Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society. 269 



Maj. Eountree's plantation consists of one hundred and seventy-five acres, 

 seventy-live of which are cultivated in oranges and consisting of about eight 

 thousand bearing trees. The product of th-se immense orchards finds its 

 way northward. He also cultivates early vegetables very largely. We were 

 shown forty acres of cabbage and cucumbers, tomatoes, etc., until we were 

 bewildered, the product of which finds a market along with the oranges, 

 where they contribute largely to the health and happiness of a people but 

 recently strangers to such mid-winter luxuries. After a long stroll through 

 these interesting grounds, we were called together under the grateful shade 

 of orange trees, the fragrant bloom of which was just appearing and lunched 

 after a fashion long since noted in the hospitable South, followed by toasts, 

 etc., too tedious for mention, interrupted onlj' by the whistle of the steamer, 

 who impatiently awaited our reassembling, to bear us to the city and to more 

 important work. 



On the second afternoon papers w'ere read by Hon. J. M. Smith, of Green 

 Bay, President of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, on "Strawberries for 

 the North, and How to Grow Them," and by Dr. H. E. McKay, of Madison, 

 President of the Mississippi Horticultural Society, on " Strawberry Culture 

 in the South," followed by the appointment of committees, resolutions and 

 a lengthy discussion on topics suggested in the papers, participated in by 

 members from many remote sections of our country. 



President 0. B. Galusha, of the Illinois State Horticultural Society, enter- 

 tained the meeting on the evening of the second day with an able di.scussion 

 of the subject, " Is there a Better Market Berry than the Wilson?" deciding be- 

 yond doubt (in his estimation), but not to the satisfaction of all present, that 

 there was. This paper was followed by Prof. S. A. Forbes, State Entomologist 

 of Illinois, in an able treatise on " Insects Affecting the Strawberry," and this 

 in turn, by that father of strawberry culture, and of strawberries (the Long- 

 fellow, Warren and others) in Southern Kentucky, A. D. Webb, in a paper 

 entitled " The Best Strawberries for Home Use and Market." 



The forenoon of the third day Avas taken up by the reading of letters from 

 absent friends, many of whom were, to their great regret, prevented from 

 being with us by the swollen conditions of all Northern streams, rendering 

 railroad travel in many instances absolutely impossible and everywhere haz- 

 ardous; in the election of officers, which resulted in the re-election of Mr. 

 Earle President, Maj. S. H. Xowlin, of Arkansas, First Vice President, W. H. 

 Ragan, of Indiana, Secretary, and ^Lij. J. C. Evans, of ^lissouri, re-elected 

 Tieasurer; in the reading of an able paper by Hon. F. P. Baker, U. S. Com- 

 missioner of Forestry, of Topeka, Kan., on " Irrigation in irnrlicnlture; " by 

 reports of standing committees, and by the reading of a paper on "Small 

 Fruits in the South," by E. P. Roe, of New York. 



The afternoon of the third day was very appropriately occupied l«y Pres. 

 1\ J. Berckmans, of Georgia, in a paper on "The Newer Peaches and New 

 Fruits for the Cotton States," and by W. H. Cassell.of Mississippi, on "Pears 

 and Pear Culture in the South," with discussiDUS and reports of commitlcca. 



