424 ANNUAL REPORT. 



mulch prevents the absorption of heat by day, and radiations by night. 

 Mr. Morill, of Michigan, preferred to mulch nevertheless, because it 

 paid in dollars and cents. Mr. L. B. Pierce, of Ohio, then read a 

 a paper on "How to conduct State and Local Horticultural Societies." 

 The paper was so full of good sound suggestions that I may perhaps 

 be pardoned for giving a few of them here. He said: "Exhibits of 

 fruits, flowers and vegetables at each meeting should be encouraged, 

 as they are valuable object lessons, fixing knowledge of varieties, and 

 correcting erroneous ideas. State horticultural societies were repre- 

 sentative bodies, and the social feature had to be abandoned to a great 

 extent. Tn times past these organizations had devoted themselves 

 largely to introducing and encouraging new fruits and to reports of 

 the seasons, known as ad interim reports from officers. This wurk is 

 not as necessary as formerly, owing to the large number of fruits now 

 known and the disposition of originators to push them into notice. 

 State societies should have the backing of the legislature with liberal 

 appropriations and they should be aggressive in their work, pushing it 

 by the personal work of the secretary, who should be paid sufficient 

 salary to enable him to devote his whole time to the work. There 

 were thousands who knew neither the delights of using or of growing 

 the finest fruits and flowers, and these should be reached by the estab- 

 lishment of local societies. The work that a live state horticultural 

 society with one or more efficient lo^al societies in each county can do 

 in the lines that I have briefly indicated is great, and sooner or later 

 will have to be done." Mr. L. A. Goodman, of Missouri, gave some 

 "Lessons from the World's Fair." Mr. Lyon, of Michigan, followed 

 with a short paper on "Nomenclature of Fruits." The subject was 

 ably handled and the paper full of good suggestions. Mr. Gibb, of 

 Quebec, spoke on "Nomenclature of Russian Fruits," and said that in 

 Minnesota the Lieby was coming into notice on account of its hardi- 

 ness. A resolution was adopted to the effect that before these Russian 

 apples are placed in the society's catalogue a committee should be 

 appointed to revise the list and the names. 



A lengthy discussion followed Prof. Lazenby's paper on the "Influ- 

 ence of pollen on the size, form, color and flavor of fruits." Mr. Ful- 

 ler, of New Jersey, favored the theory, while Mr. Williams, of the 

 same state, as strongly opposed it. Dr. Hexamer, of New York, said: 

 "No matter what scientific men say about these things, that it can 

 not be, because it is agaiost all principles of science, I consider the 

 theory highly probable, and I know that such influences do occur." 



