SECOND DAY. 
FEIDAY MORNING SESSION. 
September 8, 1899. 
The Society reassembled at ten o’clock a. m.; President Watrous presiding. 
Prof. W. H. Ragan, of Indiana, spoke of what he termed a very pleasant 
episode on the previous day, w r hen the Society was addressed by the venerable 
Mr. Parsons, who was present at the birth of the organization, and when 
they also heard, by letter, from another of the original members. He now 
called attention to the presence of Mr. Robert Manning, of Massachusetts, 
who also attended the first meeting of the Society, fifty years ago. 
President Watrous extended a cordial invitation to Mr. Manning to come 
forward and be presented to the Convention. 
Mr. Manning came to the platform and, after the applause which greeted 
his appearance had subsided spoke as follows: 
REMINISCENCES. 
BY ROBERT MANNING, SALEM, MASS. 
Mr. President— I hardly know where to begin or what to say. I was 
present at the first meeting of the American Pomological Society. “The 
American Congress of Fruit Growers” was the title first adopted, and the 
meeting was called in New York City, under the auspices of five horti- 
cultural socieities, of which the Massachusetts Horticultural Society came 
first, the Pennsylvania Society next, I think the American Institute next, 
then the New Jersey and the New Haven Horticultural Societies. A com- 
mittee consisting of three members from each of these societies was ap- 
pointed to call a convention, which was later held in the city of New York, 
where they were the guests of the American Institute just as we are the 
guests of the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society today. 
In my retrospect, I have been led naturally to consider who are left of those 
who attended the first meeting of the American Congress of Fruit Growers. 
I am glad that Mr. Samuel B. Parsons is here. W T e prevailed upon him to 
come. Not knowing whether there was any local horticultural society from 
which he could come as a delegate, we took it upon ourselves, as Mr. Par- 
sons is an honorary member of the Massachusetts Horticultural Society, to 
include him in our delegation, and I think he was pleased to be included. 
Many of you remember Benjamin K. Bliss, who was for many years a 
seedsman in New Y'drk and who introduced the Early Rose potato. Mr. 
Bliss, who was also an apothecary at Springfield, was generally spoken of 
