TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. 3 



mind. The opportunities which have been afforded to amateurs and others 

 at our weekly and annual exhibitions, to examine such numerous speci- 

 mens from different sources, have been the means of throwing much light 

 upon the subject. 



Our fruit committees and cultivators have been indefatigable in their 

 labors in identifying and fixing in their minds the distinguishing charac- 

 teristics of the different varieties; of becoming acquainted with their true 

 names and synonyms ; ascertaining their flavor and quality; the habits of 

 the tree ; its productiveness, &;c. It would be an extremely difficult task 

 to do justice to the numerous members of our Society in relation to what 

 they have individually done to promote the objects we have in view. Where 

 so much harmony has prevailed, as we are happy to state has been the case 

 with us, and where so many have labored shoulder to shoulder, we 

 cannot look so much upon what individuals have done, as upon what has 

 been performed collectively by the whole body. 



We may be permitted, perhaps, to speak of him who has so ably and 

 faithfully served us as President, — who, not only is our head nominally, 

 but practically. Who among the working members of the Society have 

 done more to serve the cause of horticulture than the President, M. P. 

 Wilder? He has been continually augmenting his large collection of 

 fruits and flowers, from the best establishments of Europe, and has 

 spared no pains or expense to introduce every thing new and rare. 

 The weekly and annual exhibitions of the Society have been greatly 

 increased in interest by numerous specimens of the choice productions 

 of his garden and greenhouse. Among the new varieties of pears which 

 he has introduced and fruited that have been considered fine, the fol- 

 lowing may be enumerated, viz : Beurre de Anjou, Comtesse de Lunay, 

 Ananas (of the French,) Epine Dumas, Comprette, &c. He has also 

 fruited the Van Mons Leon le Clerc : but of this fine variety of pear, the 

 best specimen yet exhibited, was one by David Haggerston, from the 

 garden of J. P. Gushing, of Watertown, which measured 4 11-12 inches in 

 length, and 3 inches in diameter. Loudon says of this desirable pear, that 

 it was decidedly the best pear he had ever tasted ; the specimens he exam- 

 ined were in eating the middle of October ; the fruit as large as the Duchesse 

 d' Angouleme, and shaped very much like that pear, with a flavor remark- 

 ably rich, and, as it appeared, partaking of that of the pine apple, and con- 

 sequently having more acidity in it, joined to sugary sweetness, than we 

 find in most pears. Messrs. Walker, Crooker, Hovey, and other gentlemen, 

 have also fruited this extraordinary pear. After repeated examinations by 

 the fruit committee, the high reputation it lias acquired abroad has been 

 fully sustained here. 



Samuel Walker, of Koxbury, has fruited and exhibited the Figue pear ; 

 it is highly spoken of as a desirable variety. The St. Michael pear, which 



