October 24,.1878. ] 
JOURNAL OF HORTICULTURE AND COTTAGE GARDENER. 
317 
Looking at my notes I see that even Charles Lefebvre failed 
me on that occasion, also Victor Verdier, which perhaps is not 
much to be trusted, and Monsieur Boncenne, and also Com- 
tesse d’Oxford. Star of Waltham, on the other hand, is the 
type ofa class which is solid and enduring ; also Baron Gonella, 
a Rose I have steadily and vainly voted for at elections. It is 
simply ignored by the exhibiting public. Annie Wood perhaps 
is not quite sure in the centre; but what a Rose thisis! I 
marvel at her place now—so far below Marie Rady. At Marie 
Baumann’s success I am not surprised. This was a Marie 
Baumann year. I saw some at Horsham of Mr. Sharp’s, and 
Capt. Christy showed others at the Reigate Rose Show, almost, 
so to speak, as large as Paul Neyron, and yet losing nothing of 
the high tone or good breeding of which that robust individual 
is entirely innocent.—A. C, 
HON. MARSHALL P. WILDER. 
THE Hon. MARSHALL P. WILDER is well known in every 
country of Kurope as one of the most distinguished horticul- 
turists of the United States of America, and more especially is 
he so as a pomologist. This excellent gentleman having at- 
tained the ripe age of eighty years, a banquet was given him 
on the 21st of September at the Parker’s House, Boston, U.S.A. 
Pressure upon our columns prevented our noticing this in- 
teresting meeting until now. 
EX-ALDERMAN BRECK presided, and spoke as follows: “We 
have assembled-here to-day to honour one whom we all love and 
esteem, whom we all have known intimately for years, who is 
well known throughout the length and breadth of our country, 
and whose name in England, France, Belgium, and Holland is 
held in high esteem by the pomologists and horticulturists of 
those countries. We come here to-day to celebrate his eightieth 
birthday, and to wish him many years yet of health, strength, 
and vigour, and that his usefulness may be continued to his 
country for many years to come. I propose to you the health of 
our guest—Hon. Marshall P. Wilder.” 
COLONEL WILDER arose amid prolonged applause, and re- 
sponded as follows:—Mr. President, I thank you for your kind ex- 
pressions of respect, and you, my dear, dear, friends for the very 
cordial reception you haye given me. Nothing could be more 
grateful to my feelings than these warm demonstrations of friend- 
ship and regard, coming as they do from those who have known 
me for many years and are conversant with my many frailties 
and faults. Yes, the wheels of time move on and tell the story of 
our bygone days; and if I live to see the opening of another 
sabbath morn I shall have passed the bounds of fourscore years. 
Most devoutly would I render thanks to the Giver of all good 
that he has prolonged my life, and that I am able to be here with 
you on this Joyous occasion—here in the presence of my beloved 
pastor, who for thirty years has been my spiritual adviser—here 
with so many kind friends and co-labourers, with whom I have 
taken sweet counsel these many years—here to receive your friendly 
salutations, and, perhaps for the last time, to enjoy the sweet 
melody of your voices and breathe in the still sweeter consolation 
which arises like incense from off the altar of sympathising souls. 
When we reflect upon our past labours our thoughts naturally 
revert to the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, whose fiftieth 
annual exhibition has just closed, and for which you, Mr, President, 
and your good father haye done so much. Well do I remember 
its first exhibition in the old Exchange Coffee House in this city. 
Well do I remember the scene, with its two small side tables and 
one at the head of the hall. Well do I recollect the contribution 
of fruits when Robert Manning, the great pomologist of America, 
contributed only two baskets of fruit, and the subsequent growth 
of his enterprise when he donated many hundred varieties, and 
afterwards had in the Pomological Gardens at Salem two thousand 
varieties of fruit trees. Thank God, his son, bearing his own 
name, is with us to-day. WelldoI remember the dinner, at which 
sixty gentlemen participated, and the speeches which succeeded it. 
The scene is before me now. There sat at the head of the table 
the eloquent Dearborn, there on his right and left sat His Honour 
Lieutenan‘-Governor Thomas L. Winthrop (father of our beloved 
Robert C. Winthrop), and His Honour the then Mayor of the city, 
Harrison Gray Otis, and the accomplished statesman and orator 
Daniel Webster of immortal fame [applause]. There, too, were 
Hon. John C. Gray, Vice-President ; Dr. Jacob Bigelow, Corre- 
sponding Secretary of the Society, and John B. Russell, all of 
whom still survive; and here to-day, much to our joy, are the 
brothers Hovey, who were present on that occasion. Well do I 
remember the toast of General Dearborn—* Intelligence and in- 
dustry, the only true promoters of the public good ”—a sentiment 
which deserves to be written in letters of living gold. I thank 
you, Mr. President, for your kind allusion to me as one who has 
done something to promote the interests and welfare of my fellow 
men. 
