The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1871-09-21
Pathological Convention.

ne following graceful CrlouGe TO Cne Drill
liant success of the Pathological Conventioa
recently held in Richmond, is taken Fl ON
the last Winchester .News. 1t is SO much
better than anything we can produce, that we
substitute it for what we intended writing
It was our hap to be in Richmond last
week, and to see the display of fruits and
flowers at the meeting of the United States
Pathological Society. Few sights could have
been more beautiful or interesting than this
collection of the fairest products of the ex
tratropcal part of the continent. California,
Iowa, Nebraska, Massachusetts, Michigan and
Florida came together at the capital OF Vir
ginia to join amable combat for the prizes Of
Pomona. The same fruits, and the same va-
reties of them, strangely varied by soil and
climate in texture, favour, size and colour,
we're contributed in many cases by all, and
could be compared upon the same tables.
The enormous pears of California were, in
some varieties, equalled by those from the
neighborhood of Norfolk. In favour, they
were surpassed. Her grapes, too, of Euro
pean kinds were not badly matched by the
black aud white Scuppernong of southern
fHStutd duO 1tUItil OdlUllutd. 11Ci oCetoOu 10
nearly month earlier than that of on warm
est countries, and her fruits, being more
thoroughly maturcd, outshone ours in appear
ance-
The most brilliant array, by far, was that
of apples from the virgin prairie soil OF the
new States on the Missouri. No parterre of
flowers could have exceeded, in bright red
and yellow, the long table covered with Iowa
apples. After trip of twelve hundred miles,
they were without speck and as glossy as
though vanished.
Then there were peaches, plums and the
grapes of the Middle States Catawba Con-
cord, &c. None of these fruits, however,
were equal to what we have often seen in the
Valley, perhaps because they do not keep
well, and the collection came necessarily from
limited area. So with the flowers and
plants Richmond had to do nearly every
thing in that line, and she did it wonderful
| ly we'll.
Three or four hundred orchardists, florists
and amateurs attended, from almost every
State in the Union. This being the first
time of the Societys meeting SO far south
they had new data, and their interchange Of
views took wider range. Its results must
be of special value to Virginia, not only in
| preparing list eff those varieties best adapt
ed to her soil and latitude, but in making sc
many enterprising and Intelligent men ac-
quainted with her advantages for this branch
of culture. Their appreciation of these was
more universal and more warmly expressed
than could have been expected even by ths
best informed Of her own cultivators. L
was conceded that some of her winter apples
which had ceased to succeed elsewhere, hac
no rivals for the home OR foreign market
, while most of the other kind she could FRO
} duce in as great perfection as any Other
State; that she could do as we'll in pears
| peaches, etc.; and that for the grapes ane
wines of the Atlantic slope she had-or witt
, due development Of her resources would hav'
f no comp etitor. To Valley readers it i
noteworthy that, for the best fruit, as for tn
{ best wheat and the best grass, lime and ella,
c rank first.
: In the discussions over these glowing AM
s generous bounties Of mother Earth, polite
; found no place. The cream Of thousan
: orchards and gardens was there, and it mel
f lowed the feelings like garden stroll.
T. 1t would have been we'll if every Virgnl
I farmer who feels the old staples failing HIN
: or dragging him into debt year by year, coul
d have been present at the Richmond show.
q SENATORIAL ElEcTIoN-An electio
: will be held in Virginia on the Eth of Nc
d vcmber in the first twenty Senatorial districts
5 prescribed inssthe act of Assembly, approve
March 2lst 1871 We subjoln the compal
= alive strength Of the two parties in the var
Gus counties composing the Valley district
where elections will be held on that day: