176 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



very long' time to produce any effect. The hydrate of muriate of lime is 

 soluble. Potash and soda are alike in their action upon the land, and soda 

 is not more than one-third the cost of potash. All gneiss rock is full of 

 potash, and if we use chlorine, we set it free and give it to vegetation; 

 and the chlorine is obtained by slaking the lime in salt water. 



Mr. Baer said that farms could be purcliased in Maryland at from S5 to 

 $50 per acre. There is some very good land in that portion of the State, 

 which has been overrun by the armies, which can be purchased at a low 

 figure, but it is destitute of fences, and in some places the buildings have 

 been destroyed. 



The above is only a brief report of the remarks of Mr. Baer, who 

 promised to write out his notes, but in consequence of ill-health, he lias 

 not furnished them. 



Dana's Hovey Pear. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter.— The pears on the table to-day are the Dana's 

 Hovey. They have been sent to the committee on large fruits in compe- 

 tition for the Greeley prize, for the best pear for general cultivation. 



Mr. C. M. Hovey, of Boston, a gentleman well known to the horticultural 

 world as one of our oldest pomologists, is present to-day, and I doubt not 

 will give us an account of this choice pear. I take great pleasure in intro- 

 ducing him to the Club. 



Mr. C. M. Hovey. — Mr. Carpenter has spoken too flatteringly of my hum- 

 ble efforts in the cause of horticulture; but I will give you an account of 

 the pear now before you. 



It was introduced by Mr, Dana, of Roxbury, in 1854, and has received 

 high encomiums from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society. 



H may not be out of place to mention here, that nearly all the American 

 pears, now well known, have been accidental seedlings found in pastures 

 or neglected gardens, where they have sprung up from chance seeds. Of 

 the many varieties in our collection, but a small number have been the 

 result of experiments made in sowing seed with a view to raise improved 

 varieties. 



It is a theory with some cultivators that seeds of the finer varieties of 

 pears would never produce improved fruit, and that the fruit so produced 

 always degenerated, or returned to the character of the original type. The 

 theory of Van Mons was gradual improvement from the wild state, by suc- 

 cessive generations, and was thought by him to be the only reliable mode 

 of producing great results. 



All experience in regard to our American fruits contradicts this, for 

 many of our best varieties have been found in old gardens in the neighbor- 

 hood of fine old pear trees, and from whose seeds the trees have sprung up, 

 and when grown to maturity the fruit excels that of the parent. 



Mr. Dana has had unusual success, and has produced more remarkable 

 varieties than has been raised by the most successful Belgian cultivators 

 out of the same number of trees; and the simple fact of Mr. Dana's achieve- 

 ment, in the production of seedling pears, will now dispel all doubt in re- 

 gard to the results to be gained by sowing the seeds of our best varieties, 

 and that the theory of Van Mons, though undoubtedly leading to partial 

 success, is only done by the loss of years of time and labor, and is a pro- 



