide : — a fair repute merited by a long career wherein all honorable Floriculture and Pomology were wisely encouraged. It may savor of presumption to assert a difference of opinion from a Society so venerable, guided as it has been for Fifty years by the Apostle and Patriarch of American Horticul- ture ; yet, bearing in mind that ^^ Fortes ante Agamemnona vixeru7it" it should not be inexcusable to inquire if it is legitimate Pomol- ogy to invite a competition in specimens of choice Anjou and Winter Nelis, on the 14th-lYth of September ! Does not that Society impair its credit for sound judgment, when it persists, not merely in countenancing, but in positively inviting the dis- play of fruit but half grown or lacking months of attaining maturity. Your Secretary is earnest in pointing out this grave error ; long since happily discarded in our own practice ; be- cause of the serious influence emanating from such an authority. So long as the Massachusetts Society persists in promoting the exhibition of Winter Nelis and Anjou in September ; so long will every Cattle Show that feebly dabbles in imperfect pomol- ogy, justify its own blundering efforts by such an illustrious ex- ample. It cannot be necessary to recite the expressed opinion of the late John Milton Earle, — a name ever to be respected in these Halls, — that fruit matures more within the last month of its duration upon the tree than throughout its whole previous ex- istence. And just in that word maturity may be found the la- tent essence of the matter. Growth is one thing: but the tex- ture of the flesh is only confirmed by lapse of time, within which period supervene juiciness and flavor, — this latter so inex- plicable yet indispensable. As age lends bouquet to the juice of the Grape, for no Human Asceticism can countervail Natural Law ! so do the lingering rays of an Autumnal sun confer beauty and aroma upon Pears as they ripen to perfection. The festival of Thanksgiving could illy spare two entire months of development; and man should neither expect nor exact it, even in an age of unreason wherein the millennium is the creation of a statute. 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 15 A prize gained after close competition, upon the award of a competent judge, is worth something for that reason only, if its intrinsic value is slight. But what shall be the worth of awards that ignore pomological science, asserting distinctions witliout a difference and founding varieties upon a mis-nomer ? Yet, at a recent Cattle-Show in this City, separate premiums were awarded to Bonne cfEz^e and Brockworth Park, Pears; although they have been identified, for years, as one and the same variety. The lat- ter title being a fraud, — the synonym of a pretended novelty quite "English, j'ou know ! " " What is /mn/y .^ " is a question not now for the first time considered in these Reports. " Gardening Illustrated," a very instructive English magazine, puts the conundrum in this wise, — "Wintering LobeHa Cnrdinalis : — I shall be much obliged by your informing me how I ought to treat some plants of Lobelia Cardinalis during the winter. I have only a small covered frame, which however is not tolerably frost proof. Will the Lobelia plants stand being ex- posed to winter weather, or must they be taken up and sheltered'?" To which the Editor replies ; — "The scarlet [crimson (!)] Lobelia is one of the curious plants that puzzle even the wisest. In some gardens that we know, and no doubt in hundreds that we do not know, it is perfectly happy in the open air in winter. Places where it lives out of doors in winter are generally seashore districts, where the plant is put in sandy loam. In the Lon- don district, it is generally necessary to take the plants up after flower- ing and keep them in a cold frame or in a greenhouse." All which must amuse or be news to the florists of Massachu- setts, who can count upon the brilliancy of the Cardinal-Flower with as much certainty as August recurs. By the brook-side and along the margin of shallow ponds ; in every place, especially, where cattle have been wont to wade and tread in the seeds borne down upon the stream. The degrees of Fahrenheit are not reckoned nor is proximity to the seashore taken into the account. But the scythe too often exterminates. For the ques- tion heretofore asked by the writer, — Is Lobelia Cardinalis more than biennial? remains undecided. Charles M. Hovey insists that it is not perennial. And if not, — how easy to explain its disappearance in those meadows and along those rivulets where 16 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. it was tlie practice to mow all that stood. In such cases of course, no seed could mature ; and the root, not being perennial, shortly died out. Years ago, the famous florists around Roch- ester, N. Y., considered Cydonia Japonica but half-hardy. They have grown wiser now, such men living to learn and profiting by their advantages of observation. But, suppose some freshman, of our own number, should find the trunk of a Cherry-tree riven wide open by frost, after a night of intense severity ! Shall it therefore be assumed that the Cherry is not hardy in this climate, although yielding its grateful fruit since the first Mayflower blun- dered upon onr coast ? Instances of Amaryllis longifoliutn^ and Liliura Auratum, wintering out-doors, when accidentally over- looked and deeply covered, have been brought to your notice heretofore. It might be hazardous to assume the hardiness of such bulbs except under similar favorable conditions whose ex- istence pre-supposes too much leisure and trouble. Bnt wliy should the Hyacinth and Tulip be almost unique in their endur- ance ? May not careful tests establish the fact that we have enfeebled plants, by molly-coddling, whose constitution only re- quired that they should be let alone! And how much remains to be disclosed by the search for new varieties and their thorough trial. For years the Catalpa bignon- oides put forth its rank growth, to be completely winter-killed, under this parallel of 42^. It was reserved for that eminent horti- culturist, the late John A. Warder, to discover and proclaim the tested merits of Catalpa speciosa. A most rapid growing tree of widely-branching development, whose immense leaves and hand- some panicles of floriage have come to supply one of the finest and most unique ornaments to private or public grounds. Does any one challenge its hardiness? For these ten years past speci- mens by the hundred have been procured (througli the mail) of Robert Douglas & Sons, and planted in the bleakest and coldest portions of Elm Park, in this City. Tiie records will show how keenly the winds have swept — how low the mercury has fallen, — within that period. The extremities of a few twigs may have been nipped occasionally, — but that has been the worst. What is more to the purpose ; their tough wood (hois cf arc) withstood the fearful Ice-storms of the last January and February un- 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. " 17 harmed; wliile liugc limbs and even the very trunks of Ehn and Maple were snapped like pipe-stems. May not new varieties of shrub, and tree, reward a careful search, which shall prove as dominant and useful in their several genera and species as the Catalpa Speciosa has approved itself in practical demonstration. The complaint of depressed or failing markets is not restricted to the manufacturers. It was easy enough for them, the tide coming in, to float upon the swelling waves. Old work-sho])s could be enlarged, new buildings erected, raw material heaped together; for were not the profits great and promissory notes of facile discount ? Each thought to gather in his harvest, forget- ting that the wild competition fostered by unjust laws and the reckless customs of banking must sooner or later prove a fatal handicap. More "protection" is of no avail; since to use an ex- pressive if somewhat vulgar phrase, he has already " bitten ofi" more than he can chew." He looks around for new markets: but his own selflshness has closed them to him. And not alone to him, but to the farmer as well. The Frank and Teuton are neither fools nor blind. The exclusion that is good for the Yan- kee, they not unnaturally argue must be beneficial for them. So that these nations "encourage home industry" by levying exces- sive duties upon articles of foreign production, or accomplish their object more effectually by wholesale prohibition. When the American Hog is banished from Europe, we are estopped by our own piggishness from complaint. The boasted home market will not suflice. The factory that does not run at a profit — nor can long run at a loss, pays poor or no wages to be expended in the consumption of flour, pork, or fruit. Just at present, there is something in point for the Pomologists of tiiis great apple-growing County of Worcester to consider. The yield of our Orchards is large, if not as excessive as in some years past. Yet what is the net remuneration for the fruit, per barrel, carefully gathered and assorted ? But the Apple-crop in England for the past year, has been a bad failure. The latest advices from Liverpool quote good, fair American red apples at 12 to 15 shillings per barrel. If the price starts thus, — what 18 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. may it not be in the later Autumn ? Now there could scarcely be a limit to the possibilities of this traffic if left to be controlled by demand and supply. The capacity of our Orchards can be enlarged to any extent, occupying profitably land now suffered to grow up to white birch or scrub oak. Shipping might once more crowd our idle harbors; even sails renewing their use and again whitening the seas. But, then ! Canada and Nova Scotia grow as good fruit as Maine or Massachusetts, at their best. Must not their home industry be encouraged ? will be the cry of the Canuck or Blue-nose demagogue. Must not our local inter- ests be " protected " ? the interests of those precious farmers, anxious concern for whose welfare deprives the disinterested poli- tician of his needed sleep. And so will ensue discrimination against us in those markets wherein, as our own laws preclude us from buying one thing, we will not be allowed to sell another. The Pomologist, in this latter generation, is literally between the devil and the deep sea. The juice of Pyrus Malus^ in the eye of the ascetic, becomes malum in se ; and by enactment of tlie bigot, with whom virtue is the restriction of his fellow, it is speedily transformed into malum proliibitum. The saints can abstain from anything, if they so elect; but no! is not philan- thropy the enjoyment that we derive from the misfortunes of our friends. The fox might not miss his own brush so much were the entire Reynard family tail-less. The juice of the grape is out-lawed ; — even the communion-table of the Son of God having become too orthodox to admit an element for whose manufacture He chose to work his earliest miracle. Christianity, with Christ eliminated, is the entertainment to which the farmer and orchardist is invited by theology run mad. But, if you let alone the juice, whether of apple or grape, — what can you do ? What will you be allowed to do with the "original package"? Just now, it so happened that, throughout broad England, there is a dearth. An uupropitious season has lessened the English crop of fruit by half. But the trouble is far otherwise at home, in our own Worcester County. In this great apple-producing region, there is rather what the French term embarras des richesseSj — too much of a good thing. Wherever you go, there is visible on 1880.] TRANSACTIONS. 19 every luincl,the faithful old apple-tree, nearly dead from over-crop- ping; breaking down beneath its latter burden; betraying the neg- lect that has reduced it to its apparent condition of waste ; and silently reproaching the owners — whether of farmstead or modern grange, who arc too lazy to restore and maintain them in their original state of vigorous fecundity. And where recuperation is hopeless, to replace them with a younger and thrifty growth. Tcrrse-culture and Commerce, — children of labor and kinsmen of adventure, — are united by a closer than Siamese ligament. Of what use is it for the Farmer to sow or reap, if he can be forbid- den the profitable disposal of the surplus that he will not need for his own use! The load upon his market wagon, — the manifold freight in the hold of the ship, — what are either or all but tiie manifestation upon a greater or less scale, of that irrepressible tendency in man to wander over the earth, travelling and traffick- ing, enlarging his own faculties by observation ; diffusing knowl- edge among the people that he meets ; and, at the same time, turning an honest penny as the net result of his venture. There are, who gauge the prosperity of a country by the duress that it suffers to be imposed upon its Commerce. Who claims that thrift is in proportion to the rigidity and weight of the shackles wherewith industry can be hampered ! To such, the old-fashioned virtue of saving is of less account, since the potent arm of the Commonwealth can Ije invoked to foster a single artificial class of business ; which, in return, out of simple volition and pure benevolence, will scatter around a paternal influence and alms. Manufactures, stimulated and made drunk by bounty, will allow a few drops to ovei-flow from their cup that the unprotected com- munity may be intoxicated. The Granger harvests his swedes by the sweat of his brow and would fain disperse them for the sustenance of the nations. The manufacturer corrals his Swedes and imports them by the ship-load for cheaper production of his wares and ! — the better protection of Home Industry ! The Farmer and Orchardist may look for their compensation to the home- market, assumed to be the creation of a tax ! as though taxes were ever aught but consumption and loss. The expenditure of sums raised by taxation may, of course, be directed with greater or less wisdom. But who will pretend that Taxation, for its own 20 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. sake, can ever be a benefit, — nay even to tliosc who have con- trived to pervert its imposts for their exchisivc, selfish advantage ! But when there is no home market, — because labor is on a strike, or greed has turned the key ; when everything that the soil pro- duces is left to rot, since the energy and resources of a commu- nity were concentrated in on(3 line to the inevitable issue of over- production and consequent glut and impoverishment ; wherein are the Granger or Orchardist to search if perchance they ma}"^ find remuneration for years of patient endurance and self-denial ? Issachar was a most assured Ass and the name of his lineal descendants, in this County of Worcester, is legion. The strain that comes upon every article of household use or personal wear in connection with the cultivation of the soil, can- not be overestimated. It is the truest economy for the farmer or orchardist to get the best, — whether of apparel or tools. He, of all men, should have no toleration for shoddy. If the ladder broke, of old, he could trust to homespun to bear him up as it caught upon the jagged wood. But now, upon all foreign goods of superior durability, that he might well wish for their excel- lence and could better afford for their cheapness, there arc levied duties which literally restrict their consumption to the million- aire or spendtlirift. He beholds a fellow-townsman, who prides himself upon his capacity for affairs, and boasts of his Yankee smartness, upon the eve of each annual election crying baby and admitting that he cannot compete with the subjects of "effete monarchies" except he shall be constantly pampered with bounty and special privilege. For himself, — he rises early, toils hard, wrests a frugal subsistence from a reluctant soil, scrimps his family indulgences to save for the annual Tax, and surrenders about a third of his average earnings to uphold a fabric of vicious legislation as unsubstantial as that other creation, — with similar brazen cheek and feet of miry clay. He might sell in the dear- est market and buy in the cheapest. He might ship the culled fruits of his Orchard (and for his interest and good repute he should ship none other), supplying ample cargoes for a restored commercial navy, and bringing back in return freight whatever he needed, if ho found it suited to his purposes. What he might offer abroad, in profusion, could be seen by any one, in sample. 