8 Transactions of the A.vsrican Institute. 



The list^ will be exteuded from time to time, as subjects suggest 

 themselves. 



Durmg the past yeai* the correspondence of the Club has been 

 very extensive; the Secretary, Mr. Chamlicrs, has received over 

 t"\velve thousand communications, asking for information connected 

 with agricultural pursuits, for seeds, &c., and giving the experience 

 of the writers on their mode of cultivation, &c. The most import- 

 ant of these letters are condensed in the reports, and will be found 

 in the Transactions of the Institute. These letters were received 

 from twenty-eight diflerent States, showing how extensively the 

 reports of the Club have been circulated. 



The committee take great pleasure in stating that Mr, Nathan C. 

 Ely, the permanent chairman, has presided with marked ability at 

 most of the meetings, which have been held every Tuesday during 

 the year. During his temporary absence, Prof. Tillman has offici- 

 ated in his stead. 



Your committee cannot close this report without alluding to the 

 death, in July last, of their associate, and chairman of the com- 

 mittee of agriculture, Mr. John G. Bergen, who had for many years 

 been a faithful attendant at the meetings of the Club, and whose 

 experience on agriculture was always listened to with respect and 

 great benefit. 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 



New York, February Uh, 1868. 



P. T. QUINN, ) 



JOHN CRANE, [• Comviittee. 



S. EDWARDS TODD, ) 



HORTICULTURE. 



Your committee have Avatched with much interest the progress 

 of this branch of domestic industry, which contributes so largely 

 to our luxuries as well as our necessities. They have been grati- 

 fied to perceive no interruption to improvement in the excel- 

 lence and beauty of both fruits and flowers; but they cannot help 

 adding that too many varieties of both get before the public not 

 only w^ithout sufficient merit of their own, but without such an 

 endorsement from competent bodies as is calculated to win and 

 justify public confidence. There can be no doubt, not only that 

 very large sums of mone}'' are yearly wasted in this way, but that 

 the progress of horticulture is needlessly impeded. The evil has 



