POMOLOGICAL CONVENTIONS. 



423 



association, under the name of the Ameri- 

 can Congress of Fruit-growers ; and it ap- 

 pointed committees, in a majority of the 

 states, to collect information, and report at 

 the next session. 



This is so far excellent. The call was 

 made in the right spirit ; it was admirably 

 responded to ; and we cannot but think the 

 Congress will be productive of great good. 

 Time and labor alone are wanted to achieve 

 the excellent results proposed by it. 



But in order to do this, it is clear that the 

 Congress of Fruit-growers must be recog- 

 nized as "the national institution. We have 

 no doubt that this will be the case ; because 

 it was called into existence, not by any 

 •stale or local society, but by three of the 

 oldest societies in New- York, Pennsylva- 

 nia and Massachusetts ; because it is com- 

 posed of representatives from all the horti- 

 cultural societies in the country ; and be- 

 cause it has the cordial good wishes of in- 

 telligent horticulturists on all sides. 



We are induced to refer to the matter at 

 present, more particularly, by a '■'■Circular'''' 

 before us, which purports to come from a 

 committee of the North American Pomolo- 

 gical Convention, and has been sent out 

 from Albany to gentlemen in various parts 

 of the Union, appointing them members of 

 state committees, to collect information on 

 fruit culture in various states of the Union. 



It is, perhaps, worth while to exam.ine a 

 little into the history of this circular ; be- 

 cause, if its claims are allowed, then it is 

 clear that we are to have, not one, but two 

 conventions, claiming to be the national 

 body of pomologists and fruit-growers, — a 

 circumstance which can only result in great- 

 er general disorder and confusion, instead 

 of greater general order and system. 



The New- York State Ag. Society called 

 and held a state pomological convention at 

 Buffalo in September last. It was largely at- 



tended by members, not only of this, but of 

 other states, and was productive of much 

 good. It was, however, as far as we can 

 judge, really a state convention ; for it was 

 called by the state society, organised by 

 the president of that society, and dis- 

 solved without the appointment of a single 

 standing committee or board of officers ; 

 dissolved, only to be called together anew 

 by the state society whenever and wherever 

 the latter should hold its annual fair. Some 

 two or three members, fond of a good name, 

 did, to be sure, succeed in having it called 

 the "North American Pomological Conven- 

 tion;" but that, we looked upon as a com- 

 pliment to the gentlemen collected together 

 by the fame of the state fair, from various 

 parts of the Union, and who also attended 

 the meetings of the convention with great 

 interest. The fact that all power, autho- 

 rity, and even existence of the convention, 

 as a distinct body, were quietly surrendered 

 at the close of the convention to the state 

 society, showed, we think, conclusively, 

 that no step was really taken towards 

 making it a permanent national institu- 

 tion. 



But the circular before us purports to 

 come ftom the " Committee of the North 

 American Pomological Convention." Who 

 compose tVs committee ? The paper is not 

 only entirely anonymous, but Dr. Wendell, 

 of Albany, a zealous amateur and friend of 

 pomological progress, (and who, we notice, 

 is appointed, by the anonymous committee 

 in the circular, chairman of the new com- 

 mittee for this state ;) this gentleman, act- 

 ing in the sincere desire to unite all the 

 ability in the country in one national asso- 

 ciation, proposed, when the Congress of 

 Fruit-growers was being made a perma- 

 nent national institution, to merge the ma- 

 terial of the two conventions into one. On 

 inquiry, however, it was found, as the lead- 