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 21 who belield the superb display by the Worcester Grange, at the recent Show of the Bay State Agricultural Society. What he should insist upon is the abolition of all needless restrictions, — the loosing of all antiquated shackles, that have so long cramped the movements of international as well as inter-State commerce. Thereafter, — with entire freedom of intercourse, he may devote himself to the still further perfection of his methods of cultiva- tion,— to the development of yet choicer varieties, — to the selec- tion and careful packing of sound specimens of approved kinds ; when, with a clear conscience and assured faitli, he can take his rest, awaiting profitable returns. And, to while away his hours of enforced leisure, in the long winter evenings, he may chant the lay that the "Infant Industries" have been humming through the droning air, for the half-century past, in their plenitude of lazy surfeit : " Though I should live Ten Thousand years Sucking from sun to sun; I could no more let go that teat Than if I'd just begun." Years, — aye, more than a half-century of them, have flown since Daniel Webster predicted the present condition of affairs ; and it is now high time that Massachusetts once more became a commercial Commonwealth. For this, — she need not abate one jot or tittle of her manufacture. If her towns shall not grow quite so fast, their gradual increase may be the healthier. The concentration of people is not, of itself, a beati- tude. With countless conveniences for comfort, and ingenious contrivances for luxury that were better dispensed with ; come also facilities for vice, and tendencies to pauperism, that are the foulest blot upon modern civilization. But the wholesome de- velopment of town and country, which has been so marked a product of the unchecked intercourse throughout this American Republic, will scarcely be impeded by the expansion, still more widely, of artificial barriers to intercommunication. Shallow theorists, or mouthing demagogues, are wont to depreciate our prosperity as a people by styling it the consummate flower and fruit of chance legislation enacted to meet occasional exigencies. They ignore, or overlook in their shortsightedness, the freedom 22 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. of a Continent still young and virgin ; the vigor of a popula- tion exempt from a merciless tribute to that ravening devil — the modern Standing Army,* — nor less — tlie sanguine enterprise which is permitted to engage, without let or hindrance, in crazy speculation or plodding industry. The sum of our savings — not the volume of our laws — must be the precise measure of our actual individual and public thrift. * Paternal government! Protection to home industry! (when industry is graciously vouchsafed a home!) the cant of greed and the lust for power ; sworn allies in an alliance offensive and defensive throughout the ages; where are not their traces visible in the degeneration of man — the degradation of woman ? The wealth acquired through the partiality of legislation must be guarded and secured by the superior lawlessness of force- That force exacts the flrst-born for its merciless service, unlike the Egyptian plague, sentencing its conscripts to a hri?if/ death. But production must go on: — else, where- from the taxes ! And in default of the musket-bearer who so available to hew wood and draw water as the child-bearer? Such, hitherto, has been the mo- notonous round on the treadmill of human existence. Shall the grist of Ambition and Avarice be man, — forever? e. w. l. "PLEASURE TRAVEL IN GERMANY. What Went Ye out for to See? A country ' shaken with the wind' it seemed to me in every sense, actua and metaphorical. Such fields of waving grain, such uninterrupted evidence of the hand of labor, such long stretched-out arms of despotic power, I never expected to see in any land. It grew painful. There was not a square inch left to nature ; my eyes actually hungered for a way-side lane that looked as if it was let alone. There is mile after mile of forest, but as one passes, he sees that it consists of trees planted with mathematical precision. Among hills almost as wild naturally as the Adirondacks, every few hundred feet is the small white stone marking the tax collector. Wherever the smallest yield conld be gathered out of the roughest land, there were the marks of labor — scooped-out places, and high up mountain ridges, where some mineral had been found; breaches through other ridges to get at building stone; miles of debris, showing the ages of human toil expended. Every navigable stream has its rocks deeply cut into, as far as boats can be used, carrying buildiug stone away; all fertile land is worked like garden plats; not a spot for a homestead; no meadows " unprofitably gay " with wild flowers, but vast stretches of cultivated land, and then a village of houses huddled together, with scarcely a green spot in it, except the graveyard. The most fertile land is devoted to the sugar beet. Picture stretches of twenty miles or more of these in mathematical rows, without a weed, and the train passing every short distance, lines of women, sometimes a hundred in a gang, as straight a line as the row of beets, hoeing, or on their kuees weeding by hand, the overseer, a man, walking behind to see that it was thoroughly done; the picture only needed a slave-driver's whip to make it a southern scene " befo' the waw." When so near that one could observe closely, these mothers of Germany were bare- legged, in. rags, a coarse handkerchief over the head — coarse-featured, bold-eyed animals. As we approached towns, squads of 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 23 "Were the property of this Societ_y reduced to cash, and there- after converted into Federal Bonds, we should enjoy complete immunity from taxation. Our investment is, however, in Real Estate, improved by ourselves for the express objects of our or- ganization ; and from the rental of a portion of it must be de- rived the only income that we can apply to "promote the Science and encourage and improve the Practice of Horticulture." Should we fail to lease our first floor ; — unless we find a profit- able return from the occasional uses of our main Hall ; — we may as well surrender our charter. A Special Statute lias enacted that taxation shall be remitted upon so much of our property as is devoted to Horticultural purposes. It is but a re- fined sort of casuistry, at best, that denies exemption to a part when all is dedicated to one and the same end. But, if the burden is rightly imposed upon us, how happens it that such par- tial application of the law is restricted to Horticulture ) Why should Flora, Pomona, and Ceres be taxed and Theologi-cus go scot free ! The exemption of the Agricultural Society is abso- lute and unqualified. Otherwise, — it might be asked why that corporation should not be mulcted for so much of its revenue as is derived from tlie exhibition of naked men, plodding for wagers beneath a summer's sun, in a dreary and monotonous round, to the disgust of an afflicted neighborhood ! But, in the matter of the Meeting-houses, the Assessors can plead no valid excuse. fifty to a hundred clean, linen-clad soldiers, returning to barrack from bath- ing, and singing in concert, were in painful contrast. The far-reaching claws of the despotic rulers are seen in the glistening white turnpikes, straight as an arrow fi"om point to point. Useful for the teamster? Oh, yes; but much more to hurry troops and artillery from cen- tral points. At every railroad crossing, a man in the prime of life, stands in military position as we pass ; all soldiers, ready at tap of drum to fall in. It is not dark till ten; and as late as we can see, are these white women, slaves, toiling in the fields. It ceases to charm, seeing such thorough cultivation, when one counts the cost. What homes must these barefooted, filthy wretches go to, at 9 o'clock or later, to leave at sunrise? I asked what wages were paid. ' Those best ofi" are under contract with the big sugar factories ; they have cotfee before they go out, and something warm when they return, with 80 pfennigs (20 cents !) a day; those who board themselves get a mark (24: cents) a day.' This is the ultimate result in a country whose industries are ' protected ' to the extreraest extent. It results in having the strong, those in office, have comparative sinecures, and the weakest portion of the community made little better than slaves. C. W. L. Leipzig, June, 1886. 24 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. The General Statutes declare explicitly that " portions of such houses appropriated to purposes other than religious worship shall be taxed at the value thereof to the owners of the houses." Now, throughout the year just past, as alwaj^s heretofore, the local " houses of religious worship" have maintained equal and exact poise between God and mammon. The " house" was ex- empt: why not use it, or abuse! it, to turn a thrifty penny ? Thus we were told, at the time, that the maids of the Epigoea Missionary King scored a success, raking in tlie shekels, on a certain evening, at the Pilgrimage. " Music and literature" were sources of enjoyment and " clockwork " evoked fun. " Handi- work and fancy work " from lads and lasses made an elaborate display in that house set apart for religious worship ! While "pleasantly-served refreshments" led by unctuous attraction and remunerative steps to the Throne of Grace. No oppressive odor of sanctity emanates from the Meeting- house of the Unique & Only : but its immunity from any partici- pation in the common burdens, like " His mercy, endureth for- ever." To demonstrate once for all, that it is "appropriated to purposes of religious worship," and so not liable to be taxed, its "Ladies' Charitable Society" opened their vernal season of ascetic devotion with a "Ballad Concert; — tickets, 25 cts." "When the heart is young," — gave tone to pious aspirations, which were farther uplifted and sustained by solemn meditation upon " Thine eyes so blue and tender" ! The millennium had been appointed for the First of May ; so, doubtless to chasten their exaltation, "Simon, the Cellarer" broke out a new and holy keg. All which, to infer from the non- action of the Assessors, must be accepted as highly conducive to "religious worship" and, as such entitling to exemption. A "Hot Turkey Dinner from 12, to 2 o'clock P. M., at 50 cts.," was the method and measure of justification for Saving Grace. Its devoted ladies further nurtured their "souls to save we have" upon "supper and entertainment in the evening, admis- sion 10 cts." Of course the "vestry" where that turkey was roasted and whercfrom it was sold, being converted into an eat- 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 25 ing-honse, and thereby rigidly restricted to "purposes of religions worship," should in no-wise render unto Csesar the things that are Caesar's. Do the "most straitest" claim that, from those cited, little should be expected and that their modes of worship, if inex- plicable, are at least characteristic. How then shall be inter- preted that wild license of faith and performance which sub- stituted "Don Muniu" for the lullaby that damns infants and predestines the Saints ! The Statutes insist that "portions of such houses appropriated fur purposes other than religions worship shall be taxed," etc., etc. Now, hearken to the novel liturgy of entire exemption that helps the Parish of the Centre to "gain the whole world, and" ? Picture to yourselves, for an instant, the meeting between the spirits of that strict old Calvinist, Daniel Waldo — our munificent Founder, — and Abadil — a Moorish Prince ! Allah! 11 Allah! What a duet! And how queer must have echoed the refrain from that choir of Fore-ordination ! All this, too, for "Thirty cents ; children, half price." How appropriate, after all, that the primitive and less ornate house of worship should be wrested from its dedication and perverted to the more lucrative uses of Saddlery ! That ancient facture of silver shrines for Diana could not have conduced more to the divine glory, — granting that it were more remunerative. Do the Statutes mean anything, — or are they intended to be violated by all but Horticulturists ? The Reverend Clergy — those middle-men of Protestantism ! shout themselves hoarse over certain laws of their peculiar selection that impose no restraint upon themselves because they exact no self-denial. Should they not set their own Houses (of Worship !) in order ? Would it not become them to be a little more diffident in view of this incessant and wanton infraction of the spirit and letter of the law of Taxation by the active members of their congrega- tions % When all shall assume their proper share the conmion burden will be alleviated for all. Until that time shall come, it behooves us to insist that this Society shall not be singled out to be fleeced, for the especial benefit of those wiio are more selfish or less honest. Tour Secretary was ever firmly of opinion 26 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. that our property is entitled to exemption, under the General Law, as that of an educational and scientific institution. But, whether that be so, or not, he is sure that our more than sufficient load should not be augmented by oflicial inattention or neglect of the shifts and evasions whereby others, whose practice belies their professions, contrive to shuffle off their proper proportion of the sums levied for the support of civil government and the protection of society. The source of our income is fixed and the amount of it can vary but little. But taxation is elastic and expansive, having neither mete nor bound save the conscience or discretion of the legislative body, whether of State or City. Hence it may well happen that the half to which we are liable may shortly exceed the whole sura from whose oppression relief was first sought. Neither soliciting nor expecting partiality in the administration of the laws, this Society will continue to protest against the invidious discrimination that so materially impairs its usefulness. Thanks to the rare tact of Mr. Richard O'Flynn, which can detect at a glance the stray grain of wheat in a bushel of chaffs, the efforts of your Secretary to evolve from chaos the lost traces of your early history, have been crowned with a signal success. But a year since he took occasion to recite the pomological devo- tion of the late Vice-President William Workman, in behalf of this Society. The attention of the children of our departed friend was arrested ; and to the forcible impression upon their affection and judgment, thus made, do you owe the appearance upon your walls of yonder speaking likeness. Yet even your Secretary was but dimly mindful of the measure of service rendered, in his unassuming way, by Dr. Workman. That he was always ready and capable upon committees, his frequent Reports, as published in your Transactions, amply attest. The rescue from oblivion if not destruction, by Mr. O'Flynn, of a little pocket memorandum is all (but enough) that has been preserved to tell us in what painful manner rigid economy contrived to erect our present Horticul- tural Hall and with what tireless fidelity its construction was directed. As an invaluable contribution to the history of the 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 27 Society ; not less than in just attribution to members of yore who spent themselves in its service that it might not untimely perish ; that pencilled record is here transcribed, as it could be deci- phered, for your more perfect instruction and its own wholesome duration : — ^^ Worcester, Jan. 18, 1851. At a meetiiiG^ of the Building Committee of the Worcester County Horticultural Society, held at the Mechanics Bank, Stephen Salisbury was chosen Chaiinian and William Workman, Secretary. The Com- mittee beinji; thus organized, — it was voted that Messrs. Merritield and Tower be a (committee authorized to confer with Mr. Billings and Mr. Pipei", to see what arrangement can be made with them in regard to building the parting walls; also to procure a plan of the I'oof skylights and ventilators and eave-conductors ; and report to this Committee. Voted, — That the same Committee be instructed to report their opinion in regard to what should be the construction of the front elevation. Voted, — That Mr. Biclvford be added to tlie Committee. An application for one of the stoics under the Horticnllural Hall, by Cushman & Geer, was received and ordered to be put on file. Voted, — To dissolve the meeting. WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." ''JF'eb. 21, 1851. The Building Committee at Mechanics Bank at 9^ o'clock A. M. The snb-Committee charged with making inquiries with reference to the t'oundation and plans of the Hall reported the result of their doings and submitted two plans for the front of the building, — one drawn by Mr. Boyden and tlie other by Mr. Joy; also plans of a skylight and ceiling. Voted, — To adopt the plan of Mr. Joy for the basement and corners, to be built Vif free-stone ; and that the super-structure be built of brick and covered on front with mastic — with Terra-Cotta window caps and oniainents. Voted, — To adopt the plan of the window over the entrance to the Hall, as drawn by Mr. Boyden, leaving off the balcony and projecting the window in front of the wall. Voted, — Also, that all the windows correspond with the plan of Mr. Boyden. Voted, — To make three skylights. Voted, — That the length of the building be one hundred feet. The sub-committee were instructed to vary the plans in accordance with the votes and suggestions made at this meeting and procure estimates. Voted, — To meet again at this place in one week from this day, at 9^ A. M. Admirned. WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." "At a meeting of the Building Committee, Feb. 11, 1851, all the members present, it was V'ted, — To put three large windows, with iron shutters, in the rear end of the Horticultural Hall. 28 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. Voted,— To build according to the revised plan of Mr. Boyden. Voted, — Tliat the same Committee procure estimates and proposals. Voted, — That Mr. Bickford be authorized to settle Mr. Joy's bill." ''March 11: Meeting of Building Committee. All present. Several propo- sals were received and read, all exceeding considerably $10,000: the sum to which the Committee are limited by the Society. After a long consideration of the subject, it was Voted, — To re-commit the plans and estimates to the same sub-committee to be revised, to see what reductions and alterations can be made to reduce the cost of the building. Voted,— To call a meeting of the corporation to be held on "Wednesday, the 26th inst. Voted, — To adjourn to next Saturday morning, at 10 o'clock. WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." It will be observed that the Building Committee had recourse to the Corporation because the restriction of the original appro- priation, $10,000, could not be made to cover the extravagance ! of their plans. Their confidence vras not misplaced. For the official record narrates that at a "Special Meeting of the Society, 3farch 26, 1851. The President called the meeting to order and presided. On motion of Mr. George T. Rice, it was Voted, — That the Building Committee be authorized to expend the sum of Two Thousand Dollars, in addition to the sum of Ten Thousand Dollars, already appropriated by a former vote for the purpose of completing the building and furnishing the Hall, authorized by vote at the meeting held Jany. 1st, 1851. Attest : JOHN GRAY, Sec'y." The Baildmg Committee hewing been thus re-inforced, the rescued memorandum continues : — "J/arcA 28, 51. At a meeting of the Building Committee of the Horticultural Society, the following alterations in the plan for the Horticultural Hall were voted, — viz : Voted,— ThyX we adhere to the plan originally adopted for the roof, except that the walls be raised sufficiently to make the trusses six feet in height : Also that the Hall be lighted by a single sky-light in the centre of roof, thirty feet in length by thirteen ft. in breadth, instead or three sky-lights. FoCed,— That the wall of cellar be two feet in thickness, and the parti- tion wall eighteen inches : that the whole building, above basement, be fin- ished with two coats of plastering; that the ceiling be arched, and at termi- 1880.] TRANSACTIONS. 