THE CA^NADIAN HOETICULTUHIST. 



209 



relative merits of the different sorts. 

 Mr. Galusha, of Illinois, favored liberal 

 manuring, especially with bone dust. 

 Mr. HoUister, of St. Louis, has found 

 the Wilson the most valuable and pro- 

 jStable variety, which was confirmed by 

 Mr. Gibbs, of Chicago. 



At the morning session on Friday, 

 Feb. 23rd, the President read a num- 

 ber of letters from distinguished po- 

 mologists who were unable to be present, 

 after which the society })roceeded to 

 tlie election of officers for the ensuing 

 year. This was followed by reports 

 from the Committees on Experimental 

 Stations, on Horticultural Statistics, 

 and exhibitions. The latter Committee 

 recommended that exhibitions be held 

 by the Society at least once in every 

 two years. The Hon. F. P. Baker, of 

 Toi>eka, Kansas, read a paper on " Ir- 

 rigation in Horticulture." Beginning 

 at the earliest dawn of primajval his- 

 tory, and running along down through 

 Assyria, Egyj)t, Persia, Syria, China, 

 India, Peru, Mexico, Italy, Spain, Ger- 

 many, he fully established the antiquity 

 and universality of the practice of irri- 

 gation, and proceeded to shew that a 

 large part of Western Kansas and Ne- 

 braska, and Eastern Colorado and New 

 Mexico requires irrigation before the 

 soil can be cultivated and made to pro- 

 duce the usual variety of farm j)ro- 

 ducts ; and that wht;n l\mno shall have 

 been rendered fertile by irrigation, the 

 tornado, born of idleness on a parched, 

 empty and lazy prairie, will become a 

 tiling of the past. He concluded his 

 interesting paper by shewing that irri- 

 gation is needed wherever water does 

 not fall from the clouds when and 

 where it is required for the develop- 

 ment of vegetable growths. 



After some discussion of the subject of 

 Mr. Baker's paper, a short paper writ- 

 ten by Mr. E. P. Roe, of New York, i 

 was read, he being detained at home by 

 sicknes.s. The title was " Small fruits 



in the South," in which the writer dis- 

 cussed the necessity imposed upon the 

 Southern fruit grower of seeking to de- 

 velop a class of varieties suited to his 

 climate. Doubtless Canadian growers 

 will find their advantage in acting upon 

 this suggestion fully as much as the 

 Southern. 



At the opening of the afternoon ses- 

 sion, Mr. P. J. Berckmans, President 

 of the Georgia Horticultural Society, 

 read a paper upon '* the Newer Peachas 

 and new fruits for the Cotton States." 

 In this paper he maintains that the form 

 of the leaves and a very slight differ- 

 ence in the texture of the flesh is all 

 the variations he has been able to de- 

 tect between the Alexand(?r, Amsden, 

 Governor Garland, Waterloo, Saunders, 

 Downing, Musser, Wilder, Brice, Early 

 Canada and perhaps a dozen others. 

 The Early Louise and the Early River* 

 have so thin a skin as to ])revent dln- 

 ttint carriage. He states that the Flat 

 Peach of China Is well suited to the 

 subtropical climate of Florida, where 

 the varieties cultivated i)y us are not 

 successful, and advises the horticultur- 

 ists of that State to raise seedlings 

 from this Peen To peach, believing that 

 new and distinct varieties will be ob- 

 tained giving them a race of peaches as 

 valuable as the Orange. He expresswl 

 the opinion that the Japanese Persim- 

 mon wouhl prove a valuable fruit es- 

 pecially below latitude .'i2°. He alsd 

 gave the history of the LeConte Pear, 

 the original tree of which is yet stand- 

 ing and although now some forty years 

 old has never shewn any sign of bMght 

 nor failed to yield a crop of fruit. This 

 seems to i)e well adapted to the soil and 

 climate of the south where the pears of 

 European origin are a failure. This 

 paper was followed by one on " Pears 

 and their culture in the South," by W. 

 H. Cassells, of Mississippi. Although 

 of great interest to those residing in 

 the south, we did not find anything in 



