POMOLOGICAL REFORM. 



107 



■could be adjourned from year to year, 

 while its labors were found useful to the 

 country. 



Every horticultural society embraces with- 

 in its numbers, at least two or three men, 

 whose experience and knowledge of fruit is 

 far in advance of that of the country about 

 them. They are not always those most 

 desirous of attending conventions, nor are 

 they those who would perhaps offer them- 

 selves to the society as delegates. But 

 they are those whose services would really 

 be most valuable to the country at large, 

 and who should be prevailed upon to go to 

 the convention. Such men are Mr. Tho- 

 mas, of Macedon, Dr. Kirtland, of Cleve- 

 land, Mr. Walker, of Boston, etc., wh), even 

 if they were not members of the horticultu- 

 ral societies in their neighborhood, should be 

 solicited by such horticultural society to re- 

 present them in this convention, because 

 their local and general experience in the 

 culture of fruits is such as renders them 

 the proper representatives of the pomo- 

 logical knowledge of their sections of the 

 Union. 



The action of an annual convention of 

 this kind, composed of the ablest fruit 

 growers, nurserymen and pomologists of 

 the Union, would, we think, be of incalcu- 

 lable benefit to horticulture, and to the 

 country generally. Nurserymen would be 

 gainers ; because, by publishing lists of 

 sorts which a convention, composed of the 

 best judges from all parts of the country, 

 considered unworthy of cultivation, the in- 

 creased labor, perplexity, and cost of propa- 

 gating, accurately, long catalogues of varie- 

 ties would be avoided ; fruit growers would 

 be gainers, because the collective experi- 

 ence of the whole country, when thus 

 brought unanimously to the approval or 

 disapproval of any variety, would leave no 

 doubt on their mind as to its value ; and. 



the country at large would be gainers, be- 

 cause fruit tree planting would soon cease 

 to be done in the dark, as to the merit of 

 tested varieties at least, and the present 

 abundance of inferior fruit in our markets, 

 would give place to an equal or greater 

 abundance of fine fruit. 



If we have made this as clear to the 

 minds of the active members of the various 

 horticultural societies as it is to us, we shall 

 hope to see a horticultural convention as- 

 sembled in New-York in October, such as 

 has not yet been brought together anywhere 

 in America, — such a convention as the can- 

 gress of vine-dressers in France, — a conven- 

 tion that will fairly represent the highest 

 pomological intelligence of all parts of the 

 country — the soundest practical judgment 

 of all the horticultural societies (now some 

 thirty in number.) in the Union. 



Some of our correspondents have ex- 

 pressed their regret that the time of this 

 convention was not fixed upon an earlier 

 day in the autumn, when fruits are more 

 abundant. This does not appear to us im- 

 portant, at least for a first meeting. It 

 seems to us that the first and most impor- 

 tant duty of such a convention, is to com- 

 pare notes and revise the past. This is 

 what none of our horticultural societies can 

 possibly do, since their materials are all 

 local ; while they can and do ascertain, in 

 part, the value of all new varieties that 

 are exhibited from time to time at their 

 shows. 



The second greatest benefit that we can 

 hope from such a pomological convention, 

 is the comparison of fruits, and consequent 

 identification of numerous synonymous va- 

 rieties, known under different names in 

 various parts of the country. This can 

 only be done by a series of meetings, held 

 at different periods in the year, and there- 

 fore must be a matter mainly for further 



