218 



POMOLOGICAL REFORM AND SELECTED FRUITS. 



rience and judgment. But of what advan- 

 tage is it to horticulture, if the public are 

 not put in possession of the facts ? Let us 

 illustrate this. 



At the 19th annual exhibition of the Hor- 

 ticultural Society of Massachusetts, the Pre- 

 sident of the society had upon the tables 

 159 varieties of pears, Mr. Manning 255 

 varieties, Messrs. Hovey 70, S. Walkek 60, 

 J, LovETT 80, 0. Johnson 60, Messrs. Win- 

 ship 40, and several others in smaller num- 

 bers. Altogether, 948 dishes of pears were 

 before the eye. The visitors, no doubt, 

 were much gratified, and the premiums 

 awarded, we presume, in a satisfactory 

 manner. Now we cannot help asking, for 

 what were these premiums given? The 

 Report says — " for the best, 2d best, and 

 3d best"— what? "best exhibition;" that's 

 all. The judges sat in "secret session," 

 in their committee room ; Mr. R. Manning, 

 the largest exhibitor, being one of them. 

 To the President they gave the " Lyman 

 plate," to Mr. Walker the Lowell medal, 

 to Mr. LovETT %5, to Mr. Pond %5, and to 

 Mr. Vandine $3. Mr. Manning got nothing 

 for his 255 varieties, nor any of the others. 

 As a looker on, a novice, we are desirous 

 of planting 50 of the best pears; a very 

 large number, truly, when we are told " by 

 authority" that it is " difficult to name over 

 20 or 30 really worthy cultivation." But 

 how shall we select our 50 out of the 159 

 premium pears, shown by the President ? 

 The judges have given us no information 

 upon the subject; "they remain silent," 

 and allow us to be " captivated by exterior 

 charms." They hang no " friendly light 

 over the shoals and breakers, which they 

 know by heart," but " quietly allow" us to 

 be stranded on them, by leaving on our 

 minds the impression that the whole 159 

 varieties of pears are worth growing, and 

 that we cannot make a mistake in selectingf 



any of them. But such is not the fact ; for 

 having made our choice of 50 of the best, 

 there remains 109 " second rate," " poor," 

 or "worthless." Under such management, 

 the purposes of all exhibitions are perverted, 

 and " numberless varieties of fruit" are al- 

 lowed a place upon the exhibition tables, 

 which are known to be unworthy of any 

 such honor. 



For the amateur's benefit, we now pro- 

 ceed to name one dozen cherries, selecting 

 them from the 120, and over, enumerated 

 in some catalogues : American Amber, 

 Black Eagle, Black Heart, Black Tartarian, 

 Coe's Transparent, Downer's Late, Elton, 

 Graffion, Knight's Early Black, White Bi- 

 garreau. Archduke, and May Duke. 



From the 170 plums, as per catalogue, 

 we recommend a dozen : these are Coe's 

 Golden Drop, Columbia, Corse's Nota Bena, 

 Duane's Purple, Imperial Gage, (Prince's,) 

 Yellow Gage, Huling's Superb, Jefierson, 

 Lawrence's Favorite, Magnum Bonum, 

 (white) Orleans, (Smith's,) and Washing- 

 ton. 



Peaches. — With a list of "most estima- 

 ble" peaches, " selected from the largest 

 specimen orchard that has ever existed," 

 and embracing more than 200 named va- 

 rieties, it might appear difficult for us, or 

 anybody else, to select a small number, 

 particularly too where a choice may now be 

 made of some or all of the " splendid new 

 varieties from Persia, Turkey, Greece, Ita- 

 ly, and Buenos Ayres, at $1 each." Whe- 

 ther difficult or not, however, we shall try, 

 and most respectfully beg leave to let the 

 neiv arrivals remain upon page 21 of the 

 Catalogue. We name, then, the following 

 18 : Late Admirable, Yellow Alberge, Ber- 

 gen's Yellow, Blood Cling, (for preserving 

 only,) Green Catharine, Dwarf Orleans, 

 (curious — only three feet high,) Early York, 

 George the Fourth, Grosse Mignone, Lemon 



