562 Traxsactions of the American Institute. 



cultivating. A great deal of money is being absorbed in the cran- 

 berry business." 



A Patent for New Varieties. 



The discussion was opened by a note from Dr. S. J. Parker, of 

 Ithaca. — I wish to interest the club in the matter of petitioning 

 Congress for an amendment of the patent law, so that an originator 

 of a fruit can have a patent on his fruit. In this I have a personal 

 interest, in that I have some fifty new hybrids and crossed grapes 

 that in two or three years I wish to introduce to the public ; and as 

 the matter now stands, he who sells a hundred or two grape vines 

 loses all control over them before he is half paid for the cost of origin- 

 ating and introducing them. 



Mr. Horace Greeley. — While I am willing to do anything in reason 

 for the protection of originators, I do not see how Congress can pass 

 a law giving them what they ask for without interfering with cardinal 

 principles of ownership. If I buy a seed potato, what law can rightly 

 stop me from selling some of the crop for seed to my neighbor. In 

 order to be effective I must eat the potato or sell to a man who is 

 likewise bound not to sell for seed. This, it seems to me, is going 

 beyond the natural province of a law. So, as regards this Pough- 

 keepsie grape. If the established laws of ownership will not protect 

 Mr. Ferris, I do not see how a statute can be framed to give him 

 entire relief. But I am by no means fixed in my opinion, and only 

 ask that gentlemen will say precisely what they want, so that we can 

 the better judge of the reasonableness of their demand. 



Mr. A. S. Fuller. — The mischief from which we seek relief is this : 

 Take the very grape that Mr. Greeley refers to. "We are all convinced 

 that one vine of the Walter in Messrs. Ferris and Caywood's yard 

 has produced a very fine grape. Now, before these planters can know 

 in how many difterent soils and climates the Walter does well they 

 must send the vine to fifty men in a dozen or more States. By the 

 time they are able to recommend it for all parts of the country, twenty 

 o-rowers have it for sale, and their profits are ended. We ask legis- 



O 7 1 «— 



lators to devise some relief from this injustice. 



Mr. Horace Greeley. — If men steal, the laws give redress. If 

 experiments are necessary to prove the excellence of a grape or a 

 berry, cannot those experiments be made by men who will be honest 

 and trustworthy? I am, as many know, a stickler for the rights of 

 property, and for all the protection that a man's industry or his skill 