29 nation of arch there be a recess of three inches up — with stucco coruice — pilasters with sunlv panels — Doric capitals. Voted, — To leave oil" iron doors and shutters; but hinges or hooks for them are to be put in walls. Voted, — That Mr. Hoyden be requested to make a plan showing these altera- tions and in conformity with the above votes; and this plan l)e submitted for proposals for erecting the building. WILLIAM WOUlvMAN, Sec." '.' April 1, '51. At a meeting of Building Committee it was Voted,— That Messrs. W. T. Merrifleld, H. N. Tower, and Wm. M. Bickford, be a Sub-Committee and agents to superintend the work. Voted, — That there be one step to threshold at front of building. (by S. SALISBURY.) WM. WORKMAN, Sec." "At a meeting of the Horticultural Society's Building Committee at S. M. L. Ins. OfKce, June 2, '51, there was present Messrs. Salisbury, Paine, Lincoln, Merrifield, Bickford and Workman; and it was Voted, — That Messrs. Paine & Bickford be a Committee with authority to arrange for a temporary loan, not exceeding Ten Thousand Dollars, on the names of the committee. Voted, — That the sub-committee of superintendence be authorized and re- quested to effect an insurance on the building while in progress of ei'ection, WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." " At a meeting of the Building Committee at the usual place, July 14, '51, it was Voted, — That the sub-committee, together with tlie President and Treas- urer, be authorized to lease the Hall to the Third Baptist Society for a sum not less than Five Hundred Dollars a year, to be paid in semi-annual instal- ments, for a terra of not less than five nor exceeding ten years : reserving for the Horticultural Society the right, by giving a week's notice, to the use of the Hall, whenever they shall need it for the use of said Society (Sundays ex- cepted) : and the said Baptist Society may have full use of the Hall at all times, except as above reserved, for religious purposes and for concerts only, they to furnish seats and furniture for their use. Voted, — That the sub-committee, the President and Treasurer (be author- ized?) to lease the stores for a term not exceeding Five Years; also, to lease the 2 rooms in front, in the 2d story, reserving the right of the Society to use the latter whenever their convenience may require. Present at the meeting, Messrs. Salisbury, Paiue, Bickford, Lincoln and Workman. WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." ''Dec. 1, 1851. At a meeting of the Committee, Messrs. Salisbury, Paine, Merrifield, Tower, Bickford & Workman being pi'esent, it was Voted, — That an Insurance of Five Thousand Dollars be effected on the building of the Horticultural Hall. 30 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. Voted, — That the sub-committee be authorized to carry this vote into effect, and that they be also authorized to insure the furniture that may be put into the Hall. Voted, — That the Hall be heated by ventilating furnaces placed within, and that the air for heating be introduced around the heaters through the walls from without : and the sub-committee were authorized to carry the above into effect. Voted, — Also, that the sub-committee be authorized to furnish a sufficient number of settees for the use of the Hall. The meeting was dissolved without a, formal vote. WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." "1852. Jan. 7. Meeting of the Committee at Horticultural Hall. Mr Raymond appeared before the Committee and presented his bill for extras on building. After examining the bill, Voted, — To authorize the sub-Committee to settle with Mr. Raymond and allow the bill except the charge for the panel work in sky-light. Voted, — To adjourn. WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." "e7a?i. 12, 1852. At a meeting of the Committee at Mutual Life Insurance Office it was Voted, — To authorize D. W. Lincoln and Horatio N. Tower to superintend the letting & furnishing the Horticultural Hall until further order. Voted, — To adjourn. WILLIAM WORKMAN, Sec." With this last entry, that faintly pencilled memorandum comes to an abrupt close ; neither in itself, nor elsewhere, being found any'record of the discharge of a Committee whose trust had been so scrupulously fulfilled. Without these brief minutes, we who now manage the functions and transmit the possessions of the Worcester County Horticultural Society would be left in entire ignorance of the painstaking required to devise and provide ways and means for the erection of this substantial edifice. The early legacy was indispensable; the surrender of meagre premiums' counted for something. But it is not an extreme assumption that, were it not for the self-denial of a few of our original mem- bers who hesitated not to pledge their personal security in beiialf of what thej^ approved and advised, tlie Hall that has been for 80 long the home of this Society and wherein it has done such 1886.] TRANSACTIONS. 31 beneficent service, would not now be in existence. Let us tliere- fore eherisli, in every way, tbe natnes and memory of those devoted founders ! The additions to our collection of Portraits, heretofore a subject of appreciative and flattering comment in the community, are most noteworthy. The children of Dr. "William Workman, shortly after his decease, made welcome proffer of that most excellent likeness of our lamented friend and co-worker, which has greeted you throughout the late Horticultural term. To the kind interest of his widow have we been indebted for that capi- tal tracery of the lineaments of Gov. Bullock, — almost as speak- ing as we — the veterans in your ranks — can recall them, in mem- ory, from the public rostrum. These, — precious if only considered as works of art ; invaluable as memorials of those who, busied in the engrossing cares of medical or political life,- yet found leisure for the amenities of Horticulture ; have been fitly supplemented by your Committee with one of John Clap Ripley, whose career was that of a private, unobtrusive citizen, but whose connection with this Society was marked by a singularly earnest and efiicient devotion. A place in such a valhalla may well become an object of worthy ambition. Its merited attainment would nobly crown any extent or degree of labor or time expended in this behalf. We would not upholster our walls with canvas, either in board- measure, or reckless indifference to proprieties of character or location. Our Hall is a Horticultural Hall ; dedicated to certain specific, well-defined uses. Our aims and arts are peaceful, — fraught solely with purposes of beneficence. We aim so to pre- pare the way tiiat there shall be a vine and fig-tree, suited to the climate and region, whenever man shall bo ready to take his seat. And those who contribute most in their own unselfish mode, to develop such grateful shelter for all who are worn and weary beneath the burden and heat of the day, are, of right, arrayed among our immortals. Their memory should abide with us, forever. We would have their features ever before us, for an incentive and inspiration. Let, then, their portraits adorn our walls, wherefrom the speaking likeness shall continually address us in counsel or monition ! For thus shall we best realize to 32 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. ourselves the influences that prevailed of old, and which ani- mated the once feeble and scattered tribes of Rome to impress their history upon an ineffaceable page: — " Smpe aucUvi Q. Maximum, P. Scipioieni, preterea civitatis nos- trae preclaros viros, solUos ita dicere, cum, mqjorum imagines intaer- entur, vehementissime sihi anim,um, ad virtatem. accendi." * — Sallust, Bell. Jngurth. c. iv. All which is respectfully submitted, EDWARD WINSLOW LINCOLN, Secretary. Horticultural Hall, Wo7xester, Worcester County, Massachusetts, 3 : November, A. D. 1886. * I have often heard that Quintus Maximus, Publius Scipio and other illus- trious citizens, were accustomed to declare that when they were contem- plating the features of their ancestors, they felt their minds strongly incited to the performance of noble deeds. REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. To THE Members of the Worcester County Horticultural Society: Your Librarian submits the following report. At the last annual meeting of the Society it was voted that the matter of providing a Catalogue of the Library be referred to the Library Committee with power to act. Acting by the authority thus granted them, the committee were unanimous in. the opinion that a Catalogue by Title would meet the wants of the Society for some time to come, and your Librarian has therefore prepared such a Catalogue to be printed in connection with the transac- tions of the Society thus providing for a general distribution of the same. The additions to the Library during the year just closed by purchase or gift are as follows : — Memorial of Stephen Salisbury ; S. Salisbury. Compendium of the Census of the United States; 1880; Parts 1 and 2. Address on Perils of Wage- Workers in continued Silver Coinage ; by J. H. Walker. Bulletin No. 11, from the Agricultural College of Michigan, being a treatise on Lawn making. Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society ; Part 1; 1885. Report of the Chief Signal Officer ; 1884. Report of the Dept. of Agriculture ; 1885. The Chrysanthemum ; Society. Memoirs of the Sons and Daughters of New Hampshire ; D. Seagrave. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Session of the Massa- chusetts State Grange, Patrons of Husbandry, held at Grafton, Mass., Dec. 15 and 16, 1885 ; James Draper. 34 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1886. Flowers, Fruits and Leaves ; by Sir John Lubbock, London ; 1886 ; Society. Physical Training in American Colleges and Universities ; Bureau of Education. A descriptive Catalogue of Manufactures from Native Woods; Dept. of Agriculture. Insects Affecting the Orange ; Dept. of Agriculture. How the Farm Pays ; by William Crozier and Peter Hen- derson. Dept. of Agriculture Special Reports ; Vol. 11. The American Horticulturist, Monthly ; Society. The American Florist, Semi-Monthly ; Society. Gardening Illustrated ; 1886 ; weekly publication ; Society. Tick's Monthly Magazine ; 1886 ; Society. The Garden ; 1886 ; English weekly publication ; Society. The Gardener's Chronicle ; 1886 ; English weekly publica- tion ; Society. The Agricultural Gazette ; 1886; English weekly publication ; Society. The American Agriculturist ; 1886 ; Society. The Gardener's Monthly ; 1^86 ; Society. The Country Gentleman ; 1886 ; Society. The Massachusetts Ploughman ; 1886 ; Society. The Worcester Directory ; 1886 ; Society. All of which is respectfully submitted. CHARLES E. BROOKS, Librarian. REPORT OF THE TREASURER. Charles E. Brooks, Treasurer^ In account with the Worcester County Horticultural Society. 1886. Dr. To Cash on hand Nov. 1, 1885, $2",267 71 Nov. 1. " for rent of Stores 1 year, 3,100 00 " Hall, 2,616 55 " from ^new Members, 63 00 $8,047 26 Cr. B}' Cash paid Premiums, 1885, " B. C. Jacques, " James Draper as Judge, " Chas. Greenwood as Judge, " H. F. A. Lange as Judge, " Chas. O. Richardson, " E. W. Lincoln, salary, " Chas. E. Brooks, " ' " Extra Labor, and sundry small bills, " Wor. Gas Light Co., " City of Worcester, Taxes, " " " Water, " Interest, Printing, Adv'g and Binding, " F. W. Wellington, Coal, " Portrait and Books for Library, 219 69 $1,600 05 611 60 54 00 54 00 70 00 114 70 400 00 1,000 00 289 38 226 04 523 80 24 33 150 00 329 92 49 00 36 WORCESTER COUNTY" HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [188(5, By Cash paid J. S. Perkins, O. S. Kendall, Arba Pierce, Protective Union, New England Telephone, Hey wood Bros, F. S. Shaw, Balance on hand Nov. 1, 1886, 22 S6 29 65 19 40 7 11 5 81 6 50 30 33 $5,839 17 2,208 09 5,047 26 CHARLES E. BROOKS, Treastirer . Hall of Flora, November 1, 1886. Worcester, Mass., Nov. 1, 1886. We, the undersigned, Auditors of the Worcester County Horticultural So- ciety, hereby certify that we have compared the foregoing accounts of the Treasurer of said Society for the years 1885 and 1886, with the vouchers pre- sented by him, and hud the same correctly entered and footed. EMORY BANISTER. HENRY L. PARKER. CATALOGUE LIBEARY OF THE woncESTEH mm HomiiLiiiEiL socm WORCESTER, MASS. WORCESTER : PRESS OF CHARLES HAMILTON, No. 311 Main Street. 1886. CATALOGUE. Explanation.— D. indicates duplicate. Annals of Horticulture. 5 vols. 8vo. D. London, 1846-50. Abert's Examination of New Mexico. Svo. Andrews' Report of Colonial and Lake Trade. 2 vols. Svo. 1852. . Allen's Treatise on the Grape. 2 copies. 1 2rao. Ayres and Moore's Florist's Guide. Svo. Allen's Rural Architecture. 12mo. D. American Agriculturist. 4to. 1859-1886. Agriculture of Massachusetts. C. L. Flint. Svo. 1853-1880. Agriculture of Massachusetts. John E. Russell. Svo. 1881-1886. Agriculture, Department of. Reports. Svo. 1862-1885. Acres, Ten Enough. 12mo. 1865. Alpine Flowers. W. Robinson. Svo. 72 cuts. London. Alpine Flowers. Wm. Sutherland. Svo. 1871. Allen's American Farm Book. 12mo. Annual of Scientific Discovery. D. A. Wells. 12mo. 1857. American Angler's Guide. (Illustrated). Svo. A Tour Around My Garden. 12mo. 1856. Albany Cultivator. 4 vols. 4to. American Fruit Garden Companion. E. Sayers. 16mo. American Flower Garden Companion. E. Sayers. 16mo. Agricultural Annual. 12mo. 1867-1871. American Fruit Culturist. J. J. Thomas. Revised edition. 12mo. 1866. American Grape Culture and Wine Making. P. B. Mead. Svo. American Pomology ; Apples. John A. Warder. 12mo. American Horticultural Annual. 12rao. 1867-1871. American Naturalist. Vol. 1. (1S67-69, vol. 2.) (1869-70, vol. 3.) Vols. 4, 5, 6, 7. Plates and wood-cuts. Svo. A New Home. American Farmer's Encyclopedia. Johnson. Svo. 1844. Animals and Plants which Domesticate. Darwin. 2 vols. 12mo. American Journal of Horticulture. Vols. 3 and 4, 1868. Svo. 4 4 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Araeiican Agriculturist. Vols. 27-34. 4to, American Horticultural Society. 2 vols. 1870. American Fruit Book. S. H. Cole. Many cuts. 18mo. 1849. Atlas of Flowers. Vilraorin. 12mo. Paris, 1870. Apple Culturist. S.E.Todd. 12mo. 168 cuts. New York, 1871. Alpine Plants. David Wooster. 54 col. plates. Large 8vo. London. Annual Report of Board of State Charities. 8vo. A Summer In My Garden. Warner C. Dudley. 16mo. 1871. Agricultural Ga/(!tte, The. 2 vols. 4to. London, 1874-75. Alpine Plants. Second series ; illustrated. Large 8vo. London. Annual Report of Board of State Charities. 12th. 8vo. Amateur's Greenhouse and Conservatory. Col'd plates and engravings. D. 1873. Annual Report of the State Pomological Society of Michigan. (Sixth.) 8vo. Annual Report of the United States Entomological Commission for 1877, relating to the Rocky Mountain Locust, with maps and illustrations. First Report. A Practical Treatise on the Construction, Heating and Ventilation of Hot-houses. 8vo. 1851. American Farmer's Instructor. F. S. Wiggins. 8vo. Ad Introduction to Systematic and Physiological Botany. Thomas Nuttall. 12mo. 1827. American Entomologist. New series. Two copies. Large 8vo. 1880. A Glimpse at Michigan Horticulture. Chas. W. Garfield. Address of Hon.' Marshall P. Wilder and other proceedings at the meeting of the New England Genealogical Society, Jan. 4, 1882. Annual Report of Commission of Public Grounds. E. W. Lincoln, Chairman. Pamphlet. 1881-82, 1883-84. Address of Hon. George B. Loring and other proceedings of the Cotton Convention, held at Atlanta, Ga., Nov. 21, 1881. American Journal of Forestry. Franklin B. Hough. Answers to Inquiries about the United States Bureau of Education. Pamphlet. Address of Hon. M. P. Wilder at the Nineteenth Session of the American Pomological Society, held at Philadelphia, Pa., 1883. Address on Perils of Wage Workei's in continued Silver Coinage, J. H. Walker. A Treatise on Lawn Making. Pamphlet. 1886. An Investigation of the Composition of American Wheat and Corn. Pamphlet. [ \ %\ CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. \ John Lubbock, M. P., F. R. S. 12mo. Fruits, Flowers and Leaves. Sir John Lubbock. 12mo. 1886. Gardener's Farmer's Dictionary. 2 copies. 12mo. Gardener's Chronicle. 4to. Folio. [Still publishing.] Gardener's Monthly. Thomas Meehan. 28 vols. 8vo. 1859-86. Gray's Manual of Botany of Northern United States. 8vo. D. Gray's Genera of Plants of the United States. 8vo. 1848-9. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 11 Greenwood and Mount Auburn. (Illustrated). Quarto. 1847. Grape Culture (open air). John Phin. 8vo. 1876. Grape Culture, Wine and Wine Making. A. Haraszthy. 8vo. 1862. Grape Culturist. A. S. Fuller. 8vo. 1864. D. Gould's Report on the luvertebratio of Massachusetts. 8vo. 1841. Gilpin on Landscape Gardening. 8vo. Graham's Report on the Mexican Boundary. 8vo. Guenon's Treatise on Milch Cows. 8vo. 1856. Gray's Botanical Text Book. 8vo. 1865. Gardening for Ladies. Mrs. Loudon. 12mo. 1846. Gray's Agricultural and Literary Essays. 12mo. Gray's Manual of Botany. 2 copies. 8vo. 1856. Illustrated. Gardener's Text-Book. P. A. Schenck. 12mo. 1860. Gardening for Profit. Peter Henderson. 12mo. Geyelin's Poultry Breeding. C. L. Flint. 12mo. Gray's Scientific and Practical Agriculture. 12mo. Geology of Massachusetts. Hitchcock. 8vo. Geological Report on the Lake Superior District. Large 8vo. Geology of New Jersey, with maps. G. H. Cook. Large 8vo. Gleanings from French Gardens. Robinson. 12mo. London. Gardening for Pleasure. Peter Henderson. 12mo. 1875. Grafting and Budding. Chas. Baltet. Small 12rao. Grape Vine Culture. J. Fisk Allen. 12mo. 1848. Grasses of Great Britain. Chas. Johnson. 8vo. Illustrated by John E. Sowerby. Gardening Illustrated. An English weekly paper. [Still publishing.] Gately's Universal Educator. 3 vols in one. Royal 8vo. 1883. Guide to the Study of Insects. A. S. Packard. 8vo. 1869. Hovey's Magazine. 34 vols. 8vo. 1835-68. Hovey's Fruits of America. 2 vols. Horticulturist. 25 vols. 8vo. 1846-70. Horticultural Pamphlets. 8vo. Hooker's Exotic Flora. 3 vols. 8vo. Hooker's Icones Plantarum. 4 vols. 8vo. D. Hooker's Journal of Botany. 4 vols. 8vo. Harris on the Insects of New England. 8vo. 1852. Harris and Agassiz on Insects Injurious to Vegetation. 8vo. 1862. Hogg on the Growth and Culture of the Carnation. 12rao. Horticultural, Register. 8vo. 1835-6. Horticulture, Journal of 38 vols. Royal 8vo. 1861-80. Horticulture, Journal of Royal 8vo. Third series. 1880-1882. 1'2 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. How to Choose a Good Milch Cow. C. L. Flint. l2rao. Hitchcock's Elements of Geology. Large 8vo. Hovey's Magazine of Horticulture. Vols. 1 and 2. 8vo. Hind's Farriery and Stud Book. High Farming Without Manure. M. Ville. Pamphlet. Harris on Insects. 8vo. Revised edition. Colored Illustrations. 2 copies. Horticultural Annual. 1867. How Crops Grow. S. W. Johnson. 12rao. 1869. Hogg's Gardener's Almanac. 16mo. 1871-73. Handy Book of Husbandry. Geo. E. Waring, Jr. 12mo. 18.54. Hardy Herbaceous and Alpine Flowers. William Sutherland. 8vo. 1871. Handy Book of the Flower Garden. David Thompson. 8vo. 1871. Hardy Trees, Shrubs and Herbaceous Plants. Decaisne and Naudin. 8vo. 1873. Abridged by Hemsley. Hand Book of British Mosses. Rev. M. J. Berkeley. 8vo. London. 24 col'd plates. How Crops Feed. S. W. Johnson. 12mo. 1869. Hand Book of British Fungi. M. C. Cooke, M. A. 2 vols., with full description of all the species and illustrations of the Genera. 18rao. 1863, newed. 1871. History of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 2 copies. 8vo. 1829-78. Home Garden, The. Ella R. Church. 12mo. Horticulture of Boston. Marshall P. Wilder. Harvard University Bulletin. Vol. 2. Nos. 10, 11. Pamphlet. High Schools for Girls in Sweden. Bureau of Education. Pamphlet. Homes for the People. G. Wheeler. 12mo. 1855. D. How the Farm Pays. Wm. Crozier and Peter Henderson. 1884. 8vo. Insects affecting the Orange. Pamphlet. Illustrated London Almanac. 1856, 1858-62. Illinois, Transactions of State Agricultural Society. 8vo. 1859-60. Indiana, Transactions of State Agricultural Society. 8vo. 1853. Industry of Massachusetts. 8vo. Indian Corn. Edw. Enfield. 12mo. 1866. Illustrated Strawberry Culturist. A. S. Fuller. 12nio. 1867. Iconum Botanicorum Index. G. A. Pritzel. Royal 8vo. 1855. Index of the Agricultural Reports of the Patent Office for 25 years, from 1837 to 1861, and of the Department of Agriculture for 15 years, from 1862 to 1876. 