REPORT OF COMMITTEE OX FRUITS. 11 



The fruit of the shigle tree of Mount Vernon was blown oft' by the 

 gale in September, yet the specimens of this promising winter variety 

 were creditable. 



Ovir Societj' is greatly indebted to Dr. Strenzcl of Martinez, Califor- 

 nia, for a collection of his fruits, Avhich arrived in season for our Annual 

 Exhibition, and thus gave an opportunity to multitudes to see the varied 

 products qf that favored State. The Winter I^Telis, Beurre Diel and 

 Vicar Pears were especially fine, as were also the Quinces. Flame 

 Tokay, Lombardy and Chassclas Grapes indicated healthy growth and 

 excellent quality, although somewhat injured by the long transit. 



Apples. — Eed Astrachan was the first to appear on our tables, 

 July 31st, and subsequently, August 21st, received the first prize, "Wil- 

 liams ranking second. 



At the Annual Exhibition, Porter was remarkably fine. There were 

 also fine specimens of Hubbardston and Gravenstein, but the effects 

 of the gale, which occurred a fortnight previous, was very plainly to be 

 seen in the collections. No section of our globe is exempt from these 

 accidental, or rather jirovidential destructions of our crops, and instead 

 of complaint or discouragement we ought rather to be thankful that 

 these evils are of comparatively rare occurrence with us. 



We were under obligation to R. W. Furnas, Esq., of Brownsville, 

 jS'eb., ]N'ovember 17th, for a fine collections of Aj^ples, twenty-five 

 varieties, which gave us an opportunity of comparing them with our 

 own products. Fameuse was specially fine, and the rest comjiared 

 favorably with our best specimens. 



The prize kinds, ]N"ovember 13th, were first Northern Spy, second 

 King, third Hubbardston. Messrs. Clapp's first and second collections 

 were as large, fair and fine as we have ever seen, and indicated how 

 entirely practicable it is to cultivate this fruit to perfection. 



On the IGth of January last, F. Burr exhibited fine specimens of the 

 Murphy, high colored, remarkably beautiful and of good quality. Mr. 

 Burr states that the tree is uniformly productive. Lane's Sweeting, 

 exhibited by Mr. Burr a week later, appears to be a good winter sweet. 

 March 12th, l^ahum Smith of Weston exhibited Gravenstein Ajjples 

 in a remarkable state of perservation, fair, plump, juicy and excellent. 

 He states that they were simply kej^t in a cool barn cellar. Would it 

 not be a profitable enterprise to preserve some of our best winter sorts 

 in this inexiDensive way, and bring them fresh and crisp into the market 

 at the period of the dearth of fruits, in April and May? 



On the third of AjDril, Mr. Lester Goodwin presented an Apple of 

 peculiar apjiearance, seeming to be a mingling of Baldwin and Eoxbury 

 Russet. As this appears to be another case of the influence of the stock 

 upon the character of the graft, the instances of which are becoming 

 too frequent to be disputed, we give Mr. Goodwin's description, which 

 is entirely trustworthy: 



