18G7,] SECRETARY'S REPORT. 23 



suited. Pomologists everywhere should disclose the results of their observa- 

 tion, that the wisdom may be gained which is promised from a multitude of 

 counsellors. As a partial contribution to this object, your Secretary prepared 

 a series of tables, which are now submitted for your examination, illustrative 

 of the extent to which the " Select List " of Pears recommended by the So- 

 ciety has been exemplified by our most skilful cultivators, and inferentially the 

 success with which they are grown. These tables comprise a period of four 

 years, including every variety of temperature and of one season of inordinate 

 and excessive moisture, so, also, another if extreme and parching drought. 



The Society must deduce its own conclusions from these indisputable facts, 

 which assuredly speak louder than all the words that were uttered in the dis- 

 cussions of past winters. 



Of what value is laudation of the Fulton and Henry Fourth if the practice 

 of members so emphatically contradicts it ? The Glout Morceau with diffi- 

 culty holds its own. Take even the Sheldon, with its high repute, and note 

 that it would have scarcely appeared upon your tables, for the last two years, 

 had it not been entered ignominiously, as a unit, in a collection of sixty-five 

 varieties. 



