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POMOLOGICAL CONVENTIONS. 



There cannot be a doubt that such con- 

 ventions are of great service, both to fruit- 

 growers and to pomology. The former 

 learn what is good, and what is worthless, 

 Avhat succeeds, and what fails, from the 

 lips of practical men, — the best of all teach- 

 ers. The latter gains by the accumulation 

 of knowledge, and by the rectification of 

 errors. 



It is also very clear that, in a country so 

 broad and so various in its climate as the 

 United States, no invariable rules can be 

 laid down by any local society, convention, 

 or writer, for the whole country. Thus, the 

 Fall Pippin, the queen of autumn apples 

 in New-York, takes only a second rank in 

 New-England ; and the Rhode Island Green- 

 ing, one of the best in New-York, is one of 

 the poorest in Missouri, Here lies, then, 

 the real and the limited value of local so- 

 cieties, and state conventions. Hence we 

 approve highly of all efforts of this kind ; 

 all associations, — agricultural, horticultural, 

 pomological, of a local nature, because it is 

 only by their means that particular districts, 

 states, or sections of the country can be 

 benefitted ; and it is by developing and per- 

 fecting, to the utmost, the resources of each 

 particular town, county, and state, that the 

 general standard is raised to its highest 

 pitch. 



But it is also equally clear, in the pro- 

 gressing advancement of a subject so full 

 of details and perplexities as that of po- 

 mology, that there are some things which 

 ought to be performed, and yet which can- 

 not be performed by local, sectional or state 

 associations. Among these, for example, 

 are establishing standard names of certain 

 sorts, known by a dozen different titles in 

 different parts of the country. A state con- 

 vention, (no matter what title it bears,) for 

 instance, may decide, like that at Buffalo, 

 that the apple generally, known as the 



" Early Harvest,''^ shall be called the '* Ye^» 

 low Harvest ;" or, like that in Ohio, that a 

 fruit known in New-England by one name, 

 and in Ohio by another,, shall be called by 

 the latter ; but it amounts, after all, only to 

 a resolution. We say it amounts to this, 

 because so long as these are only local con» 

 ventions or associations, even if attended 

 by growers from other states,— so lung, in 

 short, as opinions, that relate to general 

 and not to local matters, do not emanate 

 from some association or body which the 

 community at large recognizes as being 

 delegated with national, and not with local 

 pov.-ers, so long the public, fruit-growers 

 generally, and pomological writers, will not 

 recognize or respect such opinions ; and 

 however good they are, consequently only 

 a dead letter. 



We make these remarks, because we 

 know the public earnestly desires, besides 

 the local societies, some one association 

 (and there can be but one,) of a national 

 character ; which shall consist of delega- 

 tions representing all the local societies, 

 and thereby making a body of the best hor- 

 ticulturists and pomologists in the country, 

 officially stamped and recognized as such 

 by the local societies, from whom they are 

 sent in all parts of the country. Whatever 

 decisions about pomological points, of gene- 

 ral interest or question, such a body should 

 give, they would, it seems to us, be entitled 

 to, and would receive the hearty assent of 

 the whole country. 



Last October such a body was convened 

 in New-York, under the title of the Na- 

 tional Convention of Fruit-growers. It was 

 composed of delegates from all the leading 

 horticultural and agricultural societies from 

 New-England to St. Louis. It was by far 

 the largest and most intelligent body of hor- 

 ticulturists ever assembled in America. It 

 resolved itself into a permanent national 



