1880.] TRANSACTIONS. 77 



A late newspaper item represents one of our Vice-Presidents'* as 

 filling an order, for apples, from Florida. Some forty (40) years 

 ago, the late Gov. Lincoln shipped a barrel each, of the Baldwin, 

 and Roxbury Husset, to a son, in the Federal Army, who was 

 then stationed at Tampa Bay. They were wrapped separately, 

 packed with care and tightly ; and were received in a perfectly 

 sound condition. While the shipment of our Apples, southward, 

 is not a new experiment ; it is yet true that it has never become 

 a settled practice. Still, there would seem to be no reason why 

 a profitable trade might not thus be developed. What would be 

 Winter Apples — grown here — mature in late Summer, or early 

 Autumn, if cultivated at the South. Besides they are apt, from 

 the rapidity with which they mature, like the pears of California, 

 to be deficient in flavor. Facilities of inter-communication have 

 so improved, recently, that the Apple can hardly be classed 

 among the perishable fruits. Certainly it is durable enough to 

 traverse the paths of the Banana and Orange. 



The Taxes upon your property, for the year 1880, were paid, 



under Protest. When so much of both Beal and Personal 



Estate is exempted, which not even the largest charity can admit 



to be emploj'ed for religious or scientific purposes; your Finance 



Cmrwiittee could no longer submit in silence to what must only 



be regarded as an unjust discrimination. It will rest with your 



Trustees to decide whether to continue payment, awaiting a 



more convenient time for the recovery at law of the sums paid : 



or, to summarily decline payment, leaving it with the Courts to 



determine if the Legislature or the Civic Assessors are the 



better judges if Horticulture is a " Science !" The General 



Statutes of the Commonwealth exempt from taxation 



" The personal property of literary, benevolent, charitable, and 

 scientific institutions incorporated within this Commonwealth, and the 

 real estate belonging to such institutions, occupied by thera or their 

 officers for the purposes for which they were incorporated. " 



Under that provision, property amounting to Two Millions, 

 Eight Thousand and Four Hundred Dollars ($2,008,400) : con- 

 tributes nothing to educate our children, to enforce our laws, to 

 defend our lives, — to protect itself ! Of all the Associations 



*V.-P. Hadwen. 

 11 



