BIENNIAL MEETING OF THE AM. POMOLOGICAL SOC. 



of the plant individual in horticultural 

 operations " showed that the individual 

 characteristics in fruit were, as a rule, 

 constant, thus proving that it was im- 

 portant to propagate from plants of trees 

 with the best characteristics. Prof. 

 Munson's paper showed the possibilities 

 in growing of blueberries, which is an 

 important industry in some parts of 

 Maine. 



On Friday the election of officers 

 resulted in returning the same men as 

 had been in office for the past two years. 

 President, C L. Waltrous, Des Moines, 

 Iowa ; Secretary, \Vm. A. Taylor, Wash- 

 ington, D. C. ; Treasurer, L. R. Taft, 

 Agricultural College, Michigan. 



In his paper on ' American Horticul- 

 ture at Paris in 1900, Col. G. B. Brack- 

 ett emphasized the necessity of prepar- 

 ing an exhibit worthy of the United 

 States, and of the importance of the fruit 

 industry. Mr. J. W. Kerr, Denton, was 

 very severe on dishonest packers and 

 commission men but did not seem very 

 hopeful that they would do much better 

 in the future. We favoured selling 

 direct where possible, and also trying to 

 induce purchasers to come and buy 



rather than to sell through commission 

 men. 



Prof. Wm. B. Alwood gave some 

 interesting facts regarding fruit growing 

 in Virginia, but lack of time prevents 

 him from fully covering his subject. 

 Prof. John Craig read a paper on the 

 effects last winter on fruit trees in the 

 west. He said that when the roots were 

 protected in some manner there was 

 not so much injury. He strongly 

 recommended cover crops. 



On Friday afternoon, Prof. S. A. 

 Beach addressed the meeting on the 

 " Improvement of the Grape," a subject 

 of much interest to many present. The 

 improvement in the native grapes dur- 

 ing the past fifty years has been remark- 

 able. 



While the papers were all instructive, 

 it was felt by many present that if there 

 had been fewer papers and more discus- 

 sion from the delegates who had come 

 from widely different climates and vary- 

 ing conditions, more imformation of a 

 practical nature would have been 

 obtained. 



W. T. Macoun. 

 Ottawa. 



British Prejudice Against our 

 Grapes is absurdly strong, and we have 

 a task before us to overcome it. Un- 

 fortunately all attempts thus far made 

 to introduce Canadian grapes have been 

 with mixed varieties, of which Concord 

 and Niagara were prominent, and these 

 are extremely poor in quality when com- 

 pared with the English hot-house grapes. 

 From these our English friends have 

 judged all Canadian grapes unfavor- 

 ably, and the wholesale fruit men en- 

 tirely discourage any further attempts to 

 introduce this fruit. Nevertheless we 

 still intend to persevere, but on a differ- 

 ent line. The Ontario Fruit Experi- 



ment Station Board have authority from 

 the Hon. John Dryden to make an ex- 

 perimental shipment of Rogers grapes 

 to Manchester, and we will forward 

 these about the end of September. This 

 is a kind that is sure to win favor and 

 overcome the present prejudice. At 

 the fruit building of the Industrial, we 

 had a visit from two educated Scotch- 

 men, and we asked them what about 

 sending over our grapes. " Oh," they 

 said, " they are a bad flavor.'" We 

 handed them a bunch of Rogers 9, and 

 asked them to test them. "Why," they 

 said, " those are fine ! " One instance 

 of prejudice overcome already ! 



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