My friends, I have lived to see great progress and improvement 
in the agriculture and horticulture of our country, much of which 
may be primarily traced to the enterprise and labours of Massa- 
chusetts men. Suffice it tosay that from the day when Governor 
Endicott planted his Pear tree at Salem, which still lives ; from 
the day that Peregrine White planted his Apple tree at Marsh- 
field, Mass. ; from the day when our Society was formed, it has 
stood prominently before the world as a leader and patron of 
agricultural and horticultural science. How marvellous the pro- 
gress in our own day! How grand the march of horticulture 
since the establishment of our own Society! It is scarcely fifty 
years since the Massachusetts Horticultural Society was formed. 
Then there were only two horticultural and but few agricultural 
societies in our land, now they are counted by thousands, and are: 
scattered over the continent, all working harmoniously for tbe 
promotion of these arts. Then there was scarcely a nursery of 
any note west, and only a few east of the Hudson River ; now 
they are planted from one shore of our country to the other, and 
among them are many of the largest in the world. Then Mr, 
Hovey had not sown the seeds of his Strawberry and other fruits. 
which have since immortalised his name, or commenced laying out 
his extensive grounds and building his houses in Cambridge. Then 
I had not planted a seed of the Camellia, the Azalea, Pear, or 
Grape, or even attempted the hybridisation of a plant ; now our 
American fruits and plants enrich the gardens and adorn the cata- 
logues of foreign lands. Then we had no such splendid villas as 
those of Hunnewell, Payson, Gray, and others, with their broad 
lawns, extensive glass structures, and magnificent plants, which, 
are such an honour to our land. Then we had many old and fine: 
homes and gardens, such as Governor Gore’s, Mr. Lyman’s, Mr.. 
Preble’s, Mr, Cushing’s, the Perkinses, and others ; but very little 
in the way of landscape gardening, or in new or rare plants or 
fruits. Then our exhibitions were confined to a few days of the 
year, and were for many years held in small rooms ; now many 
of our exhibitions are the best given in any State in the Union. 
Then we had no building of our own, now we possess the most 
costly and magnificent temple of horticulture that the world can 
boast. Then the American Pomological Society, whose President, 
by the mercy of God in his twenty-eighth year of service, now 
stands before you, had never been dreamed of—a society that. 
emanated primarily from the influence of the Massachusetts Hor- 
ticultural Society—a Society that embraces not only our national 
domain, but whose jurisdiction extends over our continent—whose- 
catalogue prescribes the appropriate fruits for fifty States, ter= 
ritories, and districts, and at whose quarter centennial in this city 
the far-off state of Nebraska, with her Governor at her head, 
carried off triumphantly the Wilder medal for the best collection 
of fruits. Then there were few exports of fruits; now we send 
four hundred thousand barrels of Apples in good years to foreign 
lands. Then the Grape was scarcely cultivated ; now, in addition 
to all that are used for the table, we make fifteen million gallons 
of wine, and wine, too, that took the first prize at the world’s ex- 
hibition at Vienna in 1873. Then the statistics of our fruit crop. 
were not thought worthy of record; now it amounts to $140,000,000, 
or nearly the average annual value of our Wheat crop. But L 
must bring these remarks to a close. I thank you for the kind 
reference to me as a pioneer in rural affairs. You do me no more 
than justice, for I cannot, as I have told you before, remember- 
the time when I was not fond of the cultivation of the soil. But, 
gentlemen, my labours are mostly over. Soon I shall be resting 
in the bosom of my mother earth; but if I can believe I have 
done anything to advance the great interests of our land, andi 
which shall contribute to the happiness of my fellow men, I shall, 
so far as this world is concerned, die content, feeling that I have- 
not lived in vain. 
WORK FOR THE WEEK. 
HARDY FRUIT GARDEN, 
CoMPLETE the gathering of Apples and Pears as soon as possible: 
unless any of the latter do not part readily from the trees, when 
it is not desirable to gather them, as they will shrivel if gathered 
too soon. This more particularly applies to such late sorts as. 
Bergamotte Esperen, Passe Crasanne, &c. Gathering Quinces,. 
Medlars, Walnuts, and Filberts should be completed, keeping 
them in a moderately moist room, or they will become too much 
dried. Apples and Pears that have been stored some time should 
be occasionally examined, and all decayed fruit be removed at 
once. The room in which fruit is stored should be kept cool, but 
side ventilation should be employed as little as possible, as it 
dries the fruit in proximity too much without carrying off exha- 
lations, which are best removed by top ventilation. 
Wherever it is intended to form plantations of fruit trees the 
ground should now be prepared for their reception. Soils resting: 
upon a heavy and retentive subsoil must be efficiently drained. 
Sandy soils often have water lodging in the subsoil; thorough 
drainage is then equally necessary as for heayy soil, but_loams 
overlying gravel may not require drainage. Ii the ground be in 
grass it will only require trenching, and as the worst soil will be 
brought to the surface a good dressing of manure should be 
applied. Soils long in tillage will be improved by the addition 
