I88s.] 



AND HORTICULTURIST. 



315 



Horticultural Societies. 



COMMUNICATIONS. 



AMERICAN POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



Address by Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, at the 20th Session 

 of the American Pomological Society. 



With the close of this meeting of our Associa- 

 tion, thirty-seven years will have elapsed since its 

 organization. Thanks to the goodness of an over- 

 ruling Prov dance, it still lives to dispense its bless- 

 ings on mankind. Long may it go on prospering 

 and to prosper, while the earth bears a fruit, or 

 man lives to cultivate it. 



I have several times tendered my resignation as 

 President, but the Society has as often declined to 

 accept it, and has elected a special officer to 

 occupy the chair when from any cause I might 

 not be able to be present. This action I take to 

 be an e.xpression of feeling that I should still re- 

 main with you by official relation, not so much for 

 what I can now do, as for a testimonial of regard 

 for what I have done in the past. So beUeving, I 

 have the pleasure to address you again. 



Happy should I be if I could meet with you, to 

 e.xpress personally our gratitude to the Michigan 

 Horticultural Society for its cordial reception, and 

 the ample accommodations it has provided for us ; 

 and most happy should I be to exchange con- 

 gratulations on the continuance of our lives ; to 

 rejoice with you in the prosperity of our Associa- 

 tion, and to concert measures for its usefulness in 

 advancing the great work that has been committed 

 to our charge ; but as this cannot be, I console 

 myself with the hope that you will accept the in- 

 vitation of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 

 and come to Boston in 1887, when I may be per- 

 mitted to lay off the robes of office with which 

 you have so long honored me, unless, ere that time, 

 I shall have been clothed with the robes of im- 

 mortality, and gone up to gather celestial fruits, 

 which ripen not in earthly climes. 



The work which our Society assumed was great 

 indeed — no less than to compare fruits, and opin- 

 ions as to the value of the numerous varieties in 

 cultivation ; to assist in determining the synonymes 

 by which they were known ; to endeavor to 

 abridge, by general consent, the long catalogue 

 of indifferent or worthless sorts then propagated 

 by nurserymen and cultivators ; to furnish reliable 

 information in regard to the varieties which succeed 

 in our varied climates ; to maintain a spirit of 



cordial intercourse with kindred institutions — in 

 short, to extend and improve the culture of fruit 

 throughout our land. Thus our Society became 

 the herald and guardian of a new era in the pro- 

 gress of Pomology never before known in this or 

 other lands. It was its mission to lead in this 

 most beneficent work. Most faithfully has it ex- 

 ecuted this trust, embracing, as it now does in its 

 organization, not only the States and Territories 

 of our Union, but the British provinces on the 

 North, all of which are represented in our institu- 

 tion, thus constituting, as it were, a Continental 

 Association, working together harmoniously for 

 the advancement of the Pomology of the American 

 continent. Most of those who stood as sponsors 

 at the organization of our Society, have exchanged 

 the cultivation of fruits for the culture of the soul 

 in the better land, and we fondly trust are now 

 partaking of those immortal fruits whose bloom 

 was on earth, but whose harvest is eternal in 

 heaven. The Downings, Brinckli:-, Prince, Buist, 

 James, Ernst, Warder, Walker, French, Cabot, 

 and our Secretaries, Vick, Blliott, and Flagg, have 

 passed on, leaving bright examples of their interest 

 in our Society and the objects it seeks to promote. 

 But, while we thus speak, let us be thankful to the 

 Giver of all Good that some of its founders, who 

 rocked the cradle of its infancy, still hve and 

 stand as its god-fathers to this day to receive the 

 thanks of grateful millions. Thomas, Parsons, 

 Hovey, Ellwanger, Barry, Robert Manning, still 

 live to help us carry on our noble work. 

 IN MEMORIAM. 



In reviewing events since our last meeting, I 

 feel that we should most gratefully recognize that 

 Divine Goodness which has preserved the lives of 

 so many of our members to the present time. 

 Some few— only a few— from our large member- 

 ship have passed away, and only one, so far as we 

 know, of the more than one hundred connected with 

 us by official relations, has departed since our last 

 session, two years ago. 



But he whom we could least spare has been 

 taken from us. Charles Downing, our beloved 

 friend, the upright man, and the great pomologist 

 of America, is no more ! The loss to our country 

 and cause seems now to be irreparable. But 

 Infinite Wisdom cannot err, and we should be 

 thankful that he has been so long spared to us. 



Mr. Downing was born at Newburg, N. Y., 



