90 



/■///•; c;.ihW)/':\/':h"s MoxrnLV 



IMarch, 



espocially Ity Mr. Hiikctls. wIhim- woiKlcit'iil 

 succoss in rross-fiTlilizatitm has lit'iii afliicvcd 

 o»» the vorv soil wlinv tliis |)ni])h('cv was made. 

 With this kimwh'diri' roinnu'iu-i'd a new era in 

 till' prodni'tion of iniprovctl varieties of iVnits, 

 tiowers an»l vegetables ; an era wiiieli lias so cii- 

 lariri'<l tlie sphi-re of ex])erinients in i'ertili/.ation 

 tliat its oriLrinators will ever he urMleluUy re- 

 inenilH led as henetaetors to mankind, who have 

 illnstrated one of those wonderful and beautiful 

 laws i)y which the whole universe is regulated, 

 and by which improvement in fruits, veiretables. 

 and animal life may be advanced until absolute 

 perfection is attained. 



XOMEXCLATUKK. 



The pro;rress in correct nomenclature has been 

 most liralifyiuLr, and the laliors of the American 

 Pomoloiiical Soi-iety, in connection with ils 

 Lireat exhibitions of tVuits, have had a jiromi- 

 nent leadimr influence in this result. 



Mr. John .1. Thomas says: ''I well rememlx'r 

 the continuid disa]ipoiutments 1 met with when 

 a youniu; man in procurinfj trees that were true 

 to the name — in some fruits accuracy seemed to 

 be decidedly the exception. In corrcspondinj;- 

 on this subject some forty years ago with the 

 elder Robert Mannin<r, he remarked that the 

 account of my disapi)ointment was a history of 

 his own." At the present time, all respectable 

 nurseries are accurate throughout, and pur- 

 chasei'S scarcely find an error. One of the ob- 

 jects of the founders of this Society was to 

 correct the evils which formerly existed; to aid 

 in determining the synonyms by which the same 

 fruit was known, and thus to establish the cor- 

 rect names and impart a knowledge of th(; value 

 of varieties. 



Much has been accomiilished by the Society's 

 Catalogue, whereby a permanent foundation has 

 been laid, which will eventually result in the 

 complete abrogation of such names as are used 

 without litness, propri(;ty or even truth. We 

 especially desire, for the honor of our science, 

 that all inelegant or absurd names, such as Cat- 

 head, Hogpen, Sheepuose, Stump the "World, 

 and the like, should no longer be applied to 

 fruits. In this respect we have made great ad- 

 vances by the suppression of vulgar names and 

 the adoption of such as have reference to the 

 origin, introduction, or the characteristics of our 

 fruits. How absurd to give to a luscious fruit, 

 radiant with the loveliest tints of nature, and 

 fragrant with the spices of Arabia— a fruit pos- 

 sessing almost supernal grace — such vulgar 

 names. How inappropriate the dedication of 

 fruits to warriors and statesmen, to generals 

 and colonels, presidents and senators, or the 

 long roll of titled nobility, whitdi have no 

 natural connection, or analogy, with fruits. 

 How much more appropriate, for instance, are 

 the names of the Baldwin and Porter apple, the 

 Bartlett and the Sheldon pear, the Early Craw- 

 ford and Late Adihirable peach, the Concord 

 grape, and "Wilson's Albany strawberry. Some 

 of these have come down to us from former gen- 

 erations, and will survive as long as the varieties 

 which bear them exist, without the use of three 



hnndrtMJ jind seventy niinics for twenty-nine 

 kinds of iip]tles. as slated in Dr. Howsley's lie- 

 port of 1S7.'.. Our c.ntaloLjue already aliomids 

 with the mnnes of fruits of American ori-.Mii. 

 and they will ere long surpass in number those 

 of foreign climes. I^et us, then, labor to estab- 

 lish a pure. prr)per and practical nomenclature 

 of fruits for our hnid. which sh:ill be correct, 

 deliiiite. int(dligible ;nid which shiill endure for 

 iiU tinu'. 



Among the most important acts of this Soci- 

 ety was the rejection, as unwf)rtiiy fif cultivation, 

 (in IS.'iS, nineteen years since,) of 02.0 varieties 

 of fruits, then known in the catalogues of nur- 

 serymen, but since snpi)resscd. Not Irss imjior- 

 tant was the adoption of its own Catalogue of 

 VMrieties adapted to the various sections of our 

 wid(dv exten<led country. This took ]ilace in 

 1S()2. but it was reserved for the year 1S71 to in- 

 augurat(> the present grand f|uarto foi'm Mri-;niged 

 in Northern . Southern and Central Divisions, 

 similar in climate and other chiu'acters atfecling 

 IVuit culture, with columns for lifty States and 

 Territories, thus pi-esentinii to the world the 

 nutst perfect and ])ractical catalogue of fruits 

 extant. Thus shall we improve our pomology 

 and thus hand down inestimable blessings to 

 the world; not for ourselves only, but to glad- 

 den the sight, gratify the taste, and cheer the 

 hearts of the advancinir millions that are to oc- 

 cupy this blessed land. And what more endur- 

 ing memorial of valuable service to postei-ity 

 can we render than to transmit a tme fruit 

 which shall survive when we have passed from 

 our labors on earth. The pleasures of sight en- 

 hance the pleasure of taste, and thus generation 

 after generation will rejoice in the beauty as 

 well as the richness of fruits which have adorned 

 our orchards and cheered our social meal, and 

 which, with each successive year, cause us to 

 realize the thought of the poet, that 



" A thing of beauty is a joy forever." 



Ohio HonTicTiLTiiKAL Society. — Mr. Bate-^ 

 ham informs us that the annual meeting of the 

 State Horticultural Society, at Ravenna the past 

 week, was counted the best of the thirty years' 

 history of the society. 



The othcers of the Horticultural Society elected 

 for the ensuing year are mostly the same as last 

 vear : Dr. J. A. Warder, President, North Bend; 

 N. Ohmer, Vice President. Dayton ; ]Vr. B. Bate- 

 ham, Secretary, Painesville ; G. W. Campludl, 

 Treasurer, Delaware; Leo Weltz, AVilminL'ton ; 

 J. J. Harrison, Painesville; G. M. High, Middle 

 Bass; Frank Pentland, Lockland; and C. C. 

 Miller, Norwich, Committee. 



Montgomery (Ohio) Horticultukal So- 

 ciety. — This well known and useful society 

 seems in a prosperous condition. Its last report 

 tells us that "■ during no preceding year have our 

 meetings been so uniformly well attended as 

 during the one just closing, and at no former 

 time have our discussions been participated in 

 by a larger number of people, imparting thereby 

 unusual interest to our pi'ocecdings, both verbal! 

 and printed." 