8vo. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 13 Industrial Art in Schools. Bureau of Education. Pamphlet. Insects Injurious to Fruits. Wm. Saunders. 2 co))ie8. Svo. 1883. Illiteracy in the United States in 1870-1880. Charles Warren, M.D. Pamphlet. Index to "The Garden" from 1871-81. Svo. Index to Curtis' Botanical Magazine. Vols. 1-107. Royal Svo. Index to North American Botany. Watson. Svo. 1878. Jaques' Fruit Trees. ISmo. Johnson's Dictionary of Gardening. 12mo. Johnson's Flower Garden. 12mo. Johnson's Gardener's Almanac. 12rao. 1861. Johnston's Agricultural Chemistry and Geology. 12mo. D. Journal of Agriculture. 3 vols. Svo. Jackson's Geological Survey of Rhode Island. Svo. Jager's Life of North American Insects. 12mo. Johnston's Chemistry of Common Life. 2 vols. 12mo. Johnston's Lectures on Agricultural Chemistry, l^mo. Johnston's Notes on North America. 2 vols. Johnston's Instructions for the Analysis of Soils. Johnson's Dictionary of Gardening. Landreth. Svo. Journal of American Agricultural Association. Vol. 1. Svo. Kollar on Insects. 12mo. Kennon's Essay on Trees. Royal 4to. Kidder's Guide to Apiarian Science. 12mo. Knowledge is Power, &c. Chas. Knight. Svo. Kerby and Spence's Entomology. 12mo. Kollar on Injurious Insects. 12mo. Langstroth's Hive and Honey-Bee. 12mo. Leuchar's Treatise on Hot-houses. 12mo. D. Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants. 2 vols. Svo. 1841. D Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Plants. 2 vols. Svo. 1855. Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Gardening. 2 vols. Svo. D. Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. Svo. D. Loudon's Encyclopaedia of Agriculture. (Cottage). Svo. Loudon's Horticulture : Suburban. Svo. Loudon's Arboretum. 8 vols. Svo. 1844. London Cemeteries. Svo. London Horticultural Society's Catalogue. Svo. London Horticultural Society's Reports. 7 vols. 4to. London Villa Gardener. Svo. 1850. Ladies' Flower Garden, Mrs. Loudon. 5 vols. 4to. 14 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Lindley's Flora Medica. 8vo. Lindley's Horticulture. 12rao. D. Lindley's Vegetable Kingdom. 8vo. Lindley's British Fruits. 3 vols. 8vo. Liebig's Complete Chemistry. Svo. D. Landreth's Rural Register. 12mo. 1848-56. Lang's Highland Cottages. Quarto. Linsley's History of Morgan Horses. 8vo. •Low's Domesticated Animals of Great Britain. Lyell's Elements of Geology. 8vo. 1853. Lyell's Principals of Geology. Lardner's Lectures on Science and Art. 2 vols. Svo. Lincoln's Botany. Svo. London Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 19 vols. Svo. Land Office Report. Svo. 1867. Liebig's Agricultural Chemistry. Svo. Loudon's Suburban Gardener. Loudon's Suburban Horticulture. 8vo. 1842. Les Fougeres (Ferns). 2 vols. Svo. 1867-S. List of Agricultural, Horticultural and Pomological Societies. Pamphlet. Laws and Ordinances of Worcester. Svo. 1881. Lilies', Notes on. Dr. Wallace. 12rao. Lilies, Monograph of. Elwes. Large 4to. Le Jardin Fleuriste. 4 vols. Svo. 1855. L'lllustration Horticole. 23 vols. Royal Svo. 1855-76. Loudon's Encyclopedia of Cottage, Farm and Villa Architecture. Svo. Morrell's American Shepherd. 12mo. McLitosh : Book of the Garden. 2 vols. 8vo. Mcintosh on the Greenhouse. 12mo. 1838. Mcintosh on the Orchard. 12mo. Mcintosh on the Flower Garden. 12mo. Meehan's American Hand-Book of Ornamental Trees. 12mo. 1853. Michaux's North American Sylva. 3 vols. Svo. Miller's Gardener's Dictionary. 4 vols. Folio. Massachusetts, Industry of. 2 copies. Svo. 1855. Massachusetts Convention. Svo. 1788. Massachusetts, Agriculture of. C. L. Flint. 2 vols. Svo. Maine, Agriculture and Geology. Svo. 1862, Second series. Maine, Agricultuie and Geology. Svo. 1857-60. Munn's Practical Land Drainer. 12rao. 1856. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 15 Miles, The Horse's Foot and how to keep it sound. 12mo. Mason's Farrier and Stud Book. 8vo. Miner's Bee-Keeper's Manual. 12mo. Mechanics' own Book. 16mo. Mulberry Tree and Silk Culture. J. H. Cobb. 16mo. 1839. Manual of Architecture and Landscape Gardening. G. E. and F. W. Woodward. Message and Documents, Department of State. 2 vols. 1867-8. Message and Documents, Department of War. 2 vols. 1867-8. Medical Botany. W. P. C. Barton, M. D. 2 vols. Manual of the Mulberry Tree. Cobb. 16rao. 1839. Mitchell's World. Mowbray on Poultry. Mawe's Gardener. Glenning. 12mo. 1865. Money in the Garden. P. T. Quinn. 12mo. 1871. Mushroom Culture. W. Robinson. Small 8vo. 1871. My Garden. Alfred Smee, F. R. S. Royal 8vo. London. 1872. Michigan Pomological Society. 8vo. 1876 and 1879. Memorial History of Boston and Suffolk Co., 1630 to 1880. 4 vols. 1881. Edited by Justin Winsor. Maternal Schools in France. No. 5 Bureau of Education. Pamphlet. Microscopic Observations. Thos. Taylor. Modern Forest Economy. John C. Brown. 12mo. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, Notes on Insects injurious to the Apple. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, Notes on Insects injurious to Farm and Garden Crops. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, Notes on the Vitality of the Seeds of various Weeds, and the Causes of certain Diseases of Grasses. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, Notes on Feeding Experiments with Corn Ensilage. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, Notes on Feeding Experiments with Gluten Meal as a constituent of the daily diet of Milch Cows. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, Notes on Feeding Experiments with Pigs. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, Fodder and Fodder Analyses. Massachusetts Agricultural Station, First Annual Report. Mysteries of Bee-Keeping. 12mo. 1865. Quimby. Michigan Horticulturist. (Monthly.) 1885. [Still publishing.] My Summer in a Garden. C. D. Warner. 16mo. 1871. 16 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Memoirs of the Worcester Association of the Sons and Daughters of New Hampshire. EUery Bicknell Crane. 8vo. 1885. Memorial of Stephen Salisbury, of Worcester, Mass. S. Salisbury. Large 8vo. 1885. New England Farmer. 12 vols. 4to. 1834-44. Unbound. New England Farmer. 12 vols. 4to. 1849-60. Nash's Progressive Farmer. 12mo. D. New Orchard and Garden. F. A. Williams. 8vo. Reprint of 1626. Nature, Man and. Geo. P. Marsh. 8vo. Nuttall's North American Sylva. 3 vols. 8vo. New Hampshire, Transactions of Agricultural Society. 8 vols. 8vo. 1851-9. New York, Transactions of the State Board of Agriculture. 31 vols. 1841-1871. Nefflin's Method of Increasing the Yield of Milch Cows. Natural History of Insects. Prof Rennie. 2 vols. 12mo. 1857. Norton's Scientific and Practical Agriculture. Large 12mo. 1865. Neill's Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Gardener's Companion. New Book of Flowers. Joseph Breck. 12mo. 1866. New England Farmer. (Old). Vols. 1-15. 4to. 1823-1837. New England Fruit Trees. George Jaques. 12mo. New England Fruit Book. Robert Manning. 12rao. 1838. New England Fruit Book. John M. Ives. Second edition. New Mexico. Ewing, Abert and Johnston. 8vo. 1848. New American Gardener. Fessenden. 12mo. 1828. 14th edition. New and Rare Foliaged Plants. S. Hibbard. 8vo. London. 1870. Natural History of Plants. Baillou. Vols. 1 to 6 inclusive. Royal 8vo. Illustrated. Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States. 2 vols. 4to. Native Flowers and Ferns of the United States. 2 vols. 4to. Sec- ond Series. Notes on Botrychium Simplex. George E. Davenport. 1877. Nebraska's Superficial Deposits. 12mo. Pamphlet. Nebraska as a Home for Emigrants. 12mo. Pamphlet. Notes on Trees and Tree Planting. C. S. Sargent. New Book of Flowers. Peter Henderson. 8vo. Notes on Lilies. Dr. Wallace. 12mo. 1870. North American Lichens. Tuckerman. 8vo. 1882. Notes on Money, Trade and Banking. Joseph H. Walker. 12mo. Nebraska and its Settlers. J. F. Allen. Burbidge and Baker, London. Narcissus, The, its History and Culture. 8vo. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 17 National Almanac. Vol. 2. 1864, New Hampshire State Board of Agriculture. Svo. 1871-79. Obituary Addresses on Henry Clay. Svo. 1852. Ornithology of Massachusetts. Report by Peabody. 8vo. 1839. Ohio Agricultural Report. Svo. 1857-76 except 1868-69. Orchid Grower's Manual. B. S. Williams. Svo. London, 1868. Ornithology and Oology of New England. Edward A. Samuels. Svo. 1867. Open Air Grape Culture John Phin. Large 12mo. 1862. Our Farm of Four Acres. l2mo. Boston, 1850. Onion Raising. J. J. H. Gregory. Pamphlet. Our Neighborhood ; or Letters on Horticulture and Natural Phe- nomena. E. Bliss. 12nio. 1831. Observations on the Soils and Products of Florida. Our Garden Foes and Friends. Rev. J. G. Wood. 12mo. 1864. Patent Office Report. 20 vols. 8vo. 1843-63. Patent Office Report. (Agricultural.) Svo. I860-. Patent Office Report. (Mechanical.) 2 vols. Svo. 1860. Pomona Britannica. 2 vols. 4to. Phillips' History of Vegetables. 2 vols. Svo. London, 1827. Phillips' Sylva Florifera. 2 vols. Svo. London, 1823. Paxton's Magazine of Botany. 16 vols. Large Svo. Pardee's Fruit, Flower and Vegetable Companion. 12mo. 1857. Pardee's Fruit Culture. 12mo. Parks' North American Flora. 2 vols. Svo. Parsons on the Rose. 12mo. 1856. D. Perry's Japan Expedition. 3 vols. 4to. 1856. Parlor and Garden Flowers. E. S. Rand, Jr. 12mo. Poulterer's Companion, American. E. M. Bement. 12mo. 1S55, also new ed. 1867. Poultry Yard, The American. Browne. l2mo. Appendix by Allen. 1863. Porter's Chemistry and its Application to Agriculture and the Arts. Pardee on Strawberry Culture. 3 copies. 12mo. Principles of Zoology. Agassiz and Gould. Prize Essays, and Transactions of the Highland and Agricultura Society of Scotland. 14 vols. Svo. 1828-55. Pigeons: Varieties; Treatment. Tegetmeier. Royal Svo. 186S. Patent Office Report. Svo. 1860. / Patent Office Report. (Agriculture.) Svo. IS67. Principles of Gardening. Johnson. 18 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Poultry Book. W. B. Tegetmeier, F. Z. S. Royal 8vo. London, 1867. Practical Floriculture. Peter Henderson. 12rao. 1869. Practical Poultry Keeper. L. Wright. 8vo. London, 1867. Propagation, Culture and History of the Rose. S. B. Parsons. Royal Svo. 1847. Parks, Promenades and Gardens of Paris. Svo. 1869. Proceedings of the Pennsylvania Fruit Growing Society. 1867-70. Paxton's Botanical Dictionary. 8vo New and revised edition. 1868. Public Libraries of the U. S. A., Their History, Condition and Man- agement. 8vo. 1876. Pomological Magazine, Figures and Descriptions of the Most Im- portant varieties of Fruits in Great Britain. 3 vols. Royal Svo. Half calf 151 colored plates. Proceedings of the 5th Annual Meeting of the Illinois Farmers' Association. Proceedings of the 5th Annual Session of the National Agricultural Congress. Play and Profit in My Garden. Rev. E. P. Roe. 1 2mo. Pomological Manual. Wm. R. Pince. 1882. Pomariura Britannicum, a Historical and Botanical Account of Fruits in Great Britain. Henry Phillips, F. H. S. Svo. Third edition, • 1827. Power and Movement of Plants. Chas. Darwin. 12mo. 1881. Proceedings of Portage Co. Horticultural Society, Ravenna, Ohio. 1879-80. Proceedings of Illinois Horticultural Society. Peach, The. John Rutter. 12mo. 1880. Public Statutes of Massachusetts. Svo. 1882. Proceedings of a Convention of Agriculturists held in the Dept. of Agriculture, Jan. 10 to 18, 1882. Planting Trees in School Grounds. Bureau of Education. Preliminary Circular, Respecting the Exhibition of Education at the World's Industrial and Cotton Centennial Exposition. Papers on Government Timber Lands and American Fruit Trees. Pine Plantations in France. Pamphlet. Planting Trees in School Grounds and the Celebration of Arbor Day. Pamphlet. Pear Culture for Profit. Quinu. 12mo. 1869. Proceedings of the Thirteenth Annual Session of the Massachusetts State Grange P. of H., held at Grafton, Mass., Dec. 15 and 16, 1885. Pamphlet. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 19 Physical Training in American Colleges and Universities. 8vo. 1885. Pamphlet. Quimby's Mysteries of Bee-Keeping. 12mo. 1865. Report, Commerce and Navigation of United States. 8vo. 1850-56. Report on Light houses. 8vo. 1852. Report on Finances. 8vo. 1855-6 and 1858-9. Rogers' Vegetable Cultivator. 18mo. Repton on Landscape Gardening. 8vo. Reconnoissances in New Mexico and Texas. 8vo. 1850. D. Ronald's Selected Apples. 8vo. Folio. 1831. Rand, E. S., Jr., Parlor and Garden Flowers. 8vo. D. Revue Horticole. 26 vols. 8vo. Paris, 1859-1885. Rural Register. 9 vols. 18mo. 1855-1881. Rural Annual. 18mo. 1856-9. Rural Annual. 2 vols. 18mo. 1860-6. Rodgers' Scientific Agriculture. Reemelin's Vine Dresser's Manual. 12mo. 1858.- Rural Homes. G. Wheeler. 12mo. 1855. D. Rural Poetry of the English Language. Robbins' Produce Reckoner. Report of Commissioners of Liternal Revenue. 8vo. Reports of Smithsonian Institute. 1 vol. each. 8vo. 1863-4. Report of Commissioner of Agriculture. 3 copies. 8vo. Rivers' Miniature Fruit Garden. 8vo. Record of Horticulture for 1866. A. S. Fuller. 12mo. 1866. Rural Architecture. Allen. 12mo. 1863. Repton's Landscape Gardening. 8vo. 1839. Reports on Diseases of Cattle. Department of Agriculture. 8vo. 1869. Reports of the Massachusetts Board of State Charities. 8vo. 1870-5. Rhododendron, and "American Plants." E. S. Rand, Jr. 8vo. Edition of 1871. Rustic Adornments. Shirley Hibbard. 12mo. 1857. Roses, Book About. S. Reynolds Hole. London, 1870. Rose Amateur's Guide. Rivers. 16mo. London, 1872. Report of Commissioner of Education. 1 873-5. Roses. H. Janiain and Eugene Forney. History, Culture, Description. 60 Chromo Lithographs. Royal 8vo. 1873. Report of the Commissioner of Agriculture. 8vo. 1876. Report of the Fruit Growers' Association of the Province of Ontario. 1877. 20 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Report (Special) Dept. of Agriculture, No. 6. Frederic Watts, Cora- missionor of Agriculture. 1878. Report of the Board of Commissioners on the Irrigation of San Joaquin, Tulare and Sacramento Valleys of the State of California. Rutter on the Peach. John Rutter. 12rao. 1880. Rose, The. H. B. Ellwanger. 2 copies. 12rao. 1882. Report of the Worcester Schools. A. P. Marble, Supt. 1881. Report of Estimated Production of Cereals of the U. S. for the year 1881. Dept. of Agriculture. Report of the Condition of Winter Grain. The Progress of Cotton, Corn Planting, Rate of Wages and Results of Tile Draining, May, 1882. Dept. of Agriculture. No. 43. Report (Special No. 44). Dept. of Agriculture. Nos. 40 and 41. Report upon the Acreage of Cotton and all Cereals and the Area of Spring Grain, June, 1882. Dept. of Agriculture. Report upon the Acreage of Cotton and all Cereals and the Area of Spring Giain, .July, 1882. Dept. of Agriculture. Report of the Condition of Corn, Cotton and Fruits. Department of Agriculture. Report of the Chief Signal Officer. W. B. Ilazen. 1879-81. Report of the Town Officers, Leicester. 1883. Report of the Auditor of the City of Worcester. 1882. Report of the American Pomological Society, Session of 1883. Report of the Commissioner of Education. 1883-4. Report of the Crops of the year 1884. Report of the Organization and Management of Seven Agricultural Schools in Germany, Belgium and England. Report of the Observations and Experiments in the Practical Work of the Division, made under the direction of the Entomologist. Report on the Condition of Growing Crops. Department of Agri- culture. Report of the Character of Six Hundred Tornadoes. Signal Office. Report of the Worcester Schools. 1884. Storer's Fishes and Reptiles of Massachusetts. 8vo. 1839. Schenck's Gardener's Text Book. 12mo. D. Sinclair's Letters to George Washington on Agriculture. 4to. Stuart's Planter's Guide. 8vo. Stansbury. Great Salt Lake ; with Maps. 2 vols. 8vo. Smith's English Flora. 4 vols. 8vo. Sweet on the Geranium. 5 vols. 8vo. Sweet on the Flora Australasia. 8vo. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 21 Smith's Landscape Gardening. 12rao. D. Stockliardt's Agricultural Chemistry. 12mo. Shepherd, Practical. Randall. 8vo. Stewart's Stable Book. Stockhardt's Chemical Field Lectures. 12rao. 1854. Stockhardt's Principles of Chemistry. Stephens' Farmer's Guide, with Notes by Prof. Norton. 2 vols. Royal 8vo. 1842. Saxton's Rural Hand-books. 4 vols. Studies in the Field and Forest. W. Flagg. Large 12mo. 1857. Sorgho and Imphee, the new Sugar Canes. Pamphlet. Squashes, and How to Grow Them. J. J. H. Gregory. Pamphlet. Small-Fruit Culturist. A. S. Fuller. 12mo. 1867. Sayer's Modern Housewife. Say's Entomology. Le Conte. 2 vols. 8vo. 1869. New edition. Seventy-five Flowers. E. S. Rand, Jr. 12mo. 1870. Suburban Home Grounds. Frank J. Scott. Large 8vo. 1870. Selected Fruits. Chas. Downing. 1871. Small Fruit Recorder. Vol. 3. 1871. Shrubs and Trees for English Plantations. Mougredien. Seventh Annual Report of the State Board of Health. 8vo. 1876, 1877. 2 copies of each. Special Report from John Eaton, Commissioner of Education. Semi-Tropical Magazine. 8vo. Synoptical Flora of North America. Asa Gray, LL.D. Part I. 1878. 8vo. Studies in the Field and Forest. Wilson Flagg. Large 12mo. 1857. Success with Small-Fiuits. Rev. E. P. Roe. 8vo 1880. Speech of Hon. W. W. Rice of Massachusetts, on The National Li- brary, delivered in the House of Representatives, June 20, 1882. Sorghum and the Beet Sugar Industry. Sugar Beet. Periodical. Silk Worm, The, being a Brief Manual of Instruction for the Pro- duction of Silk. Special Reports of the Department of Agriculture from No. 1, 1877, to No. 65, 1883. 6 vols. Synoptical Flora of North America. Asa Gray. Vol. 1, Pt. II. 8vo. 1884. Special Characteristics of Tornadoes, with Directions for the Protection of Life and Property. Pamphlet. 5* 22 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Soiling of Cattle. Josiah Quincy ; with a Memoir of the Author by Edmund Quincy. 12mo. 1S66. Thomas' American Fruit Culturist. 12mo. D. Thomas' Rural Register. 9 vols. 12mo. 1855-81. Teschemacher's Elements of Horticulture. 18mo. Tower's Domestic Gardener's Manual. 8vo. Transactions of Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 8vo. 1847-52. Transactions of Massachusetts Horticultural Society's 20th Exhibition. 8vo. Transactions of Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 8vo. 1863, 66, 67, 69, 70, 71. Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Part T. 8vo. 1885. Transactions of the Horticultural Society of London, England. 7 vols. Quarto. Transactions of the Maine Board of Agriculture. 19 vols. 8vo. 1857-78, except 1867, 68, 69. Transactions of the Ohio Board of Agriculture. 8vo. 1857-76, except 1868, 69. Transactions of the Conn. Agricultural Society. 13 vols. Svo. 1856, 57, 66, 67, 68, 71, 78. Transactions of the New Hampshire State Agricultural Society. 