MICniGAN STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 383 



and seedlings from these, offer, we think, the best prospect for 

 a supply of late pears in the warmer parts of our country, AV^e 

 would also recommend a trial of the sorts used at the North 

 for cooking, as some of these have proved fine dessert poars in 

 the South. And probably some of the fine old varieties which 

 have decayed at the East, and show signs of the same fate at 

 the West, may, in more genial climates, have their existence 

 so far prolonged as to be among the most desirable. 



THE society's CATALOGUE. 



Allow me again to commend to your consideration the valiiQ 

 and importance of our Catalogue of Fruits. The completion 

 of this "work, by embodying the fruits of the Southern and 

 Pacific States, is yet to be accomplished. This has been 

 delayed from unavoidable circumstances, but we hope is now 

 to be done, so that the basis of American Pomology can be 

 established for the generations which are to succeed us. The 

 work is indeed great, but it is a duty that devolves on us, as 

 the representatives of that science which the Society has in 

 charge. In proceeding with it however, we find ourselves met 

 by a difficulty not anticipated at the beginning of our work, 

 arising from the unparalled expansion of our country. In the 

 few years since our catalogue was commenced, several new 

 States and Territories have been organized, and if such expan- 

 sion continnes, as it undoubtedly will, it will be difficult to 

 bring the catalogue, on its present plan, into any reasonable 

 limits. On this point I hope to hear from the chairman of 

 General Fruit Committee, to whom, more than to any one else, 

 we are indebted for the progress already made, and I commend 

 the subject to the thoughtful consideration of all the members 

 of the Society, and especially invite the co-operation of every 

 State in collecting and transmitting to him the information 

 necessary to the completion of our work. 



THE INCREASING IMPORTANCE OF FRUIT CULTURE. 



The importance and value of our calling in developing the 

 resources of our country, in the occupation of unimproved 



