NOTES CONCERNING SISTER STATE SOCIETIES. 285- 



PENNSYLVANIA HORTICULTURAL ASSOCIATION. 



OFFICERS FOR 1886. 



President — Calvin Cooper, Bird-in-Hand. 



Vice Presidents — Henry M. Engle, Marietta ; Josiah Hoopes, West Chester.. 



Recording Secretary — E. B. Eugle, Waynesboro. 



Corresponding Secretary — W. B. Brinton, Christiana. 



Treasurer — George B. Thomas, West Chester. 



Librarian — Thomas J. Edge, Harrisburg. 



Professor of Botany — Thomas Meehan, Germantown. 



Professor of Entomology — S. S. Rathvon, Lancaster. 



Chairman General Fruit Committee — Cyrus T. Fox, Reading. 



The last meeting of the society held at Reading last January was one of the 

 most successful in the history of the society. Secretary Engle furnishes us 

 with a full record of its proceedings, but perhaps an epitome of the work ac- 

 complished, the following notes from Gardener's Monthly will best suffice our 

 purpose : 



Over one hundred new members were enrolled. Much of the success of the 

 meeting was due to Ex- President Judge Stitzel and Cyrus T" Fox, Secretary 

 of the Berks County Horticultural Society. Prof. Buckhout of the State 

 College, gave an admirable address on the adornment of home grounds, which 

 will, no doubt, have a good effect in stimulating gardening in purely farming 

 districts. An interesting discussion followed, participated in by A. W. Har- 

 rison, of Germantown, S. B. Parsons, of Flushing, N. Y., Rev. W. W. Meech 

 of Vineland, Col. McFarland, of Harrisburg, and Josiah Hoopes. Mr. Par- 

 sons would not plant a tree within two hundred feet of a dwelling house, 

 though we do not know his reason. The annual report of the general fruit 

 committee, Cyrus T. Fox, was one of the best features of the meeting. 

 Apples in Pennsylvania seem to be in the "off" year, though many full crops 

 were reported. Pears, always a certain crop in Pennsylvania, were more 

 abundant than usual. Peaches are so troubled by yellows, that cultivators are 

 well nigh disheartened. Plums are successful where intelligent shaking is 

 practiced, and the talk about "curculio proof varieties" deemed, as most 

 people now know, arrant nonsense. The quince is growing in favor as a 

 profitable market fruit. The cherry suffered some from late spring frosts and 

 the English sparrow; but on the whole proved a satisfactory fruit. Grapes do 

 well everywhere, and much value is found in paper bags for fruit. 



Small fruits seems not to have been very satisfactory last year to Pennsyl- 

 vania fruit-growers; while the culture of vegetables seems to be more successful 

 and more profitable than ever before. The taste for ornamental shrubs and 

 plants is growing amazingly. In storing and preserving, the refrigerator and 

 retarding houses around Reading have been found very satisfactory. Fruits 

 are kept till gluts in the market are over, when fair prices are realized. Sun- 