8vo. 1 850-60. Transactions of the Wisconsin Agricultural Society. Transactions of the Illinois Agricultural Society. Svo. 1859-66,67, 69-77. Transactions of the New York Agricultural Society. Svo. 1841-72, except 1843. Transactions of the California Agricultural Society. Svo. 1874. Transactions of the Michigan Agricultural Society. Svo. 1865-6, 73-76. Transactions of the Indiana Agricultural Society. Svo. Transactions of the Rhode Island Society for Encouragement of Do- mestic Industry. Svo. 1850-7, 60, 62-3. Transactions of the American Institute, New York City. Svo. Transactions of the Middlesex Co., Mass., Agricultural Society. Transactions of the Norfolk Co., Mass., Agricultural Society. Transactions of the Worcester, Mass., Agricultural Society. Ten Acres Enough. 12rao. Thomas' Farm Implements. Thompson, on the Food of Animals. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 23 The Sliepherd's Own Book. Thaer's Principles of P'ractical Agriculture. The American Farmer's Encyclopedia, Emerson. 8vo. 1878. The Ladies' Guide ; or, The Skilful Housewife. 8vo. The Farm and Fireside. J. L. Blake. The American Farmer's New and Universal Hand-book. 8vo. 1851. 300 engravings. The American Sportsman ; containing the Habits of the Game Birds and Wild Fowl of America. 8vo. 300 illustrations. The Farm. D.H.Jacques. 12mo. 1866. Revised edition. The Garden. D. H. Jacques. 12mo. The Native Grape; its Cultivation, Wine, etc. Geo. Husmann. 12mo. 1866. Transactions of the Alton (111.) Horticultural Society. 1853-74. Pamphlet. The Forest Tree Culturist. A. S. Fuller. Transactions of Ohio Pomological Society. 8vo. 8th session. Transactions of Worcester County Mechanics Association. 8vo. The Pig. Sam'l Youatt. 12mo. The Birds of New England and Adjacent States. E. A. Samuels. 8vo. The Poultry Book. W. B. Tegetmeier. Royal 8vo. London, 1867. Colored prints. The Flower Garden. E. S. Delemer. London. The Kitchen Garden. E. S. Delemer. London. The Poultry Yard. E. Watts. 16mo. London. Transactions of American Institute. 1863-6. The Ladies' Magazine of Gardening, Mrs. Loudon. 8vo. 1842. The Farmer's Library. Vol. 1, The Ox. London. The Farmer's Library. Vol. 2, The Sheep, Dog, Hog, Poultry, Bees. London. Transactions of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. Vol. 1. The Rose. S. B. Parsons. 8vo. 1847. Transactions of the American Pomological Society. 1852, '58, '60, '69, '71, '79, '81, '83. Pamphlet. Treatise on the Culture of Fruit Trees. Wm. Forsyth. Notes by Wm. Corbett. 12mo. The Management of Fruit Trees. Geo. Jaques. 12rao. 1849. Tilton's Journal of Horticulture. Vols. 5 and 6. 1869-70 (70 vol. 7, 71 vol. 8)-9. The Strawberry ; its Culture. J. M. Merrick. 24 WORCESTER OOUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. The abridgment of the Gardener's Dictionary. Phillip Miller, F. R. S. London. 1771. Sixth edition. The Grape Vine. F. Moho. The Ivy. Shirley Hibbard. 8vo. London. The Window Gardener. E. S. Rand, Jr. 12mo. Trees and Shrubs of Massachusetts. Geo. B. Emerson. 2 vols. 8vo. The Pinetura. Synopsis of all known Coniferous Plants, with Index. George Gordon, A. L. S. 8vo. 1875. Transactions of the Nebraska State Horticultural Society. 1877. Talks on Manures. Jos. Harris. Tim Bunker's Papers on Yankee Farming. 12mo. Transactions of the Hingham Agricultural and Horticultural Societies, by F. H. Lincoln, tSec. Technical Instruction in France. Bureau of Education. Pamphlet. Transactions and Reports of the Fruit Growers' Association and Inter national Show Society of Nova Scotia. The Ladies' Floral Cabinet. R. Waggoner. Royal 8vo. 1883. The English Flower Garden. Wm. Robinson. 8vo. The Teaching and Practice of Shorthand. Julius E. Rockwell. Pam- phlet. The Northern Sugar Industry ; A record of its Progress during the Season of 1883. Pamphlet. The Soils and Products of Southern Louisiana. The Proper Value and Management of Government Timber Lands. Pamphlet. The Climate, Soil, Physical Resources and Agricultural Capabilities of the State of Maine. Pamphlet. Tenth Anniversary of the North Brookfield Railroad. Hon. T. C. Bates. Pamphlet. The Sugar Industry of the United States. H. W. Wiley. Pamphlet. Teachers' Institute, Circular No. 2. Bureau of Education. 8vo. Pamphlet. Treatise on Silos and Ensilage. Dr. J. F. Boynton. 12mo. The Vegetable Kingdom. Lindley. 8vo. 1846. Trees and Shrubs of English Plantations. 8vo. 1838. Transactions of Worcester County Horticultural Society. 2 copies. 2 vols. 8vo. 1840-86. The Field Book of Manures. D. J. Browne. 12mo. 1864. United States Annual Reports. 2 parts. 8vo. 1851-3. United States Annual Reports. 3 parts. 8vo. 1853-4. United States Census. 4to. 1850. CATALOGUE OF THE LIBRARY. 25 United States Commercial Relations. 4to. 1859. Ure's Dictionary of Arts, Maimfactures and Mines. 2 vols. Ignited States Gazetteer. Vaux's Villas and Cottages. 8vo. Vegetables of America. F. Burr. 8vo. First ed. 1863. Villa-Gardener. Vols. 1 and 2. 8vo. London. 1876-9. Vick's Floral Guide. 8vo. 1874. Vegetable Plants. ,T. F. Tillinghast. Vick's Floral Magazine. ' 8vo. 1878-86. Vegetable Mould and Earth Worms. Chas. Darwin. 12mo. 1882. Village and Farm Cottages. Large 8vo. 1856. D. Vine-Dresser's Manual. Chas. Reemelin. 18rao. Wiggin's American Farmer's Instructor. 8vo. 1840. Weeks' Management of Bees. 12mo. Wheeler's Homes for the People. 12mo. 1855. D. Walden's Soil Culture. 12mo. Wislizenus : Tour to Northern Mexico. 8vo. .Wilson's Rural Cyclopedia. 4 vols. 8vo. Wilder's Eulowium on A. J. Downing. 8vo. Wilder's Address before the Berkshire Agricultural Society. 8vo. Watson's Home Garden. 12rao. Wells' Year Book of Agriculture. 8vo. 1855-6. D. Waring's Elements of Agriculture. 12mo. 1854. Wood's Illustrated Natural History. Wells' Familiar Science. (Illustrated). 8vo. 1856. Woodward's Country Homes. 8vo. Woodward's Graperies. 8vo. ^ Working Farmer. Vol. 17. 1865. What I Know About Farming. Horace Greeley. 12mo. 1871. Window Gardening. 12mo. Winter Greeneries. Edwin A. Johnson, D. 1). Working Farmer, The. James J. Mapes. Vols. 1-6. 4to. 1850-6. Window Flower Garden, The. Julius L. Henrich. 12mo. Wild Flowers of North America. Isaac Sprague. With Illustrations from Original Water Color Paintings. Text by Prof. Geo. L. Goodale of Cambridge. 4to. 1880. Worcester Directory. 1872 to 1886. Woods and Forests; a weekly illustrated journal of Forestry. London. Wet days at Edgewood, with Old Farmers and Old Gardeners. 12mo. War of the Rebellion. Official Records of the Union and Confederate Armies. 8vo. 26 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. Youman's Hand-book of Household Science. (Illustrated). Youatt on the Hog. 12mo. Youatt on the Horse. 12nio. Youatt and Martin on Cattle. 12nio. D. Youatt on the Dog. (30 illustrations). 12rao. Youatt on the Piar- 12rao. TRANSACTIONS OF THE WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. FOR THE YEAR 1887. CHARLES HAMILTON, PRINTER, 311 MAIN STREET. 1887. CONTENTS Paqk Report of the Secretary 5 Report of the Librarian 30 Report of the Treasurer . 85 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOOLETT. A. D. 1887. ANNUAL REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. To the Members of the Worcester County Horticultural Society. Any Report to this Society, whicii should omit to acknowledge our great indebtedness to a portion of our members, for the per- sistent devotion and enthusiasm whereby the signal success of our exhibitions has been assured, might better be left unwritten. No one can appreciate, so well as your officers whose duty it has been to remain in constant presence, the continuous attendance and tireless labor that, from week to week, crowned your tables and replenished your stands. There are ladies and gentlemen, whose names will occur to you at once, who seem never to grow weary in well-doing. It is no light matter to spare so much time. But only those who have nurtured the young plant; and watched with ever-increasing interest its development into the perfect flower; can measure the self-sacrifice that surrenders it, a free-will offering, for your enjoyment and instruction. No amount of premiums can recompense such zeal : but the least that this Society should do is to recognize its existence and show that its manifestation is estimated at its full and generous value. People who base an opinion as to the success of our Exhi- bitions, from week to week, upon the reports in the contemporary newspapers, are quite liable to be misled. Those brief statements are prepared in haste, by young men whose horticultural educa- tion is somewhat deficient, howsoever good their intentions. The 9 6 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. reporters see a pretty sizable hall, a considerable length of table, a greater or less display of flowers, or fruit, as the case may be; and, observing that there is space unoccupied, juuap at the con- clusion that the exhibition under review must be, comparatively, a failure. It is not obvious, at a glance, that the competition does not represent the whole field of local pomology. That, even in this city, the exhibits are drawn from detached gardens in which a few choice varieties struggle with each other for the restricted room and scant nourishment. Take, for illustration, our latest Exhibition save one ! On the 20th of October, our Schedule called for only three [3] kinds of Apples and for four [4] of Pears. But the specimens, of which few were decidedly inferior, covered a table that extended the entire length of the Hall. In the olden time it would have required "the largest and best collection " to make a display one-half as large. When there are twenty [20] competitors, under one number in the Schedule; and this too for weeks in succession, as varieties of superior excellence mature, may we not safely claim to have transcended the limits of theory and to rest upon the sure found- ations of actual trial and achievement ? The lot that endures inspection, here, well enough to win even our lowest premiums, may fearlessly challenge rivalr}^ from the vaunted first prize takers of more pretentious associations. In the vineyards of Horticulture, as in those of the Saints, — many are called, some are self-bidden, — but few are chosen ! The experiment of holding monthly, instead of weekly. Exhi- bitions, during the vernal season, as suggested by your Secretary, was tried in March and April last, with gratifying success. If May were included in the system, it is believed that you would thereby promote the best interests of the Society. In that month, the votaries of Flora have little to show ; and ofiierings upon the altar of Pomona, in the very nature of things, must be stale. Professional florists have cleared out the stock from their green- houses, and cannot, if better disposed than they have shown themselves of late, contribute much of note. Amateurs are busy, planning for out-door work ; being glad enough to get once more into the open air, whither the market has long since preceded them. There is but a restricted field, at best, from which to 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 7 draw ; and a consolidation of four poorly supplied and sparsely attended Exhibitions, into one meriting and compelling admira- tion, would appear a decided step in advance. The Tulip, which is rapidly regaining its pristine popularity, might be the salient feature of the display for that month ; the exact date being appointed witli close reference to the probable perfection of that gorgeous flower. Whatever else might chance to be in bloom should go to magnify the occasion : the idea being that Tulips should constitute the especial reliance, without excluding lesser or other attractions. The regular series of Weekly Exhibitions would then commence with the display of Roses and Strawberries, in June. This plan is recommended as one that would seem to promise most for Horticulture. There is no doubt that the Hall of Flora can be filled, week after week, with a throng of careless sightseers. But the manifest inferiority of meagre displays must gradually force itself upon the minds of even such poor critics. And tliis Society cannot aflPord, as it should not be willing, to peril a hardly earned reputation by exhibitions of a winter's refuse, or by anticipating, prematurely, the first fruits of Spring. Your awards have been made, as usual, by a single Judge. While this Society may not be entitled to credit for priority, in adopting such method of dispensing its premiums, its co-eval can at least be challenged. The original purpose, of course, was to ensure the doing of exact justice. The complete, or even partial, failure of that purpose, if such should mischance, might be ex- cused, upon the plea of error in judgment ; or denounced, as the result of individual ignorance or ineptitude. That the method itself is correct, might be assumed from the fact that it was never discarded, where once adopted. That it commends itself to popular favor may be inferred, from the fact that even the Worcester Agricultural Society, with its incubus of the current year, adopted it as the best system in vogue. And, after all, what is this much contemned and disputed mode of making awards ? Aught else than taking a case from the jury upon points of law ! A decision may be expected, from a single judge, within a reasonable time. But from three men, of varying tem- perament and mental poise, wherefrom is to be the concurrence of opinion ? Your Schedule is changed yearly ; so often that no 8 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. definitive interpretation can be put upon its shifting clauses. What was invited in 1886, is not called for at all in 1887. For instance, A. D. 1886, a display or design of Flowers and Fruit in combination, was solicited. Sad as the confession may be, the Society got what it asked and paid what it agreed. But the Judge, and the Committee on Exhibitions, were of one accord in discontent ; the result being an offer for the current year of en- couragement for Table Designs in Flowers. Our Schedule for long years past, has been directed in the line of precision. It has been attempted to invite just such ; to welcome precisely that; and to award, perhaps insufficiently, but yet somewhat, according to tlie determination of the Judge. Still, the authority of umpires is disputed ; and in Base-Ball circles the raalignants are even said to kick ! Of course no such vulgarity can attach in Horticulture ; at whose exhibitions woman is alike an inspiration and restraint. But there is no use in denying what is plainly visible to the dullest ; that a spirit of fault-finding is tolerated which bodes no good to the Society, and may even tlireaten its future. Why is it not possible to credit the Judge of award with good motives ; to assume that what he does is for the best ; and to suppose that the members generally knew what they were about when they elected Judges ! The reckless imputation of corrupt intent is a most disgraceful feature of modern politics. A Society designed and founded to promote the refinement of life, in so far as that may consist in the culture of Flowers and Fruit, should scorn to lower itself to the plane of the blatant demagogue. The Judges themselves have a right to claim more than bare protection : ab- solute exemption from attack should be a privilege of their ardu- ous, if honorable, position. Otherwise, their office will become, and remain, vacant; and you will search in vain for incumbents capable to fill them and willing to become targets for abuse. Asked, years since, by your Secretary^ to what he attributed the continued prosperity of the Massachusetts Horticultural So- ciety,— Marshall P. Wilder replied — "Because it has kept clear of the shop !" If that was a necessity to the pioneers, how much more essential must it prove to an association like this, explicitly pledged to " advance the Science and encourage and improve the Practice of Horticulture !" The shop despises the ideal. Will 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 9 it sell ? is its greeting to him who would introduce, or cultivate, new varieties of flower or fruit. The shop has sliglit respect for flavor — per se : its utter lack is not a disqualification, if the specimens are salable otherwise. And so the professional florist cuts for the market, as it presents itself to him, or he finds it; contenting himself with the jingle of shekels in his pocket, and calmly indifferent, the while, to the raptures over that beauty and perfume wherewith the eye and soul of the Amateur are charmed to ecstacy. Likewise with him whose chief aim is to make mer- chandise of his fruit. The Bartlett and Seckel have fought their own way to recognition. But with him, the Boussoc or Clairgeau supply a demand that could never be appeased by the Comice or Winter Nelis. His business is to get a livelihood ! and not ! to " encourage the Science or promote the Practice of Horticulture." On the other hand, it is our professed purpose to develop and improve the popular taste. Should it not be our set aim then in every official act? The florist, as such, cannot be expected to deny himself profit ; or to withhold his first and choicest floriage, that this or that Horticultural Exhibition may show points of pre- eminence. The hard-working orchardist — if he follows general farming, must realize a speedy income from his trees ; and finds neither leisure nor inclination amid his other engrossing occupa- tions, to sow, engraft, or to purchase and plant out the more promising novelties. So that it reverts, after all, to amateur horticulture that there may be hope and promise for the future. The amateur is willing to wait for his recompense. Too often alas he must go without it; his toil and patience returning only disappointment and blighted fruition. It rests with him, however, to try and try again ; assured as he is, by his own long experi- ence, and the test of others, that the cloud has a silver lining, and that there can be no loss to the patient waiter. This philosophy should become the wisdom of our Society, inspiring its counsels and directing its policy. So shall it continue to be, what it was intended from the first, and so far has approved itself ; an honor to its founders and a blessing to the community wherein it exists. The Twenty-first Session of the American Pomological Soci- ety was held in Boston, this year, according to appointment. It 10 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. was held there to gratify Marshall P. Wilder, whose ardent wish was, once more to meet those who had been his life-long associates, in a pursuit not over-crowded, because its prizes are few, and what there are, devoid of glitter. And to greet them, if it might be, as the fitting close of a career, commencing before the memory of many now living, honorable in itself, and which we, his survivors, may cliaracterize as without spot or blemish. Such fortune was not permitted to him; and therefore perhaps to many present there appeared to be something lacking; an absence of the genius loci, as it were. Boston, at least, can comprehend the palpable void in the procession, heretofore so auspicious, of her wonted household gods. Hovey, and Moore gone; Barry not sufficiently recovered from his recent sea voyage to put in an appearance ; Meehan away ; nothing of John J. Thomas save his manuscript, — clear, concise, and replete with intelligence as that ever has been ; Secretary Garfield detained by illness ! does it not seem that the letter from Colum- bus, Ohio, in the Country Gentleman, was prophetic, — wherein was expressed the fear pervading Horticultural circles lest the American Pomological Society had seen its best days ! And still Berckmans worthily succeeds the giants of old. Garfield survives temporary disability. Barry, and Thomas are yet of us, if not always with us. And if, in the fulness of time, the torch must pass from the relaxing grasp of the former, at least it will be transmitted to no incapable nor unlineal hand. For the rest, — the shaping of the future will lie with the coming generations. The Pomological Society, like every other institu- tion of man's contrivance, will become what our children choose to make it. And, as we cannot, nor would, dictate to them con- cerning matters whereof they should be the better, because contemporaneous, judges ; we can only guide their action or opinion by our own faithful record, in which success or failure shall be blazoned, as it was achieved, or suffered, in no vague or dubious manner. The display of Fruit, as a whole, scarcely equalled that of A. D. 1883, in the same city. Perhaps some of the efiect of magnitude wa8 lost by reason of the ampler rooms of the Massa- chusetts Charitable Mechanics, which, as experience demonstrated. 