Pomological Convention. 527 
from a committee not selected for a combination of the most in- 
formation, but controlled by materials best suited for wire pulling. 
Indeed, the whole object of the controlling clique, seemed to be, 
not to elicit important information from the members generally, 
but to limit the extent of information to the Fruit Committee ; 
and not to allow any amendments to pass that might depreciate 
the supposed accuracy of Mr. Downing, the Magnus Apollo of 
the committee, but to endorse, wholesale, his numerous errors, 
both past and present. Every proposition to vary or amend the 
lists of fruits reported by the committee, or to add other highly 
estimable varieties thereto, was met by the decided opposition and 
obstinacy of its adherents, and the weak argument advanced, that 
their adoption would be a reflection on the committee. Even the 
judicious amendments proposed by Mr. Prince and Mr. Hovey, to 
add an explanatory remark to certain fruits, as to the unthriftiness 
of the tree, &,c., so that the public might receive them understand- 
ingly, were voted down. 
At an early stage of the proceedings, Mr. Prince proposed that 
the Fruit Committee be instructed to report forthwith a list of re- 
jected fruits, comprising such varieties as are unworthy of culture, 
but this was met by a deadly hostility on the part of the Presi- 
dent, Mr. Walker, and others, and was voted down. On the last 
day, however, the question was again moved, and after the sever- 
est opposition from the clique referred to, it was carried, but the 
committee was not ordered to report until the ensuing year. 
It was remarked that the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, 
although it had existed twenty years, had disappointed public 
expectation, by not presenting such a list as a general guide to 
purchasers, but had allowed their tables to be loaded annually 
with a multitude cf base and inferior fruits. 
Nothing was done as to the other classes of fruits, during an 
entire three days' sitting, not even with apricots and nectarines; 
nor with grapes, although the tables abounded with foreign and 
native varieties; nor yet with the quince, the gooseberry, the 
raspberry, the currant or the strawberry. We understand that 
Messrs. Wilder and Walker do not keep these latter fruits for sale 
and therefore it was not necessary the public should be enlight- 
ened in regard to them. 
W ith your permission, I will continue my comments on a fu 
ture occasion. FroELius. 
Schenectady, Oct. 16, 184S 
Steam Labor. — The amount of work now done by machinery, 
moved by steam in England, has been supposed to be equivalent 
to that of between three and tour hundred millions of men by 
direct labor. 
