Fraternity. 55 



FRATERNITY. 



BY E. T. HOLLISTER, OF MISSOUEL 



At our last meeting our Secretary mentioned the fact of having received 

 a letter from some person, asking if there was any danger of any faction or 

 clique taking possession of and running the meeting of this Association, and 

 that remark suggested the propriety of offering a few suggestions upon the 

 subject of fraternity. 



Some will decline to attend a meeting of this kind because they believe it 

 to have been gotten up in the<interest of the nursery men. Others for fear 

 the commission merchants will take advantage of it to make business for 

 themselves. Others because they fear that the box maker, evaporator, dealer, 

 cider mill man, seed dealer, or some other person not a fruit or vegetable 

 producer, may desire some benefit from the meeting. 



We are all of us more or less dependant upon each other ; and the com- 

 mon carrier, nurseryman, seed dealer, commission merchant, newspaper 

 man, box maker, evaporator man, tool or implement maker, are as necessary 

 to the success of the horticulturist as the soil upon which he grows his 

 fruit and vegetables, and are all entitled to an equal representation in a 

 gathering of this kind. 



The nurseryman is a most important personage, and should always be 

 found among us, for he is the one who plants the seed and produces the tree 

 or plant from which we realize our income, and it is he who, by a strict at- 

 tention to his business, by experiments, cross-fertilization, etc., is constantly 

 producing new varieties, many of which prove more valuable than anything 

 we have previously known. It is to him we are indebted for the high posi- 

 tion assumed by the horticulturist, and by participating in our debates, 

 learning the wants of the people from the experience of the producer, dealer 

 and consumer, is better prepared to supply the varieties most in demand, 

 and to advise beginners as to what will be the most remunerative to them, 

 and the best adapted to their soil, climate and location ; and it is to him we 

 should bow the bared head whenever he appears among us, for he is entitled 

 to our reverence and respect. 



The seedsman is an indispensable personage, and one we could not very 

 conveniently get along without, for he is the one who gathers together, from 

 all parts of the world, the seeds, bulbs, plants, etc., so necessary to every one 

 in our line of business, placing them all within our reach at a cost much less 

 than would be possible for us to procure them for ourselves, very greatly 

 facilitating our operations and increasing our profits, and, notwithstanding 

 the fact that he, like all the rest of us, prosecutes his business, not because 

 of his philanthropy, but for the profit there is in it, to which you will all 

 agree he is justly entitled, should always receive the hand of fellowship, and 

 be welcomed to a prominent position in our midst. 



What would become of your products without the aid of the common car- 

 rier, who gathers them up at the various stations along the line of its route 



