1880.] TRANSACTIONS. 75 



but did not impress us very favoiably. Nor did it seem to us that it 

 was in them, — so to speak. Of course we are familiar with Josephine 

 de Malines and, especially, Lawrence : but, peihaps owing to the 

 season, they have been out of date for a month. I presume that a 

 proper fruit-room would preserve them. 



I doubt very much if a first class Winter Pear exists. One, for in- 

 stance, that would rank among pears, as among apples do the Baldwin, 

 Roxbury Russet, and Northern Spy. But others ask for such a pear, 

 and I was sure you would be familiar with it, were it in existence. 

 The Beurre Easter was long since abandoned : it was so difficult to 

 ripen. 



A really good, late Winter Pear would be a ' handy thing to have 

 in the house,' in those alternate years wherein the assurance of seed- 

 time and harvest does not hold good for the Apple-Tree. 



Excuse me for troubling you, and accept the annoyance as a penalty 

 inevitable upon pre-eminence in Horticulture. 



Yours most sincerely, 



Edward W. Lincoln, 



Secretary." 



The newer Pears are not jet perhaps fully tested. One of 

 your Trustees ; — alike eminent at the Bar and in the Senate- 

 Chamber, as well as facile princeps in a political convention ; 

 has likely pronounced the doom of one variety, by citing the 

 adverse opinion of a \a.dy. She thought of the Souvenir du 

 Coiigres, as is reported of the Englishman feasted at Nahant ; 

 who summed up the merits of a eiiowder by the pithy remark 

 that "he had eaten worse things but — not much!" But our 

 distinguished associate should remember that, although his fruit 

 was elongated, its name was abridged : and that, if an adjective 

 modified tlie character of the Congres Pomologique, it could 

 possiblj' qualify otiier assemblies of a similar genus. 



Your attention was called to tlie Bonne du Puits d' Ansaxdt^ 

 in the Report for A. D. 1879, because of its exaggerated nomen- 

 clature. The variety has been introduced, on account of its 

 repute, by those who would " prove all things and hold fast to 

 that which is good ;" but it is not yet known by its fruits. 

 Among those who are testing it, for your ultimate benefit, may 

 be mentioned Deacon Lovell, of West Boylston, whose Grapes 

 are slightly inferior to those borne from Eschol ; and another, 

 whose aspirations, if soaring to the title of Deacon, are forlorn 



