DOMESTIC NOTICES. 



Ir Catharine, Seckel and Gratz. Of apples, 

 the following varieties — Pearmain. Maiden's 

 BUish, Porter, Hagloe, and Hawthornden. 

 Several new varieties of melons were brought 

 forward. Three fine displays of vegetables were 

 shown. 



The committee on fruits submitted a report 

 of fruits examined ad interim — viz: Fine spe- 

 cimens of the Bloodgood, Dearborn's Seedling, 

 Ananas d' Ete, Benoist pears, from Charles 

 Downing, Newburgh, N. Y . ; the Gratz, Mather 

 and Ott pears, and Cleavinger plums. The 

 Bloodgood, Dearborn's Seedling, Ananas d' 

 Ete, and Benoist, were of the finest quality; 

 the last were particularly fine. The Gratz was 

 of good quality, and believed to be synonymous 

 with Julienne. The Mather is a large, fair na- 

 tive pear of Delaware county, of great produc- 

 tiveness, but wants flavor. The Ott, as hereto- 

 fore, sustains its high reputation, excelling in 

 quality all the summer pears. The Cleavinger 

 is a native purple plum, free, of the largest 

 size, and of good flavor. Tho. P. James, Re- 

 cording Secretary. 



Ripening and Preserving Fruit. — At a 

 meeting of the Massachusetts Hort. Soc, May 

 31, the following report from the Fruit Com- 

 mittee was read by the Chairman, accepted and 

 ordered to be printed. 



The Fruit committee, to whom a communi- 

 cation from Mr. Daniel T. Curtis, in respect to 

 a method discovered by him for ripening and 

 preserving fruits, has been referred, ask leave 

 to report at this time but in part, upon the sub- 

 ject committed to them. 



Specimens of fruit, consisting mainly of 

 pears, have repeatedly, during the past year, 

 been placed upon the tables of the Society, by 

 Mr. Curtis, that had been preserved by hini for 

 a long time after their usual period of maturity, 

 that were found on examination to be perfectly 

 sound, and, in some instances, to have retained 

 unimpaired their juice and flavor. Among 

 these pears were specimens of the Seckel, 

 Bonne Louise de Jersey .Duchess d'Angouleme, 

 and Easter Beurre. The Seckels, though a 

 kind peculiarly subject to early decay, were 

 perfectly sound, and retained in perfection the 

 peculiar flavor of that variety. Of the other 

 varieties, the specimens exhibited were general- 

 ly, though sound, insipid and tasteless, aris- 

 ing from the circumstance, as Mr. Curtis stat- 

 ed, and astheir appearance indicated, that they 

 were, when packed, and subjected to his pro- 

 cess, immature and imperfect. 



These pears were exhibited by Mr. C. as late 

 as January and February, months after their 

 usual season of ripening, thus proving, as no 



signs of decay were visible, that their season 

 could be almost indefinitely prolonged. 



Mr. Curtis has sent pears preserved and pack- 

 ed in his iteculiar metliod, to the Havana, to 

 London, and San Francisco, thus subjecting his 

 method to the most severe trials. 



The following extract from a letter from his 

 correspondent at Havana, shows the result of 

 the experiment, as far as the shipment to that 

 city is concerned; '' The pears arrived in per- 

 fect order ; they were delicious. I never 

 tliought they could be eaten in so jjerfect a 

 state, except in the country where thev grow." 



The Gardeners' Chronicle of April 5th, states, 

 that at the Exhibition of the London Horticul- 

 tural Society, April first, a box of 15 Piaster 

 Beurre pears, received from Mr. Curtis, of Bos- 

 ton, were exhibited; that cases containing sev- 

 en of these pears were opened, and of them, 

 four were found to be decayed, and three good; 

 and then states, " These pears were stated to 

 have been ripened by a method peculiar to Mr. 

 Curtis, the nature of which was not explained. 

 They were, for the most part, melting, sweet, 

 and perfectly ripe, a conclition which this fruit 

 with difficultj' attains with us in England." 

 The society awarded Mr. Curtis its Knightian 

 medal. 



The California Daily Courier of April 9th, 

 acknowledges the receipt, through Mr. D. H. 

 Haskell, of Adam's Express, of a "magnifi- 

 cent pear, as sound as when packed at Boston." 

 The Pacific News, and Alta California, and other 

 San Francisco papers, make similar acknow- 

 ledgments, and all concur in stating that the 

 pears were perfectly sound, and that as they 

 were sent for the purpose of testing the prac- 

 ticability of sending fruit to California, across 

 the Isthmus, speak of the experiment as suc- 

 cessful. The pears were shipped at Boston, 

 January 27, and after a detention of 70 days, 

 arrived in California in April. The papers re- 

 ferred to state, that the pears, though sound, 

 were deficient in flavor, a ciicumstance to be 

 imputed, as with those exhibited to the Socie- 

 ty, perhaps to the immature and imperfect 

 state of the fruit when shipped, and not to the 

 effect of the passage, or a difference of climate. 



From the facts now detailed as well as from 

 their own observation, your committee feel jus- 

 tified in expressing a confident opinion, that 

 after many unsuccessful trials of various pro- 

 cesses and different methods, Mr. Curtis has 

 succeeded in discovering a method of preserv- 

 ing fruit for a very long, if not for any desired 

 period, and that this method is capable of a 

 practical application. 



Although Mr. Curtis has, as he states, pre- 

 served other varieties of fruit besides pears, 

 yet so f;xr as the personal knowledge of the 

 committee extends, the fruit subjected to his 

 process has thus far been mainly of the latter 

 description, and they feel, before arriving at a 

 conclusive opinion respecting the value of this 

 discovery to the Society, experiments with 

 er species of fruit, as peaches, plums, &c 