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 11 were altogether too spacious, besides being inconvenient of access. There were, Iiowever, notable collections, gathered and brought in admirable condition, from remote sections of our common country, wherein the tomahawk and scalping knife were, but very recently, the tools in general use. Perhaps the most marked feature of the entire display was that wiiich revealed the rapid development of viticulture. New varieties of Grapes were almost countless in number, even if their excellence was not always apparent at first sight. In this respect, the meetings of the Pomological Society are of chiefest utility. For novelty must be proved, — not simply asserted; and the baptism of an old sort with another and higher-sounding name will scarcely pass muster beneath the scrutiny of such acute and competent critics. At the same time, whatsoever has merit will be readily and widely disseminated, after impartial and thorough tests and ultimate acceptance. The following named Delegates were duly accredited to the Twenty-sixth (26) Session of the American Pomological Society, of whom the major portion, it is believed, were in attendance during one or more of its sessions : President, Francis H. Dewey. Vice- President, Henry L. Parker. Treasurer, Charles E. Brooks, and Messrs. Joseph 0. Lovell, George Cruickshanks, Oliver B. Wyman, Newell Wood, Ciiarles E. Parker, O. B. Hadwen, William H. Earle, Frank J. Kinney, George C. Rice, Charles Greenwood, Freeman M. Marble, Adin A. Hixon, Hermann F. A. Lange, George F. Coe, George H. Rich, J. W. Powers, and Secretary, Edward W. Lincoln. A special commission was also issued, by direction of the Committee on Arrangements, em- powering James Draper, Esq., Judge of Awards for Fruit, to particularly represent this Society in any discussions upon the revision of the Pomological Catalogue. Of the larger and nobler Fruits, no new varieties have chal- lenged our notice as a Society, during the past year. It has been the offseason for Apples, it is true ; although a lack of novel species and kinds could hardly be referred to generic irregularity or barrenness. The Dawson, that held out such promise, is not yet widely disseminated, is perhaps little known, and therefore no estimate can be formed of its future positive value. It can 12 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. only be recollected as of bright promise for beauty, and flavor, alike. But there can be no doubt that there have sprang up, unnoticed and unknown, on many a hillside, and by countless stone walls, seedlings from that best of all fruits, the Apple, which, if secured and thoroughly tested, would approve them- selves fitting successors to the Baldwin and HubbardSton None- such. Were such not the fact, we should be justified in assuming the decay of Nature and that her immemorial processes of repro- duction were in abeyance or had ceased utterly. Yet, if we do not see it, we are sure that semination is constant, and will be continuous so long as gravitation is a law. We ought not to rest idly content with the varieties that we have, excellent as many of them are. There is need, as foreign markets open ; and there will be opportunity as quickly as our people learn that commerce means mutuality of benefits, and is not fostered under duress ; for a variety with the firmness of the Baldwin, that will keep sound like the Hubbardston, but shall possess a flavor in which both are confessedly deficient. An apple, in short, of attractive appearance and of decided pleasant character, as it were. Would it not pay to originate such a fruit, think you, at least as well as potatoes or hay in August, 1887, when the windows of heaven are left open ? And would it not yield as fair returns as those hopeless mortgages in far Utopia, whereof the re-imbursement is barred by local statutes, if not even resisted by force of arms ! The man whose greed stretches out into remote regions for cent per cent in the end bemoans the loss of his principal. The good citizen, on the other hand, who devotes his increasing resources — the accumulation from a keen foresight and wise frugality, — to the improvement of his actual estate, — accounts to himself with certainty, in the ultimate disposition of his afiairs, for a peaceful life, a clear conscience, and, best of all, freedom from debt! But, — it is objected, — the development of new varieties exacts time and patience in a measure and to a degree that we cannot afi'ord. What can you afi"ord ? To take your ease, bodily, aban- doning your pastures to the invasion of White Birch ? To " invite your soul to loaf," at convention and picnic, dispensing with the primeval curse by a majority vote, and usurping to yourselves 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 13 "unearned increment" at the expense of your fellows, whose hardly-earned property it became by the sweat of the brow ! But, — mayhap you search for the philosopher's stone ! and fain would find it in a pedigree. Does not that wild chase require toil ? Milk, or butter, are ready to hand, but no ! pedigree is what cows were intended for, — and is the si/ie (jna iion. And there- fore, large sums are lavished, much thought perverted, many valuable animals discarded, or wantonly sacrificed to a reckless fancy if a flaw can be found in the pedigree, — though tlie udder may be full to overflowing ! But to what better use than the renewal of our Apple-Orchards can our waste hill-sides be subjected ? For what more profitable purpose can the manure from those Ideal Herds be applied than the nutriment of those young fruit-bearing trees ? No ! have your cattle on a thousand hills, if you prefer. But, upon occa- sional slopes, here and there, sow seeds from the Baldwin, Green- ing, or Spy — not forgetting the almost obsolete Porter, foster the growth of the young sprouts, hasten the test of their quality by both bud and graft, and having proved all things hold fast to that which is good. When obtained, — don't go to your ham- mock ! On the contrary, — keep close watch for canker worm or caterpillar, which exterminate at once ! Prune seasonably and you will be certain to do it reasonably ! Enrich in Autumn with a covering whose lumps the frosts of Winter will leaven and thereafter, if you will not suffer your tree to bear a dozen barrels, in lieu of six, you may gather where you have strewn, for the remainder of your life. Take again the Peach ! of which delicious fruit such superb specimens of local growth were exhibited upon our tables, this very year. How many palates were feasted ; how many purses re-inforced, from the produce of the occasional tree that was suflfered to remain because it would be too much trouble to uproot it ! And yet, time and again have you been reminded of the notorious fact that the Peach was once as much at home in this vicinity as the Cherry, and approved itself to the full as capable of withstanding climatic extremes. Between A. D. 1842, the date of incorporation of our Society, and A. D. 1860, the number of exhibitors of Peaches varied from Thirty (30) to*Sixty (60) ; 3 14 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. seldom falling below the smaller number, and oftener exceeding the largest. A. D. 1860-61, occurred a winter signalized by a blizzard that so reduced the temperature as to split open the trunks of the Stone-Fruits, blighting them root and branch. "What with this wholesale destruction and the concurrent outbreak of Civil War, is there reason for wonder that Orchardists became discouraged ? The recovery has been slow. But is not one rea- son to be found in the reliance upon stocks enfeebled by exces- sive bearing, or intense frost ; and the failure of recurrence to the lavish bounty of Nature? Whence came originally the Cooledge, and Royal George, the Crawfords and Large Red Rare- ripe ? Are there not fish in the sea as good as ever were caught? And still the question is an uncomfortable one, confronting us at every turn; one that will not be suppressed by assumption, or conceit of superior wisdom. Take, for illustration, the Potato ! that most valuable of the esculent plants — unless we except Maize — which man has subdued to his own use and nourishment. Where are the Mercer, St. Helena, or Jackson White ? all. in their day, of admitted excellence and in general cultivation. Do people grow them by stealth, dig them furtively, and jealously guard the secret of their exclusive treasure? Or have they actually disap- peared, leaving no trace ! Have we not instead various Roses, Pearls of Savoy or elsewhere ; Beauties of Hebron, and less sanc- tified localities; with Potentates, whose swa^'^ is restricted to the domestic hearth ! What is the legitimate inference from tho facts as they appear before you ? Do we not owe every variety of Potato, in common cultivation, to the labors of Goodrich and Bresee, with their co-adjutors, who recognized the existing failure, and for its remedy went back to the origin of species? It has seemed to your Secretary a part of the Natural Law, as it were, whereby it is decreed that life shall depend upon labor and that man's bread shall be earned by the sweat of his brow. Could we count with perfect assurance upon the precise return from our toil ; could we plant and know that we should certainly reap thereafter so many bushels to the acre, without further trouble on our part; the strongest incentive to individual industry would be removed. Varieties become less and less prolific until they are found wholly unprofitable. The soil will not yield an average 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 15 crop, coax or fertilize it as we may. Then we sow seed or plant tubers brought from afar, and lo ! once more the earth gives of her increase and the granger needs, and feels able to build, another barn. Do varieties degenerate and disappear? The continued existence of many to this day weiglis heavily in the argument for the negative. Yet, from careless cultivation, or the entire neglect of it, it is beyond dispute that many kinds become scarce and finally cease to find favor because of the degeneration from such treatment or rather abuse. Facts can be alleged iipon either side of the contention. Let it be the aim and effort of this Society, if varieties of approved excellence can be perpetuated by diligence and proper treatment, to see that nothing is omitted that may enure towards the accomplishment of that end. But, after all, — shall not old things pass away and all things become new ? At the very last Exhibition which Mr. Joseph C. Lovell at- tended, he concurred with your Secretary in the opinion that, of all Pears of foreign origin and recent introduction, Ansault is easily the best. It would appear designed to supply the place of Belle Lucrative ; manifesting the same extreme fecundity, with similar juiciness and a much higher flavor. Its season endures for weeks and, taken all in all, it is a decided acquisition. As much may be alleged of Dr. Reeder; — an older acquaintance, whose surpassing excellence was especially evident, this last Au- tumn. And it may be aj)propriate here, and in this connection, to repeat the hope that Earle's Bergamot shall be disseminated more widely. This local novelty commended itself to critical judges, A. D. 1887, as never before. As the one Pear of pre- eminent high quality, " Native here, And to the manner born," it merits peculiar encouragement. As a memorial of that honor- ed associate, whose whole life was a continuous service to this Society, it ought to be more widely difl^used. Saved from extinc- tion by a lucky chance; and propagated, at present, by a very few; there is great danger that it may be utterly lost, unless its scions are taken from the scant town gardens wherein it is now appreciated and dispersed among the Pomologists of the County. 16 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. A summary of the returns of the Fruit-crops in Great Britain^ compiled as late as August 20tli ult"., may be of interest to you as disclosing the probable condition of what should be your own prospective market : — " Complaints of the drought are general, as we have for several weeks had an unusually high temperature, with little, if any, rain. Apples are bearing well, but the fruits are dropping, and owing to the lack of moisture they are undersized. * * * * * * • " Pears are in a similar condition to the apples, the fruits small, and in some cases the crop is below the average. Louise Bonne de Jersey is one of the best, and other good varieties are Easter Beurre, Fondante d' Automne, Beurre Diel, Williams' Bon Chretien, and Marie Louise. " Plums are carrying heavy crops in some districts, and, of course, especially where water has been given freely. This season the Victoria variety is yielding abundantly where previ- ously good crops of Plums have been scarce. Morello Cherries are reported satisfactory, and also the dessert varieties, but Apricots and Peaches vary in productiveness this season, the drought seriously interfering with the development of the fruit, except where especial attention has been afforded by watering, mulching, &c. " The Strawberry season has generally been very short, though there was an excellent promise, the plants flowering freely ; but the fierce heat burnt up the fruit in many places, and rendered the flavor of those that were left insipid and poor." Et sic uhique. Always and everywhere a complaint of Drought, the soil of England withholding increase because her skies for a wonder are no longer dripping. And this, while yon were liter- ally drenched, — the downpour at times foreboding another deluge. Take heed, in your action as citizens, that you do not contravene the wisdom of Providence ; nor suffer yourselves to be robbed of opportunities for the sale of your choice fruits in order that merciless greed may dam a stream and turn a mill- wheel ! Live, — but, let live ! In another important particular was your good fortune worthy of especial note. The canker-worm, — -our unfailing visitor for years, omitted his annual appearance. Whether the intense cold and excessive snows of the past winter may sufl&ciently account for this exceptional lapse ; or it should rather be attributed to 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 17 some inscrutable law of nature which cuts short its career, just when it becomes most destrnctive ; might be knowledge well worth possessing. In our positive ignorance, let us rejoice that we were spared, A. D. 1887, all occasion for studying that vexed problem. Neither were tlie ravages of Pear-Blight excessive. Within the immediate notice of the writer, varieties usually first to suc- cumb, were not even attacked. Clapji's Favorite escaped en- tirely, which could not have been said of it in any previous year. Sporadic cases are mentioned ; but they are so few compara- tively as to prove that, for some cause, that dread disease has at least paused in its deadly march. Bacilli, bacteria, microbes, fungi, — every form of primal infection that would degrade or impede the evolution of Bathyhius in this sphere of vegetable organism, appear to have spent the season just past in innocuous- desuetude. Early in the season, your Secretary received a note from the Department of State at Washington, inquiring if this Society maintains a Reading-Room and can make proper use of the Con- sular Reports issued by the Department for popular information ? The reply was prompt and truthful, — that no similar association tliroughout the republic enjoyed superior facilities or offered them more freely for the instruction of its especial community. As a consequence, those Reports have been mailed in regular sequence ; and to their great intrinsic value your Secretary desires to invite your serious attention. Since, in them can be found intelligence gathered by shrewd, quick-witted men, stationed in every part of the globe ; wliose task it was erstwhile made, what has long been a welcome duty, to take cognizance of the production and traffic of the several countries wherein their lot might be cast. Would you learn about the area, under forest, in Australia ; forest planting at the antipodes ; the reclamation of sand-dunes and waste places by afibrestation ? You can find the learning con- nected therewith upon those pages. Are fertilizers of interest to you, whose soil has lost its virginity ; and who would fain restore, quickest and cheapest, the essential elements whereof it was early deflowered ? Read, in the Report from Germany, of "Thomas slag"; — its character, and how rich it is in phosphoric 18 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. lime ! Would any of our Trustees become candidates for Gov- ernor, upon an ascetic platform ? From those Consular pages they will ascertain how Alcohol is extracted from the Sweet Potato, in the Azores; and may ponder upon the application, at home, of that funny law of Switzerland, whereby the Helvetic Republic grasps to itself the exclusive right to manufacture and import liquors, peddling them at pleasure ! The Nomologist may study, with advantage, the returns from Nova Scotia, which dis- close the extent of the trade in Apples between that Province and England ; and can thereby inform himself how formidable is the rivalry wherewitli he will have to contend. If observant, — he may note the confirmation of the assertion by your Secretary in his latest Annual Report, that the Orchards of New England could sustain the commerce of a nation. Would Conerrcss but realize that there must be two parties to traffic ; that the profit cannot enure to one side only; and that in the free exchange of what we have to sell for that which we better buy, ample pro- vision is made for cargoes both going and returning. The " home-market " we have virtually monopolized : but it will not consume our Apples. Great Britain is willing enough ; but she wishes, like ourselves, to pay in barter. So, we let our fruit