116 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



every interested horticulturalist of the State will get out and work for 

 the interest of tlie Societj' as they should. Every man should be a look- 

 out man. We are not i^aying our Secretary enough so that he can put 

 in all his time. We should have someone hired by our executive board, 

 who Avill be responsible to the Society for bringing in these outside 

 people, who are eligible to membership, and get them interested in all 

 that interests the horticulturalist, and in this way an interest will be 

 created and funds raised to carry for^^ard the work to a degree of per- 

 fection that we desire to see it carried. Now let every one boost for the 

 Michigan State Horticultural Society, and have for our keynote 5,000 

 members in two years. 



Toastmaster: Mr, Monroe sounded a keynote when we made some 

 comparisons with regard to Michigan's standing with other States. 

 He spoke of California and other parts of the country, and linked these 

 b}^ way of comparison with the possibilities of Michigan and it was 

 shown conclusively that we were equal at least to the possibilities of 

 any other State in the Union. T am a believer in Michigan, and when 

 all of its resources and possibilities are lined up, it will be found that 

 she is a little ahead of any country of its size anywhere, and I believe 

 that Mr. James Nichol is of the same opinion. But 1 will let him tell 

 you just what he thinks. 



Mr. Nichol: In the early days of the far west when a traveling show 

 was passing through a cowboy region, a sign was placed so that it 

 could be read: "Please do not shoot the perfotmer, — he is doing the 

 best he can." 



What do we stand for? For the best horticultural State in the 

 United States. We are told by experts in California that there are in 

 Michigan the best sections to be found anj'where in the United States 

 for the production of Bartlett pears. We have soils that are good for 

 everything. We stand for farming as a dignified business. In the cities 

 it is quite popular to hark back to the farm. We stand for everything 

 that is best in citizenship. We stand back of our schools and our col- 

 leges. We are animated with jtride when we see intelligent students 

 here among us. These students may not be a relative of anybody by 

 ties of love, still they are the children of our neighbors, they are the 

 children of our State — they are j'our children an.d my children, (xod 

 bless them ! 



Toastmaster: ''As free as the air we breathe and the water we 

 drink" is an oft repeated expression. This glass of water comes to us 

 perfectly clear. We can secure a cold glass of water for the asking; 

 but take that amount of water and put it into strawberries. They are 

 95% water. Put it into a beautiful Baldwin or a Northern Spy apple 

 and 92% water; grapes have 90% of water. What an extraordinary 

 price do we pay for the water in this fruit — extraordinary as compared 

 with the water in the tumbler. The next subject is upon the subject 

 of Commercial Water, by Mr. Louis Breggor, of Bangor, who will now 

 respond. 



Mr. Breggor : When this topic was first suggested to me, I didn't 

 catch on until I did a little reading. There are water systems in our 

 houses; there are mineral waters and spring waters guaranteed to cure 



