rOMOLCHilCAL DIVISIO.V U. S. DEl'T. OF AGKICLLTLUE. 21 



from there. Allow nie to say in this couiiectiou that although it 

 may seem a special favor to Florida, California, or Oregon to give 

 them a fruit which they alone can grow, it is, nevertheless, a 

 benefit to the whole country. Does the grower of the Washington 

 Navel orange at Riverside. California, monopolize its good quali- 

 ties, or does the citizen of Boston share with him? If the 

 Alphonse mango, which is the delight of the resident of India, as 

 he sips its sweet juices on the veranda of his bungalow, can be 

 gi-own at Lake Worth, Florida, will not the express ti-aiu land it in 

 New York or ^Minneapolis in good condition, and thus l)ring the 

 ends of the earth together? In these days of rapid and safe 

 transit for tender fruits, all sections of the country can be supplied 

 with such things as before were denied to all except those who 

 lived in the favored regions where they grew. 



Tlie field opens as the work progresses. The Division of 

 Pomology is now firmly established as a part of the government 

 service and I trust that it may serve the fruit growers of our whole 

 country in a satisfactory manner. Upon them, in jtart. lies the 

 burden of responsibility as to its conduct, and I frankly invita 

 criticisms and suggestions which shall lead us forward. 



Discrssiox. 



O. B. Hadwen was much gratified to, hear Mr. ^'an Deman's 

 statement of the work of the Pomological Division of the United 

 States Department of Agriculture. It is a matter of surjirise to 

 many to learn how vast is the amount of fruit, and how almost 

 innumerable are the varieties now grown in our country. It is a 

 leading object of this Society to encourage the production and 

 general introduction of new fruits and vegetables, but perhaps we 

 have been remiss in bringing into notice some excellent new fruits. 

 Fair specimens of new seedlings can be produced in five years, 

 but we cannot depend upon their good qualities being established 

 without several years of trial. He declared his belief in a definite 

 terai of life in fruits as in other organic forms, and in this respect 

 some new fruits have too short a term of life to be of much value. 



E. W. Wood was interested in the paper just read, but he did 

 not think it affected New England. The work of introducing new- 

 fruits here depends largeW upon amateurs, as those who grow fruit 

 for market do not find it profitable to go outside of the standard 