rot ; we see our commerce perish ; building yachts to show what we might do were trade unfettered : and continue stolidly the whole- sale importation of Swedes or Armenians that " home-indnstry " may be protected ! " Having eyes, see ye not ? And having ears, hear ye not ? And do ye not remember " what was done by Dnncan C. Pell, and his compeers of New York, in the olden time ? "Bulletins" issued by the Agricultural College of Michigan are regularly received and may also be found upon our tables. They will repay your study, being based upon close observation and controlled by a rigid regard for accuracy. One of the most recent, — upon " Forest Products of The Museum of Economic Botany;" — is a forcible exemplification of the truth that more real wisdom may be latent in facts of common occurrence, that are dismissed without notice because of their very frequency, than in those which we cannot help observing, — since they are sharply and simply obtrusive. According to " Bulletin No. 28," 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 19 the Museum of Economic Botany must be rich in the lore of those things that we overlook because under our very feet; and its bare catalogue is suggestive of an object-teaching which, how- ever deserving of praise in itself, gets its worthiest laud from its incitement to emulation in the same walk. Were the value of the privileges accorded in the use of our Library more thoroughly appreciated, this Hall of Flora would never be without its throng of students, in their hours of leisure. It is of little avail, — the mere accumulation of printed pages. Properly used, — they become priceless. It depends upon the members of this Society whether such talents shall remain buried in sheep-skin, or im- mured in boards. You have heard, doubtless, of "unearned increment." By that expression is not intended the gain from the apple-crop re- maining to an Orchardist who is too lazy to destroy the Codling Moth or Canker- Worm. But rather that superfluity of wealth which oppresses Corporations like this ; after the Assessors have equalized values, as the Euphemists term the latest turn of the screw; jacking up where there has been a sag; and drawing at foresight upon posterity, whose hindsight will accept the draft ! The General Court, some time since, granted Horticul- ture a qualiticd relief from burdensome taxation. We were to be exempt, in so far as our Hall might be used for our declared pur- poses. We can let the Hall of Pomona ; applying the revenue from Dance or Song, and it shall concern no one. But, — if we lease our stores, devoting the rent gained from them to the very same purpose, tribute must be rendered unto Csesar. So that Valuation and Rate both increasing, in Worcester, the Society finds itself now, where it was when it first sought relief from un- just or invidious discrimination. Of course, — all citizens fare alike in this Earthly Paradise ! The Horticulturists expelled from Eden, because forsooth they would test their apples, — fare the same as the Elect who go it blind ! Still, — What is the mean- ing of the subjoined paragraph from the Daily Spy^ of June 17th, A. D. 1887?— "There has been a rumor going the rounds for several days to the effect that E. H. Stark & Co, have been storing boot and shoe uppers in the basement of Trinity Church. A Spy reporter 20 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. visited that place yesterday and found about 600 cases of goods stored, but every case was made up and ready for shipment, which will probably be in about two months. This place has been used for the same purpose by other firms for several years." The Assessors doom no portion of Trinity Church, although the Statutes expressly declare that " portions of houses of re- ligious worship appropriated for purposes other than religious worship, shall be taxed at the value thereof to the owners of the houses :" notwithstanding the notorious and offensive fact that its basement has been occupied for years as a Warehouse for the Storage of Boots and Shoes ! Was a single cent ever contrib- uted to the State or Municipal Treasuries, by the Central Parish, during all those years when Col. Drennan was cramming its ground-floor from mudsill to rafter, with casks of prohibited Bourbon and Mcdford ! An exaction of Five Hundred and Eighteen Dollars ($518.00) goes to make good any deficit for the support of the Police, or Fire Department, that such inequitable, because partial, exemption, has tended to create. The Bay State Agricultxiral Society^ whose performance more than fulfilled its promise, during its first year of existence ; and whose active work, it is to be hoped, will not end thus prema- turely ; has published offers of generous prizes in money for the three (3) best essays on any agricultural topic. Is there not herein the hint of a policy that might be worthy of our imita- tion ? Why should not this Society propose liberal recompense for Horticultural Essays, to be delivered on afternoons of Win- ter, to be followed, if found advisable, by meetings wherein in- formal discussion should elicit valuable experience ? The prac- tice of this Society, some years ago, when gentlemen from various portions of the Commonwealth laid before you, in this Hall of Flora, the ripe results of their theory and actual experiment, must be fresh in your recollection. That example followed by the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, has since done much to re-vivify that old, sluggish, and sometime — inanimate Association. What the practice accomplished, for your own needs, has not to be recited here, or now. But, by such methods better than any other, are we enabled to learn of novel discoveries; to determine 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 21 the precise worth of unusual ways of cultivation ; to decide be- tween the genuine scientist and the glib charlatan ; and generally, by the interchange and comparison of opinions, to avoid, or ex- tricate ourselves from the ruts into wliich Societies, like commu- nities, are apt to waste their strength, unless sharply watched and occasionally startled by the introduction of unwonted forces. Your Secretary would not advise too great haste in this matter, should the suggestion meet with your approval. The Winter- season of A. D. 1888-9, should be soon enough for the project to come to a liead. Before that time, the entire scheme could be elaborated, in ample leisure for themes to suggest themselves ; and for all who cared to be essayists, to do themselves and their subjects justice by adequate preparation. Since this Society would never ofier premiums or any otlier encouragement for a mere re-hash from the Encyclopaedia, it might well invite, and suitably reward, that combination of sentient- brain-work and watchful labor whereby the latent laws and silent forces of Na- ture are keenly traced and sedulously pursued. There are Hor- ticulturists in plenty who go through the world with their eyes open ; and whose conclusions would be worth knowing ; who might perhaps be persuaded to communicate of their knowledge, upon sympathetic and sufficient inducement. There are problems in Pomology that vex us continually upon which a ray of light might lead to a subsequent illumination. Modesty must be drawn out from its seclusion and brazen impudence repressed if we de- sire eflfective achievement. And to decide the relative excellence of the Essays it might be left with a Committee to consider which treated of the most weighty topic, and most thoroughly eluci- dated the matter under consideration. Or the superiority could be estimated by propounding certain well-defined themes and judging of the completeness and merit of their treatment. Your Secretary would advocate the allowance of absolute freedom of choice to Essayists in the selection of their subject-matter, having no faith that shackles aid either mind or hand to do their best work. The Gardeners' Monthly and Horticulturist upon the text of " Individual Horticultural Exhibitions," in one of its more recent 4 22 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. issues, thus expresses some views of its experienced and veteran Editor : " We have repeatedly shown that, with a few worthy excep- tions Horticultural and Agricultural Societies have not pro- gressed as the world has moved. The best people among amateurs neglect them, while exhibitors have to be almost tearfully besought to rake up something to fill the room. Yet there are exhibitors in numbers if it were made their interest to bring out their products ; and thousands ready to patronize any work of excellence in the gardening world. " Private parties are undertaking to do the work of exhibiting, independent of societies." Is that broad statement of what may be a general truth appli- cable to ourselves, here in Worcester? We can neither ignore nor overlook the fact that Agricultural Exhibitions had so far deteriorated, that extreme measures became necessary to resusci- tate societies, almost overwhelmed by a load of debt, from which, extrication was rendered hopeless by the lethargy of members. Nor, while the trial of a cure by the galvanic process is still in course, can we dismiss the fear that such treatment is not suflB- ciently radical for the disease ; and that a body which supplicates the merest simulacrum of an origanized association to uphold its arms — ^^ stet nominis um rcC ! Professor Meehan instances the work of private individuals as obviating the need, or forestalling the task, of Societies. Yet, this is no new thing under the sun ; nor is that result inevitable. He, — better than most, — can remem- ber when Caleb Cope first displayed the superb flower and cu- rious leaf of the Victoria Regia ; all Philadelphia flocking to see the rare beauty. Your Secretary vividly recalls the exhibition, in Worcester, b}^ the late D. Waldo Lincoln, of a specimen of that aquatic plant ; Mr. Lincoln being indebted for it to the courteous liberality of that princely merchant. Many a specialty has been shown since, here and elsewhere, in public hall or private dwell- ing ; in which latter, indeed, the Cereus is getting to bloom with a monotonous and depressing frequency as the shades of night deepen and recede. The Professional Florist, or Market Gardener, is, as it were, ever on parade ; the requirements of their business exacting that 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 23 their products should be kept in as attractive a condition as possi- ble. Yet, — notwithstanding the fluctuations in popular taste, — possibly somewhat in their despite ; — it is permitted me to assert here, with entire truthfulness, that the Exhibitions of the Wor- cester County Horticultural Society, in this Forty-Fifth (45) year of its official existence, still deserve, and are rewarded by, public appreciation and encouragement. Of course the crowd in attendance is greater at one time than another. Some will come in June to behold Roses, and Strawberries ; who do not care to look upon Apples, or Asters, in September. And also it may as well be confessed that there are times when it goes hard with officers and exhibitors alike : times when the elements frown and insect-plagues discourage ; and the mountain or sea-shore, — may- hap a Musical Festival! distract or divert. But, throughout all, the calm observer notes a steady advance ; a marked, if not uniform, development in the line of improvement towards per- fection. The work of Horticultural education is continuous ; nor in its curriculum^ as nowhere else, is there a royal road. Our ranks are sadly depleted, at times ; of late, to a grievous extent. But the places of those who were taken have been made good, so far ; and it is not a baseless hope that youth and gen- erous emulation shall succeed to age hereafter, as in the past. To maintain our present high standing (and how high it is actually as well as relatively, I fear that few realize, who hear me) ; we must tolerate nothing but absolute excellence. Encour- age first attempts, when you can ; favor and lend aid to experi- ments which may tend, or promise to "advance the science and encourage and improve the Practice of Horticulture ; " but never consent to abase your standard which, for now well-nigh upon a half-century, has been full high advanced; with each recurring year the exaction being more and more rigid that Flower, Fruit, or Vegetable, should be completely free from blemish, or defect, whether in appearance or essence. But still, it may be urged, — the Worcester Agricultural Society professes to hold an annual exibition of flowers, fruit, and vege- tables, after once relinquishing the practice upon mature delibera- tion ; and that therein may be implied and found some manner and measure of discouragement. Our Society, however, does not 24 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. hold exhibitions to attract the groundlings, to fill a vacuum, or to advertise demagogues. A display of Apples or Pears, Grapes or Peaches, Flowers or Plants, that might be left over, after the choicest had been culled out to satisfy our exacting Judges of Award, could threaten no interference and arouse but feeble interest in this Hall ; wherein, throughou-t Worcester, Flora and Pomona find their truest, because especial, devotees. Such collections, or congeries, of job lots, may blend in happy apposi- tion with horn or hoof. If they provoke fun, and supply amuse- ment, there; most assuredly they do no harm here. Possibly, they may draw a shilling, and so — achieve their exalted aim ! Yet, — objects another, the Grange goes to Boston and gathers medals and shekels from a competition of undoubted excellence ! Well, — is the Grange inimical to this Society ? It has not so appeared, heretofore. Its members are among our most active and valued associates. Whether that display of Apples merely, extended and fortified by such a collection of other fruits as might properly have enlarged and glorified it, should not have been our Exhibition, may well enough excite reflection among the Horticulturists who suffered the opportunity to go unimproved. Your Secretary feels certain that the actual efltort was attempted without the slightest unfriendly purpose towards this Society : nor can he understand why our own lack of enterprise or gross Idches should incline us to depreciate the well-doing of others. Still, — should co-operation fail us ; should those who have been our associates, hitherto, faint or fall by the wayside ; or, more grievous yet, suffer themselves from whatsoever cause to become alienated ; should hostility be aroused, grow flagrant and prevail against us, so that we might elect to travel in other than our wonted chosen paths ; it need not be assumed that we shall be left without resource. It will remain with us, even then, to carry out the lofty aim and intent of our Charter. We can continue to " advance the Science and encourage and improve the Practice of Horticulture." By precept and example, by seed and scion, by essay and lecture, in every way known to man that proves an honorable in- centive, short of barren pedigree, tiresome interference, or foul over-reach, we retain and can preserve our existing priority and 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 25 especial privilege. For, with one or two rare exceptions, through- out the entire world, it should be our pride ever to hear in mind that Horticulture first assumed a noteworthy position in this our goodly County; and that the original assumption of a prominent place has been always since, and in every way justified by its fruits, wherefrora was it the assurance of old should come knowl- edge. Our means, prudently husbanded, are ample for all ap- propriate purposes. We can afford premiums when they answer their ends without a resort to side-shows of cuttle-fish or mer- maid. If our Exhibitions shall be found to fail of their object (which is not to distribute so much net income !) it will be prac- ticable, as it will become expedient, to do our particular share towards perfecting that university of local ambition, by resuming to ourselves the peculiar chairs of Botany (inclusive of Pomo- logy), to a certain extent, and with some degree of heedlessness, of recent years neglected, if not abandoned. But Twenty-six Honorary Me7nhers\x?kVQ, been enrolled by this Society throughout its existence of well-nigh a Half-Century. Of that limited number Ten survive ; two, — and they among the most eminent, having been taken from us during the past year. It were needless here to pay a tribute of commendation to Marshall F. Wilder, or Charles M. Hovey, so fittingly has it been done elsewhere, — so widely and well were they known. Yet it is due to Charles M. Hovey to state that the value of his la- bors to Horticulture in Massachusetts, can never be exaggerated. His Magazine — conducted almost unaided ; maintained without adequate encouragement; became yet by the force of his resolute will and the scope of his individual intelligence, a most potent agent for preserving and diflfusing all sound floral and pomologl- cal knowledge. Commenced when there was most need of it, that publication saw the birth and death of many pretentious rivals ; and only terminated its own career when its appointed work was largely accomplished. The perusal of its earlier numbers was one of my youthful enjoyments. Nor can I doubt that it must have been from a " carousal"* of those pages that the " farm- A *" And now,"— said old Gen. Burbank,— " We will carouse the Spy I" E. W. L. 26 WOECESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. hand of Samuel M. Bnrnside" aroused himself to denounce Ex- Gov. Lincoln for suffering Levi Gates, lionored of his day and generation, to show what he might be presumed, by blatant igno- rance, not to know about pruning an Orchard ! It was the felicity of Mr. Hovey, not only to conduct the pil- grimage, but also to be permitted entrance upon the Promised Land. Occurring but a few days prior to the meeting of the American Pomological Society, his death might seem untimely, if not premature. But what could his bodily presence matter, when his spirit was everywhere pervasive ? To him as much as to any one, had it been owing that such a Society could even be or- ganized. To him, more than to any one else is it due that Massa- chusetts can invite the Florists and Nomologists of America to Boston or Worcester, and find no cause to blush for her proffer of hospitality. If that Commonwealth was esteemed rich, when she could count Wilder and Hovey among her treasures, what must have been the measure of Iier opulence when their loss with that of Moore, has not left her hopelessly bankrupt ! When your Secretary looked for the name of John Brooks Moore, to register against it the date of his decease, it was not to be found upon the roll of our Honorary Members. This omission, for it was and could be nothing else, alike surprised and grieved him ; nor less others to whom he mentioned the oversight. Admission to our Honorary Membership, hitherto so jealously guarded, is an honor indeed. But no man lives who could challenge the title of John B. Moore to be welcomed among