THE NINETEENTH ANNUAL MEETING. 



HELD IN HART OCEAXA COUNTY, DEC. 3, 4, AND 5, 1889. 



On Tuesday afternoon, Dec. 3, opened the nineteentli annual meeting of 

 the Michigan State Horticultural society, in the court house at Hart, the 

 meeting being in acceptance of an invitation of the Oceana County society. 



The attendance, fair at the beginning, became very large, at times nearly 

 300 persons being present, nearly every one of them a fruitgrower, though 

 the citizens and ladies of Hart were by no means lacking in interest. But 

 almost everybody in the town is concerned directly in fruitgrowing, and 

 those who are not still have a lively appreciation of the value and importance 

 of the industry to their section. And it is important beyond anything else 

 that can now be discerned in Oceana county's future. It may be that this is 

 somewhat magnified by the exceptional conditions of this year, which gave 

 the Oceana growers full crops of peaches and plums, while those of the 

 older fruit regions i. rther south had either little or none at all. But in 

 any event, fruitgrowii:-;- in the county has come to stay and increase, what- 

 ever may happen elsewhere. Good markets are within easy reach and 

 the difficulties of care.ul and cheaper transportation must certainly be 

 solved in due time. 



The entertainment provided by the people of Hart was bountiful and 

 their greetings warm; and farewells were said with assurance that the 

 meeting had resulted in almost unmeasurable good to the horticultural 

 interests. 



President Lyon called the meeting to order and at once submitted, as 

 follows, his 



ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



"Neither the constitution nor the bylaws of the society provide for 

 advance statements to the president, by the officers of the society, of the 

 condition of their respective departments. Such being the case we leave 

 these matters to be brought before the meeting in the several reports of 

 such officers, and confine our remarks to other and special matters which 

 may or may not be referred to in the official reports to be submitted. 



EXTENSION OF HOETICULTUBAL INTEKESTS. 



"In my last annual address, reference was made to the fact that 

 the effective operations of the society, as well as its actual membership, is 

 confined to the southern portion of the lower peninsula, while its more 



