PROCEEDINGS OF THE HORTICULTUEAL ASSOCIATION. G31 



August 2, 1864. 



Mr. J. AV. Barrow, Vice-President, in the chair. 



The Association selected the following gentlemen to be submitted to the 

 American In.stitute, as their choice for the committee on horticulture : 

 Messrs. B. C. Townsend, J. W. Barrow, James Hogg, Peter B. Mead and 

 John Henderson. 



On motion, the following gentlemen were appointed a committee to con- 

 fer with the board of managers in relation to holding a fall exhibition : 

 Messrs. Townsend, Mead and Hogg. 



On motion of Mr. Mead, the following delegates were nominated for 

 appointment by the Institute, to attend the National Pomological Society 

 to meet at Rochester : Messrs. B. C. Townsend, Peter B. Mead, Wm. S. 

 Carpenter, Nathan C. Ely, Isaac M. Ward, John Cr. Bergen and Isaac 

 Buchanan. 



Fruits in their Season. 



The subject selected was then taken up. 



Mr. Wm. S. Carpenter said he brought some specimens of this season's 

 fruit for exhibition. As will be seen, they are very small, owing to the 

 remarkably unfavorable season ; he feared many kinds of fruit will hardly 

 come up to fair. In some the quality of the fruit is not well developed, 

 and again there are others that have ripened before their time. When we 

 see no larger specimens than those on the table, there must be something 

 the matter. The drouth this season has been more severe than he had ever 

 known it before. He had lost a great number of trees that have been 

 standing out several years. That day he noticed twelve that had perished; 

 also several shrubs. This convinced him that i(^as a most severe drouth. 

 The fruit has nearly all fallen, but where there was any dampness in the 

 soil it held on the tree. Such specimens as these are as fine as we can get 

 them. This is the Prince apple, one of the finest kinds we have, but 

 should be much larger tlian this. The fruit this year is very fair, but very 

 small; he would place the Prince among the best of our fruits; and although 

 it is a very old apple, there are very few that know anything about it; he 

 supposed not one in a thousand that ever saw it. He had a tree which is 

 at least fifty years old, and perhaps a hundred, and yet it is not to be 

 found with the nurseryman. He would advise everj'one that wishes a good 

 apple to plant the Prince. The next best apple is that sent from Germany 

 some twenty-five years ago, called the Gravenstein ; it is a long time ripen- 

 ing, which makes it more valuable. The next apple is the Red Astrachan, 

 also from German^', which is very saleable in market, but he would not 

 recommend it as a table apple. Here are some Middleton pears originally 

 brought from France, although they have been cultivated here for over a 

 hundred j-ears. He took a great interest in fruit culture, and was now 

 making it a study to procure all new varieties, with a view of determining 

 their true value. He had some three hundred varieties of pears, and nearly 

 the same number of apples, and he had learned that each variety was valu- 

 able for particular purposes. To stimulate improvements in this direction, 

 he would suggest that a standing premium be offered for the best apple, 

 pear, grape or strawberry. There are many new seedlings being intro- 