us, — whether because of eminent distinction as an all- round Horticulturist, or on the more direct behoof of bis partic- ular service to ourselves. I waste none of your time, enlarging upon his achievements as a Rosarian ; frequently as they were made known to you through his lavish contributions at our Meet- ings. At one of our last interviews he urged me to do what I could to get up a special display of Roses, — and of nothing besides, — as he emphasized it; pledging himself to fill our Hall, if others would not, that the credit of the Society for keeping its faith might be maintained. Neither shall I here, or now, dilate upon his good work as a Pomologist, wherein as a viticulturist especially, he conferred untold benefit upon this Commonwealth 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 27 and the entire Republic. To his acute perception the merits of the Concord Grape were at once obvious. Whatsoever the rank of that variety now, let it never be forgotten that to John B. Moore is it due that it was not lost in its first development ; and that its decided advance upon anything theretofore cultivated ■was and lias since been generally accepted. That he improved upon it, diversifying color and augmenting flavor, is only what would come naturally enough to him. But there are some in this Hall (not many I trust), to whom his immediate services to this Society are unfamiliar, or may have faded into a faint rem- iniscence. Other some cannot forget how often he obeyed your summons to discourse of his favorite flower, pre-eminent in itself, but to which his unsurpassed skill of cultivation seemed to add new charms. How it happened, — with the consummate taste which he invariably manifested in other respects, that he cared so little for the perfume of the Rose, was ever a mystery to the writer. Save for that he craved and achieved perfection. In all the Massachusetts Society, with its merited or factitious pres- tige, no Rosarian approved himself his peer. Possibly, in the New Jerusalem, he will be brought to admit that his judgment lacked in one particular : and that, as between the flowers of sulphur and the frankincense of Araby The Blest, fragrance is an element that cannot be denied. In an obituary notice, wherein he received but scant justice, allusion was made to his keen sense of humor. Strangers, who beheld him for the first time, would not expect it : but, to some that were fortunate enough to enjoy his friendship, it was not a rare sight to behold that giant form shaking with half-suppressed laughter over some rich and ripe old joke. He loved fun and thoroughly assimilated an infinite jest. The writer will never forget how he chuckled when narrating the discovery, by him- self, in Concord, at a most opportune moment, of the Philoso- pher's Stone ! John Brooks Moore was a typical Massachusetts yeoman, if such ever lived. The place that he easily filled is vacant. The aspirants who would rattle around in his shoes may be a legion in number. But which of them all can deepen the impression that his daily walk made upon this our solid earth ? 28 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, [1887. On Sunday, August 2l8t ult"., he dismissed all care for worldly petal or bloom. The announcement of the death of Joseph C. Lovell came upon the executive officers of this Society as with a shock of per- sonal bereavement. On the 8th of September, ult°., he was in our Hall of Pomona, consenting to be a delegate to the coming session of the American Pomological Society ; in whose object and work ]\g ever took deep concern ; and giving cordial sanction to the proposed omission of our own Exhibition, appointed for the 15th, although, as he told your Secretary^ he might thereby lose an opportunity to show certain grapes of his individual grow- ing and preference. On the 19th, he was dead. His visits to this Hall, where the obstacles were not insuperable,* occurred at a time of day when, of necessity, few were present. He came in usually, at noon ; arranged his fruit, — sometimes the exquisite floral specimens of his daughter ; if her absence, as is too often the case, was enforced ; and then departed for West Boylston to uphold the faithful prosecution of labor at his homestead. Join- ing our Society, A. D. 1865, at a period when it became the boast, or deceitful profession of every other man in the Commonwealth that he Knew Nothing ! Joseph C. Lovell came among us with his honest if rugged countenance ; with a heart that held no guile ; bringing with him ever a breath of fresh air ; his contri- butions to our shows always new and excellent; his experience sooner told than withheld. He indeed, could not be impatient with any one who commended himself as an earnest seeker after truth. For such, when approved by his calm judgment, too much trouble could not be taken in the way of object-teaching and tireless instruction. Of late years his attention was closely turned, I had almost said confined, when I timely recalled what he was ever doing to test new Pears, towards Viticulture. To him, — more than to any and all other men, — do we owe the dissemina- tion of the Rogers Hybrids ; their wide propagation ; the firm assurance of their good qualities ; and the conviction that they. * September 8tli, the last time that the writer saw Mr. Lovell,— in life;— he ex- cused his absence, on the previous Thursday, by mention of the destruction of bridges, and washing out of roads in the rage of the furious rain-storm, the week before. E. W. L. 1887.] TRANSACTIONS. 29 distinctively from the whole genus, most completely, as yet, fill the demand for a grape that shall at one and the same time, crown the dessert and appease the appetite. What is perhaps unusual, — to Mr. Lovell there was ever a fresh charm in novelty. He differed from Solomon and never doubted that some new fruit could be found under the sun. He was one of the earliest to introduce the Ansauli ; and to his efforts may we attribute our recent acquaintance with that decided acquisition — Petite Margimrite. Shall we, his survivors, rest supine in torpid con- tentment with what we now possess ? Or rather shall we imitate him, — maintaining a constant outlook to gain and test whatso- ever is of good report ! As a member of our Board of Trustees Mr. Lovell approved himself conservative and sound. He recognized in the vicissi- tudes of business the need of careful regard for our probable resources ; perceiving as all should, that Real Estate, with all its solidity and permanence as an investment must ever be subject to depreciation. He believed that our Debt should be discharged as soon as possible. His presence is lost to us. We are deprived of his sagacious counsel. But we can cherish his memory by pursuing the policy that he steadily approved, and by following the example he illustrated, so consistently, throughout his useful and honored life. Joseph C. Lovell died at his home in West Boylston, Septem- ber 19th, A. D. 1887. All which is respectfully submitted, by EDWARD WINSLOW LINCOLN, Secretary. Horticultural Hall, Worcester y Massachusetts, November 2, A. D. 1887. REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. To THE Members of the Worcester County Horticultural Society: Your Librarian submits herewith his annual report. There is nothing especially noteworthy to report in regard to the Library. Of its location and condition, its pleasant and comfortable room, you are all familiar with, or should be at least, for the Librarian is always glad to attend to calls for books and periodicals, when not otherwise engaged with the numerous patrons of the Hall. It will be remembered that last year a catalogue of the Library was prepared and published in connection with the Transactions of the Society. This Catalogue has been quite a help to those who have been accustomed to taking out books, as well as to the Librarian. Members who have joined the Society the past year, who have not received copies, can obtain them by applying to the Librarian. The number of books, papers and periodicals taken out during the year is 320. Those consulted at the rooms about twice as many more. Of the books purchased by the Library Committee the past year, the first fifty volumes of Curtis's Botanical Maga- zine may be considered the most important. This work was begun in 1787, just 100 years ago, and is still published. To Horticultural literature the words of the preacher will ap- ply as well as to other things : — " Is there any thing whereof it may be said : See this is new ; it hath been already of old time which was before us." Many of the flowers grown to-day you will find illustrated and described in these works of a century old. Altliough these books are old, yet tliey are valuable, and the Society is very fortunate in obtaining them. Of the sub- joined list of books and pamphlets added to the Library during the year 85 volumes have come from the American Antiquarian 1887.] REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 31 Society, many of which are important acquisitions; particularly one complete file of the Transactions of our Society. As the object and aim of this Society is the promotion of the Science of Horticulture, not the least important aid to that end was the establishment by the founders of the Society of this Library, and which has from year to year been enlarged by careful and judicious selection of the important works on Horti- culture, and although we are admonished that " of making many books there is no end, and much study is a weariness of the flesh," we are quite sure that, as Horticultural students, we are not making such use of our facilities in this line as to injure our health or shorten our days. Below will be found a list of the additions to the Library during the year. Feeding Experiment with Milch Cows. Mass. Agri. Experi- ment Station, Amherst. Dictionary of English names of Plants applied in England and among Englisli-speaking People, to cultivated and wild Plants, Trees and Shrubs, in two parts, English-Latin and Latin- English, by William Miller, London ; Society. Observations on a Disease affecting the eyes of Sheep. Agri- cultural College, Mich. Gardening for Profit; new ed., 1887; 12mo.; by Peter Hen- derson. Success in Market Gardening and Vegetable Growers' Manual; Illustrated; 12mo. ; 1887; by W. W. Rawson ; Society. Curtis' Botanical Magazine ; Vol. 42 ; Tiiird Series ; 18^6. The Journal of Horticulture; Vol. 11, 1885; Vols. 12, 13, 1886. Fourth Annual Report of the Board of Control of the State Agricultural Station at Amherst, Mass. ; 1886. Report of Dept. of Agriculture; 12 Vols.; 1885; from Hon. George F. Hoar. Circular of information. No. 2 ; from Bureau of Education ; 1886. Bulletin Nos. 23 and 24 Mass. State Agri. Exhibition Station. Agriculture in some of its relations with Chemistry ; 2 Vols. ; 1887; by F. H. Stover; Society. United States Consular Reports ; 3 Vols, bound ; 1884 ; upon Labor in Foreign Countries ; from Dept. of State. United States Consular Reports ; 2 Vols. ; unbound ; 1883 ; Dept. of State. 32 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. United States Consular Reports ; pamphlet on Trade Guilds of Europe ; 1885; on Cholera in Europe; 1885; on Pounding and Polishing of Rice in England and Germany ; 1885 ; on the Licorice Plant ; 1885 ; also, 51 Pamphlets on various subjects from the years 1881 to 1887. Bulletin No. 25, from Agricultural College of Mich. ; subject: a disease of the foot of the Horse. Herefordshire Pomona ; 2 Vols. ; Society. Agriculture of Massachusetts ; John E. Russell, Secretary. Journal of Horticulture ; Vol. 14 ; 1887. Revue Horticole ; 1886 ; Society. The American Horticultural Monthly ; Societ3\ The American Florist ; Semi-Monthly ; 1887 ; Society. Gardening Illustrated ; weekly pub. ; 1887; Society. Tick's Magazine ; Monthly ; 1887 ; Society. The Garden ; English Weekly publication ; 1887 ; Society. The Gardener's Chronicle ; Eng. Weekly publication ; 1887 ; Society. The Agri. Gazette ; Eng. Weekly publication ; 1887 ; Societj-. The American Agriculturist ; monthly ; 1887 ; Society. The Gardener's Monthly ; 1887 ; Society. The Country Gentleman ; 1887 ; Society. The Massachusetts Ploughman. The Worcester Directory. Books and pamphlets from the American Antiquarian Soci- ety ; 1887:— The Working Farmer ; devoted to Agriculture, Horticulture, Floriculture, Gardening, Management of Manures, etc., etc. ; by James J. Mapes, LL.D. ; Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ; 1850-1854 ; 4to. Transactions of the New York State Agricultural Society ; 1847-1851 ; 1862, '63, '64, '65, '6Q. Transactions of the American Institute of the City of New York ; 1848-'51 ; '56-'57 ; '60-'66 ; Svo. Massachusetts Agricultural Journal ; Vols. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 8 ; published by the Mass. Society for promoting Agriculture ; 1799 to 1825. Inquiries by the Massachusetts Society for promoting Agricul- ture ; also, the act of incorporation of said Society. Rules and Regulations, list of Members and Premium list; 1792; 1 vol.; Svo. Farmer's Museum ; 12mo. ; 1801 ; Walpole, N. H. ; by D. & T. Carlisle. The Medical and Agricultural Register for the years 1806, 1807 ; containing practical information on Husbandry, Manage- ment of the Sick, etc. ; Ed. by Daniel Adams, M. B. ; Svo. 1887.] REPORT OF THE LIBRARIAN. 33 Colman's European Agriculture and Rural Econom}', from personal observation ; by Henry Colmau ; Vols. 1 and 2 ; 1846 and 1849 ; Boston and London. Muck Manual for Farmers ; sec. ed. ; by Samuel L. Dana; 1843; 12mo. A Practical Treatise on the Management of Fruit Trees, with descriptive lists of the most valuable Fruits for general cultiva- tion, adapted to the interior of New England ; by George Jaqucs ; 1849; 12mo. American Swine Breeder; a practical treatise on the selection, rearing and fattening of Swine; by Henry W. Ellsworth; Bos- ton: 1840; 12mo. Downing's Fruits and Fruit Trees of America ; by A. J. Down- ing ; ed. of 1845. Studies in the Field and Forest; by Wilson Flagg ; 1857; 12mo. Magazine of Natural History and Journal of Zoology, Botany, Geology, Mineralogy and Meteorology ; by J, 0. Loudon, F. L. S. ; Vols. 1 and 2 ; 1829. Essay on Quick-Lime as a Cement and as a Manure; by James Anderson, LL.D. ; Boston; 1799; 12mo. Magazine of Natural History ; J. C. Loudon, F.L.S. ; Nos. 11, 12, 14, 15, 16 of VoL 3; Nos. 17, 18, 19, 20, 21 of Vol. 4; unbound. Journal of the American Agricultural Association ; 3 copies of No. 1, Vol. 1 ; 3 copies of Nos. 3 and 4, Vol. 1. American Journal of Horticulture; Boston; Year 1867, ex- cept February number; Year 1868, except January and Decem- ber numbers ; unbound. The Plough, Loom and the Anvil ; pub. by J. S. Skinner & Son; Philadelphia; 69 nos. from 1848 to 1855; incomplete; unbound. The Magazine of Horticulture ; C. M. Hovey ; 59 nos. from Dec, 1841, to June, 1868; incomplete; unbound. Horticultural Register and Gardeners' Magazine; 1837 and 1838; incomplete. Transactions of the Mass. So. for the Promotion of Agricul- ture; 1856, 1858 D, 1859 D. History and Progress of the Mass. State Board of Agriculture for the first Quarter of a Century, with a report on fruits at the Annual Meeting, Feb. 5, 1878; by Marshall P. Wilder. Biographies of Marshall P. Wilder; 1835 to 1878. The Proceedings and Reports of the Massachusetts Board of Agriculture for 1851-52 D. Genesee Farmer ; Rochester, N. Y. ; 30 nos. from 1846 to 1860; incomplete. 34 ' WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. Transactions of the Worcester County West Agricultural Society, Barre ; .1873, 1874, 1875, 1876. Culture of the Grasses; an extract from the fourth annual report of Chas. L. Flint, Sec. of the State Board of Agriculture ; 1860 ; 6 copies. The Horticulturist; February, 1874. Prizes for Arboriculture, offered by the Trustees of the Mass. Society for Promoting Agriculture ; 1876. Transactions of the Worcester Agricultural Society; 1874. Proceedings of the Associated Agricultural Convention held at the State House, in Boston, Thursday, March 20, 1851. Transactions of the Nantucket Agricultural Society ; 1876, 1877. Transactions of the Franklin Co. Agricultural Society ; 1877. Eighth Annual Report of the Worcester North West Agricul- tural and Mechanical Society, located at Athol, Mass.; 1874. Seventeenth and Eighteenth Annual Reports of Hoosic Valley Agricultural Society, for the years 1876, 1877. Twenty Second Annual Report of the President, Treasurer and Librarian of the Mercantile Library Association of San Francisco; 1874. Transactions of the Hingham Agricultural and Horticultural Soc. for the year 1871 ; with an introduction and an appendix. Address delivered before the Worcester Agricultural Society, Oct. 12, 1820, being their Anniversary Cattle Show and Exhibi- tions of Manufactures ; by Hon. Lewis Bigelow ; pub, by Man- ning & Trumbull ; Worcester; 1821. Annual Report of the American Institute of the city of New York; 1846. First Annual Meeting of the United States Agricultural So- ciety ; Feb. 2, 1853 ; President's Address, Journal of the United States Agricultural Society ; 1854 D ; 1855 ; 1856 D ; 1859, 3 copies ; 1860, Nos, 1, 2, 3 ; 1861 ; 1880. Papel'S on Agriculture; published by order of Mass. Society for the promotion of Agriculture; 1842, 1843, 1844, 1846; unbound. Abstract from the returns of Agricultural Societies in Massa- chusetts for the years 1845 and 1846. All of which is respectfully submitted. CHARLES E. BROOKS, Jjibrarian. Hall of Flora, November 2, 1887, REPORT OF THE TREASURER. Charles E. Brooks, Treasurer^ In account with the Worcester County Horticultural Society. 1887. To Cash on hand Nov. 1, 1886, $2,208 09 " from new Members, 71 00 " " Chrysanthemum Ex. 106 90 " " Worcester Association for pro- ■ tection of Fruit, 457 04 rent of Stores 1 year, 3,241 64 (( « " rent of Horticultural Hall, 2,948 57 $9,033 24 Cr. By Cash paid Premiums 1886, $1,663 09 " " Edward W. Lincoln, salary, 400 00 " " Chas. E. Brooks, " 1,000 00 " " Extra Labor, and sundry small bills, 305 21 " " H. F. A. Lange as Judge, 70 00 " " James Draper " 58 00 " " Chas. Greenwood, " 64 00 " « City of Worcester, Tax 1887, 518 50 « " " " Water, 63 84 " " Worcester Gas Light Co., 279 55 " " Printing, Advertising and Binding, 339 71 F. W. Wellington & Co., 63 25 Books and Periodicals, 149 33 Boston & Sandwich Glass Co., 70 57 Insurance, 30 60 Joseph P. Mason, 24 08 Arba Pierce, 17 60 Denholm & McKay, 9 50 36 WORCESTER COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. [1887. By Cash it a paid Edgar M. Bond, " Evans & Co., " O. S. Kendall & Co., " J. Henry Hill, " Mechanics Savings Bank Int., " " " " on debt. Balance on hand Nov. 1, 1887, CHARLES E. 7 50 7 13 10 35 5 00 139 58 1,500 00 $6,803 39 2,229 85 $9,033 24 BROOKS, Treasurer. Hall of Flora, JSTovemher 1, 1887. WoRCESTEK, Nov. 1, 1887. We, the undersigned. Auditors of the Wokcester County Horticultural Society, hereby certify that we have compared the foregoing accounts of the Treasurer of said Society, for the years 1886 and 1887, with the vouchers pi'esented by him and find the same correctly entered and footed. HENRY L. PARKER. EMORY BANISTER. ««>"** % -%-• -^S-i-i^"^ ^^t w