No. 1. DEPARTMENT OE AGRICULTURE. 551 



specimens, and put them in a basket, which I hung by a strong twine 

 in the well, just about two feet above the water"— a process of 

 cold storage, ante-dating the cold storage as we use it to-day. Then, 

 I must not forget that clean Quaker, Edward Jessup, a son of Jon- 

 athan Jessup, who came up from North Carolina ; he was fruit-grower, 

 carpenter, blacksmith, engineer and everything else, and proved suc- 

 cessful in everything he undertook. He disseminated the York Im- 

 perial. During my residence in Washington, two other states claimed 

 to be the originator of this valuable apple, and one man wrote me 

 from New York that its very name proved it to have originated in 

 New York — "York Imperial." Another man wrote me from the South, 

 saying it had been discovered there and known as "Johnston's Fine 

 Keeper" — S]>elling Johnston with the "T." But that it was due to 

 Jonathan Jessup that this fruit was disseminated, I know, because 

 I have seen the letter written to him, now yellow with age, by An- 

 drew Jackson Downing, brother of Charles Downing, one of the 

 greatest horticulturists this country ever produced. He laid out 

 the grounds of the Smithsonian Institute, and lost his life in a steam- 

 ship accident during the time of President Tyler; this letter read 

 as follows: "Friend Jessup. — I have received thy basket of very 

 fine apples; it is the Imperial of late keepers, and very fine, and as 

 thee says it originated near York, Pennsylvania, I would suggest 

 the name of York Imperial. 



"Thy friend, 

 "ANDREW JACKSON DOWNING." 



It received its name in the first place from Mr. Jessup as "John- 

 ston's Fine Winter," owing to tlie fact that it was found first on 

 the grounds of Mr. Johnston near the banks of the Codorus. The 

 tree grew along the highway and it was noticed that market-men as 

 they passed by, and school children got most of the fruit; there did 

 not seem to be much appreciation of it by the owner. Mr. Jessup 

 undertook to cultivate it, and introduced it as "Johnston's Fine Win- 

 ter." The trees could not be sold, and to get rid of them Mr. Jessup 

 took them out to a gully along the highway leading from York to 

 Baltimore and strewed them there. Then the shrewd, economical 

 Pennsylvania Dutchmen picked them up and planted tliem. Mr. 

 Jessup said: "They will not plant anything else; I'm glad they will 

 plant these." That is why the county of York is the home, and the 

 great 7)roducer of the York Imperial. 



Then, I mnst not forget that fine tenor singer, Mr. Mercereau. 

 He was an Englishman, who came to this country as a member of 

 Madame Seguin's English Opera Troupe; that was before the days 

 when Grand Opern was popular, and the company soon disbanded, 

 and Mr. JMercereau began the cultivation of fruit at Catawissa, where 

 he was very successful, and introduced a very fine strawberry, called 

 after the English statesman. Gladstone. 



If I had time. T rould talk to you for a long time of the older 

 members of this sofiety. Yoimger members, you have before yon 

 the example of some of the finest and most noble mpu. and T want to 

 say to you that T have never known fruit crowers to be anything 

 but honorable, honest, upright men. from ]\[aine to California, and 

 from Washington to the Mississippi Valley. I have never known one 

 of them to do a mean, contemptible, dishonorable thing. (Applause). 

 Keep on; be -courageous, be honest, be energetic, be industrious, be 



