The National Nurseryman. 
FOR GROWERS AND DEALERS IN NURSERY STOCK. 
Copyright, 1899, by the National Nurseryman Publishing Co. 
“ The temple of commerce is supported by columns of advertising 
VOL. VII. 
AMERICAN PO MO LOGICAL. 
Semi-Centennial Meeting at Philadelphia—Prominent Nurseryman 
Re-elected President—Some Pioneers—President Watrous’ 
Address—Isothermal Lines Should Govern— Thomas Mee. 
han’s Reminiscences—Silver and Bronze Medals for 
Fruit Exhibits—Election of Officers. 
The twenty-sixth biennial session of the American Pomo- 
logical Society was held in Philadelphia September 6-7. There 
were pr sent 130 accredited delegates from 22 states and 100 
others, most of whom are members of the society. Among 
the older members present were Thomas Meehan, German¬ 
town, Pa.; P. J. Berckrrans, Augusta, Ga.; S. B. Parsons, 
Flushing, L. I.; T. V. Munson, Dennison, Texas; Robert 
Manning, Reading, Mass. A letter of regret was sent by 
George Ellwanger, Rochester, N. Y. President C. L. Wat¬ 
rous, the well-known nurseryman of Des Moines, la., occupied 
the chair. Assistant Pomologist William A. Taylor, Washing¬ 
ton, D. C., performed his duties as secretary. 
PRESIDENT WATROUS’ ADDRESS. 
President Watrous’ address, the feature of the first session 
was received with marked attention, the reading of it being 
often interrupted by expressions of approval. The president 
urged the necessity of systematic scientific breeding of Ameri¬ 
can fruits. The time had gone by when we could afford to 
place dependence upon varieties brought from without. The 
division of the country into well-defined life zones was now 
accomplished and suitable fruits must be bred up to fit these 
divisions. The next fifty years should see fruit breeding as 
systematically carried out as stock breeding now is. Pomolo- 
gists must supply the material for the several stations to work 
upon, and then, at the meeting of the society, which was a 
court of last resort, the facts could be sifted out. Already the 
good work was begun. In the Mississippi Valley hybrid plums 
had already taken their place, and the development of the 
northern grape awaited such work as Munson had done in the 
South. Garden herbariums, such as was now in the New Yoik 
station, should be kept in all sections. A national herbarium 
of pomology would act as a check upon frauds. Fruits origi¬ 
nated in their own botanical districts, and it was the duty of 
the society to teach they were most likely to succeed there. 
Thousands of dollars had beer wasted in the endeavor to in¬ 
troduce foreign varieties. Isothermal lines rather than terri¬ 
torial divisions should be looked to. The society’s best work 
was to be done for the mass of the American people, but it 
certainly could not wholly guide the public taste, and if men 
will buy Ben Davis instead of Grimes’ Golden, the pomologist 
must plant that—he must go in for what pays, 
No. 9. 
The committee on the address fully endorsed the president’s 
remarks and recommended the appointment of two commer¬ 
cial fruit growers, one representing the East and one for the 
West, to present papers on marketing at the next session of the 
society, to see if some means of avoiding gluts could not be 
devised. They further recommended that the Department of 
Agriculture prepare and issue a bulletin relating the connection 
of the experiment stations with pomology and setting forth 
plainly just what each station had done and was doing along 
that line. 
The treasurer, Professor L. R. Taft, reported that the Wilder 
endowment $5,000 is invested in railroad bonds, bearing 4 per 
cent, interest, giving a stated income, of which one-fifth was 
for the purchase of medals for worthy objects within the prov¬ 
ince of the society. The biennial income was $1,292.48. The 
cash in the treasury is $636.64, of which about $240 is to the 
credit of the medal fund, the full amount not having been used 
at any one meeting since 1889. 
THOMAS MEEHAN’S REMINISCENCES. 
Thomas Meehan sketched the work done in Philadelphia 
and the surrounding district in early days. American pomol¬ 
ogy, he said, is the admiration of the world, and the American 
Pomological Society has had more to do with that eminence 
than any other. Europeans were amazed at the profusion of 
fruits, the poor enjoying with the richest. The poor abroad 
grow fruit, but it goes for tithes and taxes, and others enjoy it. 
This society is responsible for the difference here. Mr. Meehan 
reviewed the beginning of grape culture in Philadelphia, and 
its spread, following with the pear and the apple, and telling of 
the attempts at importation and the destruction by rats in the 
hold, and the law which gave no redress if there was a cat on 
board. Philadelphia had become a horticultural center be¬ 
cause of the desire for wine. Penn had established the city 
where it was because he had concluded it was a good place in 
which to grow good wine, and he sent to France for his vines, 
which he grew in what was now part of Fairmount Park. His 
efforts partly failed, so he sent for French vineyardists, but as 
failure still followed they concluded Philadelphia was not hot 
enough, so they took up the Reading grape, which gave a 
wine that Franklin said was as good as the foreign wine. But 
they were not satisfied, and sought the native grapes till they 
got the Alexander—considered a great advanee, but it was 
greatly inferior to the Concord. Bartram also tried to grow 
for wine and introduced a grape from Virginia, almost equal 
to Delaware, but it failed, too, and so the Susquehanna was 
searched till a grape known as Susquehanna was discovered. 
It was as good as the Delaware to-day, but that failed, too, after 
a time. Later a vineyard, three and one-half acres of Catawba 
and Isabella, was set out near YVissahickon, but it, too, gave 
out, the men did not realize the phylloxera was at work, which 
pesf, he believed, Penn had brought from Europe All this 
ROCHESTER, N. Y., OCTOBER, 1899. 
