BOTANICAL INDEX, 
87 
from 3 to 4 feet high on very thin land, and from (> to 10 feet high on free sandy land ; 
will grow upon any dry land, but delights in a free sandy soil. I also send a very 
ornamental fragrant plant, found on the poor sandy land here called the Vanilla 
plant, ( Liatris odoratissima, Wllld . — Ed.) which is quite desirable for its rich vanilla- 
like perfume. Yours Respectfully, 
MAT. COLEMAN. 
Alhambra, Madson Co., July, 1S79. 
L. B. Case. — Dear Sir: l send to you a leaf, bud, flower and root, of a plant I 
found growing wild in a pond near the city of Alton, which I wisli you to name. 
I take it to be the plant described in your second paper on Water Lilies. There was 
as much as one acre of these plants. Some of the leaves measured twenty inches. 
The pond had dryed up and the mud was hard on top. I dug a few roots with a 
stick, witli much work. The locality is twenty miles from my place; I discovered 
them last Saturday, while traveling on the road. If you can send me a first paper 
on Water Lilies, do so. Yours, respectfully, 
W. W. ELLIOTT. 
[The plant came to hand in due course of mail and proved to be Nelumbeum latum, 
Willd., which adds another locality to our iist. We are always pleased to receive 
such memorandums, and again, would request all who are interested in botany, 
either as a science or an object of beauty, to remember us when they chance to meet 
with any unusual plant or form of plant life. — Ed. Botanical Index.] 
Rochester, N. Y., September 20, 1S79. 
L. B. Case. — Sir: 
The seventeenth biennial session of the American Pomological Society was held 
at Rochester, N. Y., September 17, 18 and 19, in the Common Council Chamber; the 
society made the exhibition of fruit at the grounds of the Western New York Agri- 
cultural Society, having been invited to meet with this society on the occasion of the 
annual Fair. A large tent was put up exclusively for the exhibit of the National 
Society, and was well filled with fruits of various kinds, the perfection of which 
charmed the beholder into the belief that the garden of Eden had produced them. 
The society does not award premiums, but the honored President, Marshall 1’. 
Wilder, has endowed the society with the Wilder medals, which! as the report will 
show, was received by several societies and individuals, among them being the father 
of the gift himself. The Committee on Fruits reported through their Chairman, 
Mr. Berkman, that there were on exhibition 859 plates of apples, 517 plates of 
pears, 1(1 plates of peaches, 409 plates of grapes, 37 plates of miscellaneous fruits; 
aggregate, 1,838 plates. 
The father of the society, Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, who is now 82 years of age, 
was not present, being detained by failing health. Dr. John A Warder, Vice Presi- 
dent for Ohio, presided the first day, after which Patrick Barry, of Rochester, who 
was elected First Vice President, occupied the chair. A formal reception was given 
tile society at the first meeting by way of an address of welcome by Hon. C. R. Par- 
sons, Mayor of Rochester, an effort worthy the occasion and the speaker. The ad- 
dress of President Wilder, considering the age and ill health of the writer, is a 
remarkable production, full of vigor and strength, yet alludes in a touching manner 
to the inevitable end of this life which soon must come to the writer. Dr. Thomas 
P. James, who has been Treasurer of the society ever since its organization, was also 
absent, owing to failing health, and for that reason resigned his office. The officers 
for the biennial term are : President, Hon. Marshall Pinkney Wilder, Boston. First 
Vice President, Patrick Barry, Rochester, N. Y., and one Vice President for each 
State and British Province. Treasurer, E. W. Buswell, Boston. Secretary. Robert 
Manning, Salem, Mass. 
The discussions on Fruits, in which were included statements relative to new 
varieties, and various other matters of interest to pomologists, were entered into 
with much spirit and occupied a good share of the time. Learned and interesting 
addresses anti papers were submitted; among them was “ Sexes of Flowers iii rela- 
tion to the fruitfulness of Orchards and New Varieties,” by Prof. Thomas Meehan, of 
Germantown, Pa.; “ Distinguishing Varieties of Apples by the Flowers,” by Prof. 
William J. Beal, of Lansing, Mich.; “Grape Rot in America,” by Isidor Bush, of 
Bushberg, Mo. In addition to the routine business, the society made lighter its 
labors by the accustomed banquet. This was an exceedingly elegant and en joyable 
affair. The society received and accepted an invitation to a reception at Powers’s 
