FRUITS AND FLOWERS. 281 



to liiin tlio first premium of $2. Mr. Wilson's title to the 

 society's distinctions stands scarcely less on his well-known 

 devotion to fruit culture than his zeal and diligence in discharg- 

 ing the duties of his secretaryship. There is, moreover, connected 

 with his pear trees, a history quite instructive to those impatient 

 husbandmen who refuse to plant trees because they cannot 

 exact an instantaneous return of fruit. We well remember 

 seeing, about five years since, in mid-winter, some of the pear 

 trees whose fruits graced the present exhibition, travelling, with 

 immense balls of earth about their roots, supporting trunks ten 

 or twelve inches in diameter, in stately procession through Main 

 and King Streets, and finally bringing up at their place of desti- 

 nation on Mr. W.'s grounds on North Street. This is the true 

 way of keeping pace with a fast age. 



Cranberries, grown on upland, were exhibited by James 

 Ellsworth and E. B. Fitts, of Northampton. These samples, 

 and the great difference between them, not only demonstrated 

 that this invaluable berry thrives well on garden soil, but that 

 it is as susceptible of high improvement by careful cultivation 

 as other garden plants. Mr. Fitts, by cultivation, had produced 

 a berry twice the size and much fairer than those of Mr. Ells- 

 worth, which had received no special care. 



We should be unmindful of the claims of taste, skill, and 

 liberality in the floral decorations of our department, did we 

 not express our thanks to Miss Julia Shepherd, Messrs. Joseph 

 I. West and Nathan Storrs, for their various and beautiful 

 contributions of flowers. 



And with this expression of the society's acknowledgments 

 for the renewed kindness of its friends, — imperfectly requited 

 by any tribute of ours, — we reluctantly take leave of the exhi- 

 bition of 1855. 



Charles Delano, Chairman. 



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