268 Appendix. 



tlie meeting, in the procuring and fitting- up in handsome style, of Gruna- 

 wald Hall for the occasion. This association had also arranged with the St. 

 James Hotel for the entertainment of delegates at reduced rates. Owing to 

 a very low rate of fare arranged for bj' the Illinois Central R. R. and con- 

 necting lines, most of the delegates from the Xorth and Northwest assembled 

 at Cairo on the morning of the 20th, where a special train of Pullman cars 

 awaited in readinfss to convey them to their destination. Six cars were 

 thus loaded, arriving at New Orleans at 10 a. m. of the 21st. The Indiana, 

 Ohio and part of the Kentucky delegation found it most convenient, however, 

 to go via. the Louisville and Nashville R. R. through Montgomery, Mobile, 

 and thence to New Orleans, skirting the Gulf coast through Southern Ala- 

 bama, Mississippi and Louisiana, crossing the Rigolett and entering the 

 city from below. I shall have something to say of this interesting trip 

 further on. 



THE MEETING. 



I lind the incidents and scenes of this jileasant trip so full of interest to 

 myself, and I believe they will be also to you, that I shall devote but a brief 

 space to the meeting itself and reserve more for a glimpse at Southern 

 scenery and Southern horticulture. 



On the evening of the first day, Judge E. M. Hud.son, of New Orleans, an 

 officer, and the chosen represenUitive of the "Ciulf States Fruit-Growers As- 

 sociation," welcomed the Society to their city and to their hospitalities, which 

 was responded to briefly by Hon. Parker Earle, of Cobden, Illinois, President 

 of the Society, who then proceeded to read his finmial address, a paper of un- 

 usual interest and embodying many valuable suggestions. Following this 

 was a paper on the "Origin and Importance of the Mississippi Valley Horti- 

 cultural Society," by Maj. S. H. Nowlin, of Arkansas. Discussions and reso- 

 lutions followed, the evening session closing with the acceptance of an in- 

 viUition, on the part of citizens, to take a boat excursion on the Father of 

 Waters, the next morning. 



A lioAT EXCURSION. 



In obedience to this kind invitation, the Society, numbering over two 

 hundred delegates, many of them ladies, and with few exceptions, just from 

 the regions of icy winter, assemliled on board the elegant steamer Jesse K. 

 Ik'll, together with a large number of ladies and gentlemen, citizens of New 

 Orleans, for an excursion to the orange orchards and truck farms of Maj. A. 

 W. Rountree, situated some ten miles up the river and on the right bank. The 

 Hell first steamed down the river entirely below the city and to a jioint 

 n<'arly opposite the celebrated Jackson Rattle Field, thence upward to her 

 destination. The day wa« delightful and si)ring-like, and the view of the 

 city, who.se fourteen miles f)f river frcml was thus i)re.sented in jianoramic 

 view, was grand beyond de.scri])tion. Her busy wharves were lined with 

 the commerce of nations, drawn hither by the rich resources of the greatest 

 valley on earth, which here, borne on this throbbing commercial artery, meets 

 the outer world. 



