1879. 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



377 



be either in the shape of sood feelins; and re- from tlie President down. The dilference between 



spect, or they may be intended as bribes. The an honest mark of respect and a bribe is to be deci- 



man of right feeling indignantly rejects the lat- ded by the degree of moral feeling in the parties 



ter, but cannot be expected to " throw away " all round, and cannot be settled in a general 



the former, any more than any other person would way in a gardening magazine.] 



Horticultural Societies. 



EDITORIAL NOTES. 



The American Pomological Society.— 

 Having concluded President Wilder's excellent 

 address in our last, it only remains to place on 

 record that it was on the whole a very success- I 

 ful meeting. The detail work will of course be 

 given in the regular proceedings, which will be 

 compiled by the Secretar3^ 



Dr. Warder was elected chairman from among 

 the Vice Presidents present, and filled the posi- 

 tion admirably. When the election of officers 

 came up. Col. Wilder's resignation was consid- 

 ered. Ko one wished to accept it; but in view 

 of his increasing age and infirmities, it was sug- 

 gested that if some one could be elected to aid 

 him, it would be no more than honor due to his 

 long and efficient services. In case the Presi- 

 dent cannot attend, the constitution of the Soci- 

 ety now provides that some one of the Vice 

 Presidents present shall be chosen ; but it was 

 suggested that it would be much better that a 

 permanent " First " Vice President should be 

 chosen, who then would be prepared with an ad- 

 dress in advance, in case of any disability in the 

 President. The office was therefore made, and 

 Mr. P. Barry elected to the new office. Dr. 

 Warder then vacated the chair, and Mr. Barry 

 took the chair. This vacating of the chair im- 

 mediately on the election, and the induction of 

 the new President, in the middle of a session, 

 always seems absurd to us, and we do not under- 

 stand under what parliamentary rule it is prac- 

 ticed. Why not all the other elective officers 

 and committees resign, or rather be replaced? 

 Some of the committees would probably like 

 this, especially the committee on examining 

 fruits. On this occasion Mr. Berckmans, Dr. 

 Hape, Mr. Bateham, Sylvester Johnson, Mr. 

 Watson, and Dr. Burnett, gave the best part of 

 three days of continual hard work, several miles 

 away from the place of meeting. They are 

 among the best informed and most useful mem- 



bers, and the meeting took the benefit of what 

 they knew. On the other hand they came there 

 as others did to profit by what the other mem- 

 bers said, but were kept in exile most of the 

 tmie. Some objection was made to these tre- 

 mendous exhibitions of fruit at these meetings, 

 but Mr. Barry ruled that the Society offered no 

 premiums, and had no right to interfei-e. The 

 admirable exhibit of fruit no one would wish to 

 see curtailed, but perhaps some one can devise 

 a plan of relieving men who come hundreds of 

 miles to learn and enjoy, from such a seiious 

 task. This is within the province of the Society. 

 Mr. Barry, like Dr. Warder, is an admirable 

 presiding officer, and a great amount of work 

 was got through with in a very pleasant manner. 

 Col. Wilder was elected President, Robert Man- 

 ning, Secretary, and E. V. Busswell, Treasurer. 

 The Society could have made no better selection. 

 They are all admirably fitted for their several 

 positions. Mr. Manning with a modesty which 

 did him credit, objected to his own election, be- 

 cause it did not seem exactly right that all these 

 three officers should be residents of Boston, — 

 I but the meeting seemed to think, and we heartily 

 ! agree, that this unity of residence is an advan- 

 i tage. It is beneficial that the leading officers 

 should have frequent intercourse, and this is in- 

 convenient where they live hundreds of miles 

 apart. Mr. Saunders, Mr. Hussman, Prof. Beal, 

 I Dr. Warder, Mr. Campbell and others read pa- 

 pers which created useful discussions. These 

 with the remarks of members will appear in the 

 Proceedings. Mr. Meehan's remarks were oral. 

 By a special vote of the association he was asked 

 to prepare them for publication. But he ex- 

 plained that the reason he had not prepared a 

 written address, was from sheer want of time to 

 I do it. 



! By some oversight, no vote was taken on the 

 place of next meeting, but it was generally un- 

 derstood that Boston was to be the place. Some 

 discussion occurred on the importance of a Na- 



