THE GARDENER'S MONTHLY 



[Uctuhev, 



have to be thinned out, as these seemed to need. 

 There may have been other exhibits we failed 

 to notice, as the time for closing prevented a 

 very extended inspection on our part ; but we 

 think we noticed all. 



Amebic AN Pomological Society. — This 

 popular and influential body held its biennial ses- 

 sion at Rochester, on the 17th, 18th and 19th inst. 

 We have only space now to notice President 

 Wilder's address, which was as follows : 

 Members and Delegates of the American 



Pomological Society: 



Gentlemen : — Having held the office of Presi- 

 dent of this Association during its whole life, 

 with the exception of two years out of thirty- 

 one, I regret exceedingly my inabilit}^ to be pre- 

 sent, and by your continued favor, to occupy the 

 chair, as I expected to do, at Rochester. But 

 Providence seems to indicate, by the late acci- 

 dent which has impaired my physicial ability, that 

 It is not my duty yet to risk a journey so far 

 from home. 



For twenty-nine years you have elected me as 

 your President, and with a unanimity far beyond 

 my merit. I most sincerely desire ever to cherish 

 a profound sense of gratitude and thankfulness for 

 the honor conferred, and the confidence reposed 

 in me. My thanks are especially due for the 

 cordial and vigorous support I have received 

 from my otiicial associates. It was my inten- 

 tion to be with you at this meeting and to ex- 

 tend to you an invitation to hold our next ses- 

 sion in the city of Boston, when and where I 

 should lay down the high honors which you have 

 so long conferred on me. But my ph3'sicians 

 advise me not to take so long a journey and in- 

 cur the labor which would necessarily fall upon 

 me. 



Resignation. — With thanks which no language 

 can express, for the repeated honors conferred 

 on me, and for your kind cooperation and sup- 

 port during this long period of official service, 

 and with the assurance that I have no higher 

 ambition than to be associated with you in a 

 cause so honorable, and to be a co-worker while 

 life should last, I deem it, under present circum- 

 stances, my duty to tender my resignation as 

 President of the Society. Under the belief, so 

 often expressed by you, that my official services 

 were important to the establishment and success 

 of our Society, I have willingly conformed to 

 your wishes, and should my health be fully re- 

 stored, which I fondly hope will be the case, I 



will cheerfully respond to any call you may 

 make on me. I beg to assure you that whatever 

 my relations may be to you, I shall ever enter- 

 tain a lively sense of gratitude to those with 

 whom I have been associated and an ardent de- 

 sire and ambition to promote the welfare and 

 renown of our Societ}^ If honor, distinction, 

 and respect have been attached to the office. I 

 have had them lavished on me; if toil, anxiety, 

 and expense, then I claim to have borne my full 

 share. 



Progress. — When I reflect on the rapid pro- 

 gress which our Society has made since its estab- 

 lishment, how it has risen from the small begin- 

 ning of a few States, until its jurisdiction embraces 

 a catalogue of fifty States, districts and territories, 

 with lists of fruits a;dapted to each, — how its list 

 of members has increased from a few dozens to 

 many hundreds of practical and scientific culti^ 

 vators, and numerous sister associations have 

 spread over our fair land, from the British 

 Provinces to the Gulf of Mexico, all working 

 together in harmony with each other to aid us in 

 our great work of planting throughout our vast 

 domain, gardens, orchards, and vineyards of the 

 best fruits known, — when I reflect upon the- 

 comparatively small value of the fruit crop of 

 that day, not considered as worthy of a place in 

 our national statistics, now rivalling in value 

 some of the most important crops of our coun- 

 try, I feel an interest that can scarcely be ex- 

 pressed in words. When we consider the aston- 

 ishing increase in fruit culture, the immense 

 number of trees sent from this place and its 

 vicinity and from other parts, distributed all 

 over this continent and even to foreign lands — 

 the wonderful increase of peaches, grapes, straw- 

 berries, and other small fruits, and the ease \Aith 

 which they are sent to market — the rapid devel-. 

 opment of new lands suited to fruit culture, and 

 that throughout our broad land, wherever the 

 foot of civilization has planted itself, the enter-- 

 prise of fruit culture is sure to keep pace with it 

 — it is not easy to estimate its future importance, 

 whether for the production of an article of 

 luxury, of home consumption, or of foreign conv 

 merce. 



In this connection permit me to refer you to 

 the recommendations in my previous address ; 

 to the great increase of fruit culture in our coun-^ 

 try, and to the revenue arising therefrom. This 

 is constantly increasing, showing a great aug- 

 mentation since that time in our shipments 

 abroad. I have not the statistics at hand, but aa 



