Address by Hon. Marshall P. Wilder, at the 20th Session of the American Pomological Society.

(Concluded from page 318).

Nothing has afforded me more gratification than the favor with which our Rules of Pomology and the Reform in the Nomenclature of our Fruits have been received.

Soon after the close of our last session, we sent out a thousand circulars containing these Rules, together with the suggestions of the President in regard to the much-needed reform in the nomenclature of fruits. These were sent to the Agricultural, Horticultural, and Fruit Growers' Associations, and to the leading nurserymen of our country. Some were also sent to foreign lands. The favor with which these have been received both at home and abroad has been remarkable, showing that the time had arrived when, by general consent, this reform should be made; and thus our Society has the honor of instituting it as an example for the pomological world. When we reflect on the long, senseless, and sometimes vulgar and ridiculous names by which so many of our most beautiful fruits are known, our indignation is so aroused that we desire to blot them from our memory forever. Some have thought this spirit might be too aggressive. All reforms are more or less so; but when we think of the irrelevant and inappropriate names by which many of our fruits are known, we feel the importance of keeping up our warfare until the victory is won, and all our catalogues are purged of these improprieties.

As I before felt, I still feel it my duty, as President of the American Pomological Society, to urge a reform in the names of fruits, avoiding all long, superfluous, inappropriate, indelicate, ostentatious, or unmeaning titles; and if we cannot change objectionable names already applied, at least to avoid them in the future. Hundreds of fruits once known in our catalogues have become obsolete for want of good properties, and so it will be in the future, and we shall retain only those which, by their excellent quality and adaptation to our situation and wants, are worthy of extensive cultivation. Like the Baldwin apple, the Bartlett pear, the Concord grape, and other renowned fruits, let such varieties be dedicated to perpetual remembrance by appropriate names, and thus let us hand down to future generations a system of nomenclature pure and plain in its diction, perti-tinent and proper in its application, and which shall be an example, not only for fruits, but for other products of the earth. Let us have no more names of generals, colonels, captains, presidents, governors, monarchs, kings or princes, mammoths or Tom Thumbs, or such titles as Nonsuch, Seek-nofurther, Ne-plus-ultra, Hogpen, Sheepnose, Big Bob, Ironclad, Legal Tender, Sucker State, or Stump-the-World. These were suggestions made in my last address, to which I still adhere and from which I have nothing to take back.

The terms Pearmain, Pippin, Beurre, Doyenne, Bon Chretien, ete., applied to apples and pears, once described classes of fruit which are now so confused and blended that the names have lost their significance. The cases are very few where a single word will not form a better name for a fruit than two or more. These reforms have been adopted in the Catalogue of the American Pomological Society, and other prominent horticultural and pomological societies have voted to adopt the improved nomenclature, and I desire to ask the cooperation of all pomological and horticultural societies in this and other countries in carrying out this important reform. It has been suggested that the work might be carried farther than has been done in the catalogue of the Pomological Society; as, for instance, by substituting Lucrative for Belle Lucrative, and Nelis for Winter Nelis. Pomologists may differ as to how far the reform should be carried, but by comparision of views they will come to a final agreement.

I desire especially to enforce upon nurserymen the duty of aiding in this reform, by revising their catalogues so as to correspond with the improved nomenclature. Horticultural and pomological associations have thus far been our most powerful auxiliaries in this good work, but they do not come in contact with the people at so many points as the nurserymen whose catalogues are distributed broadcast over the land, and I would especially appeal to the many honorable representatives of this profession here assembled, to give us their hearty cooperation until the work is accomplished. Let us push on the work so constantly and vigorously while we live, that future generations, seeing its advantages, shall avoid the evils we have encountered, and shall enjoy the benefits of the improved system, and look back with gratitude to us for our labors.