COLONEL WILDER's ADDRESS. 



bearing, when grafted on the quince, earlier than on the pear stock. This is believed to 

 result from the early maturity of the quince, which, while it does not change the variety of 

 the pear, imparts its own precocity thereto. We realize a corresponding hastening to matu- 

 rity when the scion is grafted into a pear-tree which has also arrived at maturity ; espe- 

 cially is this to be exjjected when the stock is in itself one of a precocious character. If any 

 facts seem to oppose this doctrine, they may be regarded either as exceptions to the general 

 law, or as the results of locality and cultivation. 



" The physiological principle of the vegetable kingdom under which this doctrine obtains 

 is, that the bud contains the embryo tree, and that the strong or precocious stock constrains 

 it to elaborate more material into wood and foliage, and thus promotes both growth and 

 fruitfulness. 



" Common sense as well as common observation, confirms this statement. Witness the 

 pear, which we have known to fruit the fourth year from seed, when grafted on the quince. 

 We know a seedling from the Seckel pear, grafted on the Bartlett, which bore the present 

 season, and is only four years from the seed. The Catharine Gardette, raised by Dr. Brinkle, 

 was brought into bearing by grafting on the quince in five years, while the original seedlings, 

 in all these instances, are only three to five feet in height, and will require several additional 

 years to bring them into bearing. Is it reasonable to suppose that a seedling pear, which, 

 in two years, in a given location, attains the height of one or two feet, with but few branches, 

 will fruit as early as a scion from the same seedling when grafted on a strong tree, which 

 elaborates and assimilates through its abundant branches and luxuriant foliage, ten times 

 the amount of all the elements constituting growth and maturity ?" 



He continues : — 



" In reliance upon natural fertilization, I would still encourage the continual planting of 

 the seeds of choice varieties of all kinds of fruit, in the belief that new and valuable varie- 

 ties may thus be obtained. By these various processes, we shall have continual accessions 

 to our collections of such choice fruits as the Beurre Clairgeau, Beurre d'Anjou, and Doyenne 

 Boussock pears. Let nothing discourage you in this most hopeful department of pomology. 

 Go on, persevere. 



" These are triumphs worthy of the highest ambition, conquests which leave no wound 

 on the heart of memory, no stain on the wing of time. He who only adds one really valuable 

 variety to our list of fruits, is a public benefactor. I had rather be the man who planted 

 that iimbrageous tree, from whose bending branches future generations shall pluck the 

 luscious fruit, when I am sleeping beneath the clods of the valley, than he who has conquered 

 armies. I would prefer the honor of introducing the Baldwin Apple, the Seckel Pear, Hovey's 

 Seedling Strawberry — ay, or the Black Tartarian Cherry, from the Crimea, to the proudest 

 victory which has been won upon that blood-stained soil." 



We anticipated from the speaker, that he would give in this speech the results of his latest 

 experience in keeping fruit, and the construction of fruit-rooms, and are not disappointed. 

 He says : — 



" The proper construction and management of these is, therefore, commanding the atten- 

 tion of pomologists, both in this country and in Europe. Their success is foxind to depend 

 on a perfect control of the temperature, moisture, and light. After having built and managed 

 four fruit-rooms, upon different plans, I am of opinion that a proper equilibrium of tempe- 

 rature and moisture cannot ordinarily be obtained without the use of ice. The preservation 

 of the apple is less difiicult than that of most other fruits, and is tolerably well understood 

 by our farmers. Still, how few specimens, even of this fruit, are brought to our spring 

 market in a fresh and perfect condition ! The art of keeping the pear, and fruits of delicate 

 texture, is much more difficult ; and it is to these I particularly refer. 



" Having heard of the great success of Mr. Schooley, of Cincinnati, Ohio, by his celebrated 

 discovery for the preservation of meats, I opened a correspondence with him with respect to 

 the application of the same process to the preservation of fruits. He subsequently visited 

 me at Boston, and advised as to the construction of a fruit-room upon his principle. This 

 I have found, during the last winter and the present summer, to operate in accordance with 

 his statement, as illustrated by Professor Locke, in his ' Monograph upon the Preservation 

 of Organic Substances.' By his plan, the temperature and moisture of the fruit-room, and 

 consequently the ripening of the fruit, maybe perfectly controlled. One gentleman informs 

 me that he kept strawberries, in a fruit-room constructed on this plan, from June 1 to the 

 in perfect condition for the table ; and he entertains no dcubt of its complete sue 

 preservation of apples and pears indefinitely. Mr. Schooley writes me that, 



