TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION. 
9 
of cultivated varieties with native plums, apples, mountain cherries and 
other fruits, and we await the same work with our northern native grapes; 
so well carried on by Munson in the South. In our national experiment 
stations, the machinery is already in place for this work. 
Another promising field of work in the national experiment stations would 
seem to be in the investigation of the results of securing the blossoming of 
different varieties of fruits in proximity, either by planting the trees adjoin- 
ing, or, if necessary, by uniting the different varieties in the same top by 
grafting. Many noble fruits are discarded because they bloom and do not 
ripen sufficient fruit. May not a large part of this be because they are not 
happily mated with congenial companions? 
This problem can best be taken up and carried on by the national experi- 
ment stations because, while the young men may leave or grow old, the 
stations, the records, the trees and the plants will remain if they are such as 
ought to remain in those regions, and all else is of little consequence. 
Pomologists may as'sist the experiment stations to gather material for gar- 
den and pomological herbarias, inclusive of as much as is possible of 
materials for identification and for a biological record of all useful fruits as 
well as plants. The foliage, twigs, bloom; the seeds and outline drawings of 
the fruits and accurate descriptions of the same and of their behavior, would 
form part of the material for such herbaria. I am told that one already 
exists in New York State, of many thousand specimens. Such herbaria, 
would be useful in preventing fraud and to assist in fixing the status of new 
candidates for public favor in pomology and gardening. 
If this Society could impress upon fruit growers generally, that new fruits, 
originated in their own botanical districts, are much more likely to succeed 
there, than those originating outside, and that when flaming advertisements 
come to them from distant regions, they may safely wait until the experiment 
stations have tested those strangers and ascertain somewhat of their ability 
to withstand the difficulties of changing from one region to another, much 
time and money might be saved. Large sums are now wasted each year in 
indiscriminate testing of new fruits from distant regions, without inquiry 
as to the soil, the elevation or the range of the thermometer, at their bi ’th- 
places. Much of this is worse than wasted. 
A whole region in the Northwest has paid tribute to this unfortunate 
method for twenty years. Multitudes of fruits were imported from a foreign 
country, thought to be like some portions of America, and confident enthusi- 
asm straightway proclaimed that they must be expected to give wonderful 
successes. This was written and published and reiterated through a large 
region, until a sort of religious enthusiasm arose in favor of foreign fruits, 
and large sums of money were invested in growing and selling young trees 
and plants in a region at least three hundred miles south of a hopeful latitude. 
Nearly every orchard and garden near the center of promulgation was 
invaded, but the end of it all was bitterness. 
If the experiment could have had the benefit, at first, of a little scientific 
knowledge, and afterwards of a trace of the caution resulting from such 
knowledge, all the good results could have been reached by the experiment 
stations at an outlay of a few hundred dollars each, instead of the hundreds- 
of thousands which it has cost. A generation of labor will not repair the 
misfortune. 
While such things are possible, this Society has a great work to do. 
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