PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 



E. Baur made a humorous reference to the adaptability of the English 

 language to persuasive speech. It would be impossible, he said, for agents to 

 obtain such results as they do in the harsh German tongue. 



J. W. Helme : The reliability of agents depends largely on how they are 

 paid. I do not hire agents by the per cent. Buyers should find out the reli- 

 ability of those from whom they buy. Many dare not trust an order with a 

 distant unknown firm. Local agents are necessary. 



C. W. Garfield : If people will not be educated by horticultural societies 

 and publications let them be educated in their own way, even at the expense of 

 being swindled. 



A. G. Gulley : Do not deal with those who are pushing a new thing at a high 

 price. These people are chiefly responsible for the too highly colored plates 

 and over-wrought descriptions. Still, the growth of varieties differs in differ- 

 ent locations, and the originators may be mistaken as to their general merits. 



President Lyon announced the following committee on fruits exhibited : 

 H. E. Van Deman, Kansas; Mr. Moore, Ohio ; W. W. Farnsworth, Ohio. 



Wednesday — Morning Session . 



The exercises were opened with music, following which the Secretary read 

 this letter, addressed by S. S. Bailey, of Grand Bapids, to the Commissioner of 

 Agriculture, which had been endorsed by the Grand Biver Yalley Horticultural 

 Society and by the Executive Board of the State Horticultural Society : 



MR. BAILEY-S LETTER. 



Grand Bapius, Michigan, / 

 February 1, 1886. J 



Mr. Norman J. Coleman. 



Conwi issioner of Agriculture : 



Dear Sir : — The destruction of the peach orchards of the country, more es- 

 pecially those of the Northern States, by a disease called the " yellows," and 

 no remedy having as yet been found to check the spread of the disease except 

 the destruction of all the trees affected, and that check only temporary, there 

 seems to be a demand that those in high authority in the nation who can com- 

 mand the proper talent for a thorough scientific investigation should at once 

 make an effort to solve the mystery of the yellows and determine the cause and 

 the remedy. 



Science alone can do this, and may require a long and patient investigation 

 and much means to extend the research which is not likely to be furnished by 

 horticultural societies or aid from the States. 



No one but yourself has at present the power or the means to make such a 

 thorough and exhaustive invest'gation of the subject as will meet the wants 

 of those interested in peach growing and satisfy the country. 



It is unnecessary for me to call your attention to the loss to the country 

 during the last fifty years, more especially during the last twenty years, by this 

 disease, as you are more familiar with the facts than myself. 



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