400 STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Beadle had heard an entomologist say that if at any time there was 

 trouble with fruit, a bug was to the bottom of it. He wanted the committee 

 on entomology to look at the Virgalieu pear, as it might appear after all that 

 an insect had caused the mischief in this case. 



Mr. Brooks had never shipped better pears of this variety than during tlie 

 l^resent season. 



Mr. Thomas differed with Dr. Beadle. Did not believe the cracking was 

 caused by an insect, but the microscope showed that it was caused by a 

 cryptogamous plant. 



Some one suggested that perhaps budding and grafting was a cause of 

 cracking, but Mr. Jones did not believe that it had anything to do with it. 

 Trees of Virgalieus taken from the East to the West bore fair Irnit. 



Mr. H. E. Hooker thought the evidence that fruit declined was very inade- 

 quate. We certainly had less success for a time witli certain varieties, but 

 there was no proof, for instance, that a good specimen of the Bartlett was not 

 as fine as ever. There was an advance, and a permanent one, in fruits. A 

 variety propagated from grafts and buds was stable, it preserved all its original 

 excellence. But when raised from seed the matter might be altogether differ- 

 ent. In all other cases, variation in excellence was owing to unfavorable years, 

 insects, or other similar causes. Vegetables, grains, and grasses, beiug raised from 

 seed, were liable to decline, however, from want of care in preserving the best 

 seeds, etc. He maintained, finally, that there was no evidence of intrinsic 

 decline in fruits, and if so, then the present discussion was useless. 



Mr. Quiuby referred to vegetables, and said there was no doubt of the run- 

 ning out of varieties. The old Pinkeye potatoe, for example, had declined 

 in quality as well as quantity of yield. The same was true of the Mercer, and 

 even the Early Rose did not now bear as well as Avhen introduced a few years 

 back. 



The President arose to explain that by the word "decline," as applied to 

 fruits in this topic, it was the intention to convey the idea that certain varie- 

 ties were no longer profitable to grow. No one would plant the Virgalieu now 

 for profit, or the Flemish Beauty. Was the unprofitable nature of the crop 

 due to exhaustion of soil, or to climate, or age ? If to age, then why 

 were new varieties often attacked and soon rendered useless as a market crop ? 



Dr. Sylvester thought that decline was caused neither by old age nor manner 

 of propagation. Twenty-two years ago he had set out an orchard of the Vir- 

 galieu standard trees at an after loss of several thousand dollars. The crop at 

 that time was selling at a high price. No defects had appeared here, and this 

 induced the venture. But the disease had slowly approached from the East. 

 The fruit had first cracked, then fungus appeared, and he had been eventually 

 forced to graft over all the trees in the orchard. That this was not a good plan 

 he was now convinced. The disease, whether fungus or insect, was inherent in 

 the tree. But half of his grafts had been successful. 



A member observed tiiat the disease was transported on main lines of com- 

 munication, and to prove this view cited that in out-of-the-way districts of 

 Sodus the Virgalieu had prospered eight or ten years after the failure of the 

 crop in this part of the State. 



Mr. Smith, of Syracuse, wished to state a fact which might have value. He 

 had an orchard in a locality subject to annual overflow. Of the varieties in 

 that orchard, Virgalieus, Seckels, Flemish Beauties, etc., he has never found 

 any imperfect from the diseases which often attacked the same varieties on dry 

 ground. 



