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THE GENESEE FARMER. 



words to give it importance, but in fact robbing it of its value. What the people of 

 Pennsylvania and Ohio and Maryland will wish to hear reported from Western New 

 York, is that certain varieties succeed well and certain other varieties do not — that 

 certain soils, modes of propagation and culture, give such and such results ; and we in 

 return, will expect similar information from them. We allude to this matter, because 

 we know something of reports heretofore presented. We hope, too, that the same spirit 

 will be manifested in the discussions. Whatever we may have occasion to say there, 

 should be pointed and brief; for the time of a large body of working men, many of 

 whom will be from a great distance, will be too valuable to be trifled with. The discus- 

 sions at best are not so valuable or reliable as they might be ; we look to the reports, 

 carefully prepared and analyzed, as of much more importance. 



One thing has always been very badly managed by these conventions, and that is 

 the publication of their proceedings. The two New York meetings entrusted their 

 transactions to the American Institute, and they were not permitted to see the light of 

 day for full six months, and then not half the members were served with copies. The 

 Cincinnati meeting did not manage much better. The proceedmgs were tardy in 

 appearing, and were not remarkable for their accuracy when they did. With all this 

 experience we do not doubt but that the Convention of 1852 will take such steps in the 

 outstart as will secure a full, correct, and reliable report of all its proceedings published 

 and placed in the hands of all its members without the least delay. Thus only will 

 they be of any value, or awaken any interest in the community. 



There will be, undoubtedly, a grand display of fruits. The later peaches of New 

 Jersey and Delaware will be in perfection, and will be a most interesting item. The 

 pears around Boston, we are glad to learn are unusually abundant and fine this season, 

 and we anticipate in them a sight worth seeing. In Western New York our pear crop 

 is perhaps the only thing in the way of fruits of which we can make any respectable 

 show. We bespeak from all parts of the country a large attendance. Whatever good 

 may otherwise result from it, that of making men, engaged in the same pursuit, 

 acquainted with each other, and forming them as it were into a sort of brotherhood, 

 will certainly not be least important. 



The death of Mr. Downing, who was chairman of the General Fruit Committee, and 

 one of the originators and master spirits of the organization, will throw its dark shadow 

 over the meeting. Hundreds, like ourselves, but a week or two ago were in full expec- 

 tation of meeting him there, of having the pleasure of his company, and of being 

 instructed by the information he was collecting and preparing to impart. We under- 

 stand that the Hon. Marshall P. Wilder will deliver the eulogy on Mr. Downing's 

 life and character, before the Convention. It will b^ a most timely and appropriate 



proceeding. / 



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The Crescent Seedling Strawberry. — A very remarkable variety of strawberry, 

 bearing this name, and said to have been originated in New Orleans, is just now noticed 

 in the papers, and one nurseryman advertises them at $2 per plant. Our friend, R. G. 

 Pardee, Esq., of Palmyra, describes it in the Rural New Yorker, as producing " a con- 

 stant and abundant supply of large, high flavored, conical, dark red strawberries, from 

 January to August inclusive, at the end of which time the old plants die out, and a few 

 runners strike with which to renew the bed." The Picayune says "it bears every day, ( ! ) 

 and is in much request all over the country, Mr. Lawrence having obtained them him- 

 self by a happy system of grafting (!) and crossingP Mr. Pardee has not had this 

 variety bear yet, nor has any one else in the north that we have heard of. We 

 therefore advise people to keep cool until it has been well tested. Tlie Alpine 

 humbug has not yet been forgotten, and we very much apprehend that the " Crescent" 



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