U. S. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 435 



pomology, commercial pomology, and miscellaneous papers on pomological 

 topics. While limited space will not permit more than a mere mention of 

 many of the papers, brief references to some of them may not be out of 

 place in this report. 



At the opening session, after the call to order by President Berckmans, 

 the address of welcome was delivered by Hon. Edwin Willits, assistant 

 secretary of agriculture. He referred briefly to the remarkable advances 

 made in the improvement of our fruits since the organization of the 

 society, in 4848. At that time California and Florida were unknown as 

 fruit-producing regions. The orange, the lemon, the fig, the Japanese 

 persimmon, the pomegranate, the pine-apple, the olive, were essentially 

 luxuries, imported from foreign shores. The tomato, though tempting to 

 the eye was, in many localities distasteful to the palate, if not positively 

 injurious. The strawberry was yet, in a large measure, only a product of 

 the meadows. 



" But it is useless," he added, " to enlarge in illustration of the condition 

 at the date of your organization. A complete revolution has been wrought. 

 In this revolution you, gentlemen, and those whom you succeed and whom 

 you represent have been an important factor. The improved methods you 

 have brought about; the new varieties you have propagated and introduced; 

 the new fruits you have brought from foreign lands and made popular; the 

 assiduity with which you have studied soil, and climate, and adaptability; 

 the genius you have shown in discovering and devising new strains of flavor 

 and of increased production; the sacrifices you have made and the fortunes 

 you have spent in the endeavor to secure a hardy stock with the most 

 acceptable qualities, all have been recorded, and will be gratefully remem- 

 bered by generations who enjoy the luscious pleasures you have brought 

 to their repasts. Many of your names have been household words for 

 years. You have given joys that never satiate and sweets that never pall. 

 Where before an improved fruit was so rare that it was a benefaction, now 

 there is such an abundance that one can hardly discriminate and can hardly 

 distribute his appreciation." The speaker then referred at some length to 

 the work of the department of agriculture in lines affecting pomology, 

 and invited the hearty cooperation of the society, that still better work 

 might be accomplished. 



In response to a request from the president, Hon. C. L. AVatrous of 

 Des Moines, Iowa, thanked the secretary of agriculture for the kind invi- 

 tation and cordial reception tendered the society. He referred to the suc- 

 cessful work of the department and to the feeling of assurance on the 

 part of the society that the work would be continued. He expressed it as 

 his opinion, based on observation of the different plans adopted by various 

 governments, for promoting the interests of agriculture, that in no other 

 country has a government department devoted itself so successfully to 

 securing the welfare of the common people. Referring to the work of 

 members of the society from beyond the Mississippi, he spoke of recent 

 attempts to perfect and develop the hardy wild fruits of the west and the 

 prospect of success in that line of pomological work. 



In the address of the president, Mr. P. J. Berckmans, attention was 

 called to the fact that the official recognition of the society by the secre- 

 tary of agriculture gave it " as truly a national standard in name as it has 

 always had in deeds." 



One of the objects of the society is to educate* the people concerning 

 fruits. Though not so stated in the constitutional clause defining their 



