STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 627 



character of the weather when sown or planted. To encourage 

 the manufacture of the " metalic label," your committee recom- 

 mend that the Diploma of the Society be awarded to the inventor, 

 J. C. Hastings, Clinton, Oneida. 



Several causes, needless to specify, contributed to limit the com- 

 petition in apples and peaches ; but your committee are decidedly 

 of the opinion that had exhibitors been much more numerous, 

 better specimens of several choice varieties of the peach, viz : the 

 Morris White, Crawford Late,Malacatoon, and a very large, splen- 

 did and delicious new variety, designated by the not very eupho- 

 nious title, " Stumps the World," could hardly have been better, 

 nor could the premiums have been better deserved. 



This collection of seven varieties of the peach was grown by 

 Mr. Odell, in tlie extreme northern part of Wayne county, N. Y., 

 upon or near the shore of Lake Ontario. 



But one competitor entered the lists for the premium offered 

 for apples. This collection of twenty varieties, exhibited by 

 Messrs. Ellwanger & Barry, of Rochester, was composed of fair 

 specimens, well arranged and correctly named, so far as your 

 committee were able to determine. 



But it is in pears that the present exhibition, in perfection of 

 arrangement and specimens and number of good varieties, amount- 

 ing in one case to one hundred and fifty varieties, and in another 

 to fifty-nine varieties, is believed to have excelled any ever before 

 witnessed at an annual fair of your Society, affording an oppor- 

 tunity to those whose desire to make a selection of choice varie- 

 ties, for amateur cultivation, which seldom occurs. The first 

 premium for pears was awarded to Ellwanger & Barry, Roches- 

 ter, not only because the collection was most numerous, but 

 because the specimens exhibited were actually more meritorious, 

 better arranged and labeled, and the rules of the Society more 

 nearly complied with. 



As regards the correct naming of 150 varieties of pears, your 

 committee would not assume to be able to decide, and the more 

 especially under tlie present circumstances, when neither time nor 

 convenience oflers an opportunity to consult authorities on the 

 subject; but SO far as the knowledge or experience of either of 

 the judges extended, the varieties were correctly named. 



W. D. COOK, Chairman, 



