138 ANNUAL REPORT 



the ordinary list we recommend for cultivation, andis mainly to be 

 a description of our fruits. 



Mr. Mendenhall. Such a catalogue would be useful and very 

 convenient, but involves much labor. 



Secretary Gibbs. It is desirable that we have a catalogue of all 

 the domestic fruits grown in the State, with proper descriptions 

 showing style of plant, shrub, tree and fruit, so that we may identify 

 our fruit by it. It is not necessary, in my opmion, to consider the 

 question of hardiness or adaptation, as we have another and a 

 restricted list for that, which will come into our report for the new 

 districts or fruit belts designated this morning under my resolution 

 as amended by Prof. Porter. In the Michigan reports will be 

 found a model catalogue of this kind, prepared by President T. T. 

 Lyon, and I think it will be found on examination that the most 

 of our fruits are described in that catalogue. The exceptions will 

 be only a lew of our Minnesota seedlings, crabs, and perhaps a few 

 fruits not grown in Michigan. Hence the labor of making the 

 catalogue will not be so very tedious. 



Mr. Underwood. I am in favor of a complete catalogue, alpha- 

 betically arranged, and not allow the committee to consider the 

 question of hardiness. 



Mr. Cutler. Such a list might be valuable to nurserymen, but 

 not to the general public. 



Mr. Underwood. Nurserymen do not need any list to sell by. 

 I would rather have one live agent to sell stock than all the lists 

 in Christendom. We do not advocate this list as nurserymen, but 

 as pomologists, — a catalogue to turn to for information as a 

 dictionary of fruits. 



The Secretary, Suppose you have an apple or a strawberry 

 growing on your place and want to satisfy yourself whether it is 

 true to name, or, if you have no name for it, you want to find the 

 one that belongs to it. You take down your Horticultural Report 

 and examine the fruit catalogue, and there you find out. It will 

 benefit the farmer more than the nurseryman, as the latter gener- 

 ally know the varieties they handle, and farmers are oftener puz- 

 zled to know what sorts they have got. 



Mr. Fuller. I differ with Mr. Underwood, and do not believe in 

 publishing lists containing varieties not generally successful. It 

 would tend to mislead the people, and enable eastern dealers to sell 

 varieties not adapted to the climate; would make the list small and 

 true — true to name and true to State. 



Secretary Gibbs. If we recommend nothing in this catalogue, 



