lomological ^QtkWts ani) i\m Infiiitnce. 



N" the month of September, 1848, the first general meeting 

 of fruit growers was held at Bufialo, in connection with and 

 under the auspices of the New York State Agricultural Soci- 

 ety, of which Lewis F. Allen, Esq., of Butialo, was then 

 President. This gentleman was one of the principal movers 

 in the matter, and participated actively in the proceedings of 

 that meeting. Delegates were present from fifteen States 

 and the Canadas ; large collections of fruit were presented ; 

 and the discussions, which continued during three days, were 

 quite as interesting and instructive as those of any subsequent meeting of the kind. 

 The delegates and all who took a part in the proceedings were pleased ^nth the result, 

 and felt perfectly satisfied that association and assemblage for the interchange of 

 ■N-iews and opinions, and to compare specimens as well as experience, were to be the 

 most effectual means of advancing the science of pomology, in all its branches. In 

 October, of the same year, the "x\mencan Pomological Congress" assembled at New 

 York under the auspicies of the American Institute. This was a large meeting — 

 some twelve States were represented by the most intelligent and active cultivators in 

 the Union. The display of fruits was magnificent, and the proceedings passed off to 

 tlie entire satisfaction of all who were present or participated in them. Here we had 

 two societies, each claiming to be national in their scope and purposes, and both 

 well organized. 



Next year (1849), the Buffalo organization met at Syracuse, and there adopted the 

 title, "North American Pomological Society." This meeting was well attended, and 

 the discussions of the session, together with the State and local reports presented to it, 

 formed a very valuable pamphlet. At the close of that session, a committee with Dr. 

 Wexdell of Albany, as Chairman, was appointed to confer with the American Pomo- 

 logical Congress in regard to a union or consolidation. On the following month this 

 latter society met in New York, and the union was there effected. Thenceforward we 

 have had but one national organization — the "American Pomological Society." It 

 has held five sessions: two in New York, one in Cincinnati, one in Philadelphia, and 

 one in Boston; and the next will be held in Rochester, in 1856. There is not at this 

 day in the world an organization of this kind so eflicient, or that extends its influence 

 over so wide a range of territory as this. It has its committees and gathers its reports 

 from the most northern limits of the United States to the shores of the Pacific. 



Besides this great national society, we have others of a nearly local or sectional 

 character; such, for instance, as the Society of Ohio; the Northwest, embracing Illinois, 

 Iowa, (fee; and the Wisconsin Society. All are powerful auxiliaries, and are really exert- 

 great influence. Confining their investigations to sections or territories having 

 nearly similar climates, and where culture is influenced by the same causes, they are 



JSIap.ch 1, 1S55. 



c 1 



No. 111. 



