1895.] TRANSACTIONS. 17 



and never without just commendation. In England and France, 

 the great Pear-growing countries of the world, wherein curiously 

 enough the varieties of Pi/rus Oommunh, unlike those of 

 Pyrus Mains, that are of signal excellence and most thrifty, are 

 likewise unsurpassed throughout our broad Republic, it ranks 

 with the very best three, — whether for exquisite flavor or late 

 keeping. For another of that trinity, you suffer Marie Louise to 

 exhaust itself through sheer fecundity, subjecting it thereafter to 

 a penalty for the inevitable depreciation which you were too indo- 

 lent to prevent. You do not, — or will not, — grow Josephine de 

 Malines ; electing rather Angouleme or Clairgeau, than either of 

 which, to a healthy appetite, a White Egg Turnip more agreeably 

 waits upon digestion. Stars upon the catalogue of the American 

 Pomological Society, in whose deliberations we participate and 

 by whose judgments we should be concluded, count for nothing ! 

 our schedule being controlled by individual whim or prejudice ; 

 although our early records are crowded with testimony of the 

 prophets and apostles of our local pomology, by whom the faith 

 once delivered to them was treasured up for us in the hope and 

 faith of its care and ultimate preservation. I would not inter- 

 pose the least obstacle to the onward march of progress, if only 

 its steps are assured. But I would be certain that the step is in 

 advance ; and insist upon positive proof of decided n,dvantage 

 before discarding the hardly-earned lessons of a half-century of 

 experiment and instruction. 



Under the caption, — "Boston Board of Trade — Mad," — the 

 Herald of our metropolis, on Sept. 6th, ult., scores the N. Y., 

 N. H. & H. Railway Company for its dilatoriness, lack of 

 accommodation, and high rates of charge, throughout the past 

 season, whereb}- the transporation of fruit, — the Peach especial- 

 ly, — was seriously retarded, to the great loss of New England. 

 The complaint of Worcester weighs as heavily, if not against 

 the same corporation. Fruit cannot await the convenience or 

 endure the spite of any common carrier. It must be picked in 

 advance of ripening to reach its market in any sort of fair con- 

 dition ; a delay that would not be sensibly felt with Apples or 

 Pears being fatal to the continuance in soundness or texture of 



