410 TEANSACTIONS OF THE 



the new and beautiful varieties (on paper) that tree peddlers kindly 

 offer to sell you at fifty or seventy-five cents apiece. Don't invest 

 in Russians to any great extent, unless for experimental purposes, 

 but plant our old, well tried, productive kinds, and supply the neces- 

 sary conditions of fertility and moisture, and you will in four years 

 out of five have apples in abundance. 



MARCH MEETING. 



A fair attendance of practical horticulturists were present, and 

 a number of choice specimens of well kept fruits and vegetables were 

 placed on exhibition. T. F. Leeper, of Lima, and the secretary con- 

 tributed a good show of Ben Davis, which on test proved admirably 

 adapted to our palates for a March desert apple. 



We cannot afford to dispense with this old standard winter 

 apple. We may do better — sometimes much better during the fall 

 and early winter, but February and March brings us to fully appre- 

 ciate the Ben; and while many other fine old varieties of which we 

 know, and some new ones of which we know but little, will be 

 planted during the present spring, we predict that the plant of Ben 

 Davis will in extent of numbers equal them all. 



W.W. (yhittenden made a show of very fine " Beauty of Hebron " 

 potatoes, and gave them a hearty endorsement for early gardens. 

 They are of large size, uniform shape, and smooth and handsome. 

 We suppose that it is well known as closely resembling the Early 

 Rose in quality and appearance. 



A very interesting specimen, also by Mr. Chittenden, was a block 

 of wood taken from one of the trunks of a Vandevere apple tree. It 

 contained a round wooden pin (basswood and still perfectly sound), 

 which the speaker had inserted into an auger hole, made for the pur- 

 pose thirty years ago. It was well preserved, as was also the tree, 

 both being sound, but neither that or any other device resorted to for 

 the purpose had ever caused this old tree to become productive upon 

 Mr. Chittenden's grounds. This must be the result of either an un- 

 congenial soil, or location. 



The secretary read a letter from Prof. Forbes, of the University 

 of Illinois, at Champaign, asking for close observation and frequent, 

 or at least annual reports from nurserymen, orchardists, farmers and 



