THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST. 167 



These other points may be briefly mentioned : In the President's 

 address for 1878, he remarked that it was to him "a subject of wonder 

 that a berry so promising as Mr. Keid's 'White Raisin Grape' should 

 be allowed to remain under a bushel for the last ten years, and what 

 is true of this grape is also true of the Fellenberg Plum." "I fear (he 

 adds) something is wrong either with the producer or the Association, 

 or both." That something is out of joint when such valuable ac- 

 quisitions are persistently neglected, few will deny; but whether any- 

 thing is wrong, or only the want of something that is right, may be a 

 subject for discussion. It may be that these fruits have not been offered 

 for sale; that there is not one individual of our population in ten 

 thousand that is aware of the existence of such fruits, much less 

 where they are to be obtained; it is probably only those who have 

 read the reports of the Fruit Growers' Association know anything 

 about them, and a great many of these are apt to forget. Such things 

 require to be brought to the attention of would-be-purchasers, to be 

 shown to them and explained to them, and rely upon it, they would be 

 sold. When patents are taken out for merchantable products, or 

 mechanical inventions, these patented articles are not left on the 

 manufacturer's shelves to sell themselves, but are placed in tlie hands 

 of travellers and agents, who scour the country soliciting orders. The 

 patentees do not expect people who never heard of their patents to 

 come and buy the patented articles, and why should they, under 

 similar circumstances, to be expected to go and buy improved grapes 

 or choice plums ? 



So it appears that if any new and valuable fruit is introduced into 

 the world, it may be welcomed by the Fruit Growers' Association; 

 patted on the back by fhe fruit committee; duly christened by its 

 enthusiastic originator, and then — left to take care of itself, and ex- 

 pected to make a noise in the world as though all nations were 

 waiting to fall down and worship it. 



Supposing the ignorance referred to in regard to new fruits did not 

 exist, there is still another difficulty which would very materially retard 

 the sale of them, and that is, that they are in the hands of so many 

 different originators, so that if a person wishes to possess five or six of 

 the improved fruits he will have to apply to as many different people 

 to obtain them. Suppose, for instance, that he M'ould like to have 

 the White Raisin Grape, the Fellenberg Plum, the Burnet Grape, the 



