At a recent meeting of the State Floral Society of California, three persons were appointed to meet three others from the State Horticultural Society, and this committee sent out invitations to about a hundred prominent botanists, fruit-growers, florists, and amateur writers in different parts of the state. A meeting was held April 17th, and a permanent organization effected. Among those who were interested, and were either present or sent letters of approval, were General John Bidwell. Dr. Herman H. Behr, T. S. Brandegee, Luther Burbank, Leonard Coates, Mrs. Jeanne C. Carr, Elwood Cooper, Timothy Hopkins, L. M. Holt, A. L. Bancroft, Arpad Harasztby, A. T. Hatch, Prof. E. W. Hilgard, Abbot Kinney, F. A. Miller. Mayor E. B. Pond, E. E. Smith. B. M. Lelong, George Rice of the Bureau of Horticulture, John Rock, G. ;P. Rixford, John N. Sievers, Dr. Harkness, and many others prominent in various departments of horticulture.

A full and free discussion of the practicality of formulating a "plan for plant registration," occupied the entire afternoon. The value of such a work was admitted by all present, but the entire force of the meet ing was directed to the problem : "How far it ie best to go ?" Theoretically, it was said, registration should be "of all species and varieties of plant life, and should secure to the originators of new varieties of fruits, flowers, and plants, the exclusive rights of pro-pagation and sale, for a limited time." Practically, as most of those present thought, the main thing was to have a register of plants that would put an end to the "confusion worse confounded " of the catalogues, and if a "copyright plan" could be adopted, the larger benefits of advertising and disseminating a new variety would be secured.

A Celery Pest.

One speaker said in effect that "the proposed law must be as simple and practical as possible, or it could not succeed. It must win the support of the better class of agricultural journals, and the leading American newspapers. It must be for the "greatest good to the greatest number," and free from all class-legisla-tion. It must not try to do too much. If the cultivated fruits, vegetables, and flowering plants now known in America were registered under their present most generally accepted names, in the office of the Agricultural Department at Washington, the work of keeping up the register would not be too difficult, because then a fee could be charged for every plant entered.

An important part of the discussion was upon the "registry of botanical species," It was generally held that only species that were in commercial cultivation need be considered at present. The botanist does not need any "register of plants," for the scientific system and vocabulary that he uses secures him from confusion. It is the 'farmer, gardener, nurseryman, florist, fruitgrower and general horticulturist who finds that the existing confusion of nomenclature is unendurable.

The "California Idea" which Mr. A. L. Bancroft and several other gentlemen have been working on for a year or two, is that all varieties of cultivated plants can be identified sufficiently for practical purposes, in the experimental grounds at Washington, and registered there in such a manner that the fact of registry will be of value to nurserymen, seedsmen and florists, and will do away with a vast amount of fraud and annoyance. The details of a plan to accomplish this desirable result are now being arranged by the working committees of the organization which I have been describing, and will be presented to the floral and horticultural societies, and sent to the leading American publications for comment and criticism. - Charles H. Shinn.

The American Association of Nurserymen meets at Park Avenue hotel, New York city, June 4 to 7. The best programme which the society has yet had is to be presented. It reads as follows:

The Question of New Fruits. H. E. Van Deman, National Pomologist.

Some Remarks On Root-Grafting

L. H. Bailey, Professor of Horticulture, Cornell University, Ithaca, N. Y.

Are Hardy Perennials Desirable for our Catalogues ? Jacob W. Manning, Reading, Mass.

Can Stock be Dug and Shipped too Early in the Fall ? G. E. Meissner, Bushberg, Mo.

The Cause of Low Prices for Nursery Stock. Hon. S. M. Emery, Lake City, Minn.

Do We Live and Learn ? Thomas Meehan, German-town, Pa.

Chestnut Culture

Samuel C. Moon, Morrisville, Pa.

Does the Future of our Business look as Promising as the Past ? H. S. Wiley, Cayuga, N. Y.

Elevation of our Business. C. L. Watrous, Des Moines, Iowa.

Hardy Fruits For The West And North

Professor J. L. Budd, of Iowa Agriculture College, Ames, Iowa.

Nurserymen, Agents, Tree Peddlers and Bugs. Geo. J. Kellogg, Janesville, Wis.

Advertising - How Can it Best be Done? G. J. Carpenter, Fairbury, Neb.

Peach Orchards Of The West And South

N. H. Al-baugh, Tadmor, Ohio.

The Relation of Nurserymen to the Forestry Problem. B. E. Fernow, Chief of Forestry Division, Washington, D. C.

A Talk on Fruit Growing as a Business. S. D. Wil-lard, Geneva, N. Y.

The Future of Nut Culture. A. S. Fuller, Ridge-wood, N. J.

Transplanting Evergreens

Fred. W. Kelsey, New York City.

Thoughts on Soil Fertility, Applicable to the Nursery. Professor I. P. Roberts, Director of the Cornell University Experiment Station.

Home Grown vs. Foreign Stocks. E. W. Graves, Sandwich, 111.

New Small Fruits F. R. Palmer, Mansfield, Ohio.

Russian Varieties Of Fruits

Leo Weltz, Wilmington, Ohio.

Leaf Blight On The Pear As Affecting Nursery Growth, And Its Remedy

Professor B. T. Galloway, Chief of Section of Vegetable Pathology, Washington, D. C.

Has He Ruined Eastern Farmers by His Success in Peach Culture ? J. H. Hale, So. Glastonbury, Conn.

The Grape - Its Character, as Affected by Climate and Situation. Geo. W. Campbell, Delaware, Ohio.

Suggestions for Packing Nursery Stock. By a member to be named later.