DECEMBER MEETING. 231 



vutions. It is -wonderful how it Iiuproves the tone of u paper if lie but becomes 

 a contributor. No one feels the public pulse more keenly tlian the editor, and 

 as louf? as we read the horticultural column very much as we do the letters 

 from Washington by our own correspondent, or the short story on the back 

 page, so long will they fail to be worth reading in any other way. Let it once 

 be known that Ave are in dead earnest in knowing something more than is now 

 known of our profession, and wc will soon have aids enough. There is not a 

 puldishcr in the country that would to-day risk his money in starting a paper 

 for horticulturists, in wliich the space would be occupied by reports of experi- 

 ments and matters pertaining to the solution of some of questions Ave noAV 

 ignore, and so long as there is not enthusiasm enough among all tlie tliousands 

 of horticulturists of this country to support such a pa])er, so long will horticul- 

 ture as a science stand just Avhere it has for the last century or more. 



You ask, Avho Avill make these experiments and Avrite these articles? I 

 answer, the men must be developed. One great need of horticulture to-day is 

 scientific enthusiasts, men Avho study horticultural facts not tliat they may get 

 a dollar out of them, but as Prof. Cook studies a bug, not for the good it may 

 do, nor for the evil, but just for the pure bug there is in him. We constantly 

 hear the cry, Ave Avant practical men, — meaning men Avho can make money. I 

 am tired of it. We Avant enthusiastic students. The practical man never leaA'Cs 

 the world the Aviser for his having lived in it. It Avas not Cornell and Orton, 

 but Morse and Field that advanced telegraphy. Which left the world the 

 richer, Isaac Rich, Avho made his millions handling fresh fish and oysters, or 

 Prof. Agassiz, Avho spent his life in studying them, and Avas too busy to make 

 money? My friends, we have a noble calling. Let us not degrade it by 

 seeking only success in dollars and cents, but give heart and soul to the worship 

 of Pomona, and never cease for a moment to importune her Avith questions, 

 until she reveals her secrets to us, and let us not allow our day and generation 

 to slip by Avithout giving to the world the solution of some of the questions Ave 

 asked Avhen a boy. 



The last discussion of the CA-ening was based upon the question 



now SHALL WE PRESERVE OURSELVES FROM THE WILES OF THE 



FRUIT TREE AGENT? 



Judge Ramsdell. — A discussion to be lively and entertaining sl\ould, it seems 

 to me, have more than one side to it, and to this tree agent swindling business 

 there is but one view to take, and as I look at it all must agree Avith me, to be 

 safe the only way to do is to let tree agents severely alone. How the secretary 

 should have known that I had been defrauded, and should have selected me to 

 tell my story first in this discussion I cannot imagine, but he Inis certainly 

 struck right, for I have had my share of tribulation as a result of too implicit 

 confidence in a tree agent. Several j'ears ago, I bought of a tree canvasser 

 pear trees in variet}', selecting just Avhat I Avanted, and "they could bo furnished, 

 yes, no question about that, just according to order." The trees Avere deliv- 

 ered and paid for, and I Avas fortunate enough to make most of tliem groAV. 

 They came into bearing and you know our Tra\'erse region is a great country 

 to Avork changes in fruits. The best pomologists are often at fault in naming 

 our varieties because of the wonderful difference in appearance that comes as a 

 result of our soil, climate, etc. Well, the metamorphosis that my carefully 



