118 ANNUAL REPORT 



liarly adapted to our broad prairies, diversified hillsides, sheltered 

 valleys and along the shores of our many beautiful lakes, with, 

 varieties that shall put to blush, for quality and exterior polish,, 

 those now already in cultivation. 



AMERICAN* POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



The meeting of the American Pomological Society, to be held 

 at Boston in September next, is an event our Society should not 

 overlook; but should be ably represented by delegates with as 

 fine an exhibition of fruits as can be collected from our orchards 

 and gardens. This would incur an expenditure to the Society 

 ofperhaiDS three hundred dollars, in order to make an exhibit 

 of credit to the State. The propriety of incurring this expense 

 is a matter for your consideration. One or more delegates should 

 be selected whether an exhibit is made or not. 



NECROLOGY. 



On the sixteenth of last December there went out from earth 

 the spirit of one of the most noted men in the science of pomology 

 of the present century, the honored president of the American 

 Pomological Society, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, of Roxbury, 

 Masschussetts, and an honorary life member of this Society, at 

 the ripe age of eighty- eight years. 



He died as he lived universally respected and beloved, like 

 fruits in their season he passed, but his name will ever be re- 

 vered and he will be remembered as the great leader in Ameri- 

 can pomology to the end of time. To quote what he wrote 

 of another noted horticulturist is very applicable noAv: 



" Few are aware of the great revolution that has taken place 

 in fruit culture since the establishment of this national organiza- 

 tion, the American Pomological Society, under the care and 

 guidance of this man, whose desire for the cultivation of the 

 useful and ambition to sow broadcast love, kindness and frater- 

 nal affection, led him to spend his life in the promotion of our 

 art." 



I shall ever hold dear in my memory the remembrance of the 

 meeting af this grand old society in Boston, in 1873, and the 

 new impulse I at that time received. As I look back through 

 the lapse of years intervening I can see to-day that superb exhi- 

 bition of fruits and flowers, the finest this country had ever 



