MICHIGAN" STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 387 



est and uuassuming man, of the strictest integrity, and died 

 as he had lived, nniversally respected and beloved. 



Nor can I close this sad record without adding the name of 

 M. S. Frierson, Columbia, Tenn., who died March 28, 1870. 

 Mr. Frierson Avas the Vice-President of this Society from Ten- 

 nesee. He attended our last meeting, and his noble bearing 

 and gentlemanly deportment Avill long be remembered by all 

 who yyere present with him. He was by profession a lawyer, 

 and at the time of his death was in practice as an old counsel- 

 or at Columbia. But what most concerns us is his interest in 

 pomological pursuits, which was strikingly evinced by the part 

 which he took in the discussions of the Society ; his remarks 

 being always valuable, interesting, and to the point. He was 

 much interested in fruit culture, and had given particular 

 attention to the hybridization of the nectarine and the pear, 

 with the special view of producing late-keeping varieties of the 

 latter. His experiments were evidently based upon truly scien- 

 tific knowledge, and at the time of his death had already been 

 the means of producing some valuable new fruits. In a letter 

 written but a few months before his death he says, in speaking 

 of his experiments : '• They may turn out nothing. Still, the 

 taste it gives my girls '' (who had aided him in conducting 

 them) " for such amusement is worth more than the trouble. 

 The seeds will be carefully planted, and we will wait and see." 

 Noble sentiment! But the fruition of his hopes was trans- 

 ferred to another world, leaving us to Avait and see the further 

 results which they may produce here. 



These associates have gone to their reward. Their seats in 

 this Society are forever vacant, but their eflForts for the advance- 

 ment of our cause in the early history of our Society will be 

 appreciated more and more as time inoves on. 



CONCLUSION. 



With the deepest sense of gratitude do I rejoice in the pres- 

 ence of a few of the founders of this Society, whose lives have 

 been prolonged to this day. Ere long all those who were pres- 



