32 STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



If the State would give us $10,000 per year, a geologist, entomol- 

 ogist, pathologist, botanist, chemist and half dozen fruit-growers, we 

 could not answer the questions. 



This much we are proud to say, that the work of the State Society 

 has brought to the attention of other states the great desirability of 

 Missouri as a home for those who want a better climate, good soil^ 

 plenty of timber, abundance of water, rain in due season, and the best 

 of fruits in their season. 



Hundreds of home-seekers are flocking to the State because of 

 efforts made by the Society during the last ten years. 



The desirable cheap lands of Missouri cannot be found elsewhere 

 in all the United States, and, after this long, people are just beginning 

 to find it out, and are now occupying them. 



Many a letter have I written answering the questions of how» 

 when and where to plant; how, when and what to prune; when to 

 spray and to cultivate. In answering these letters, sometimes two or 

 three pages are necessary, and many hours' time are devoted to th& 

 work. 



I have visited a number of our local societies, and found them 

 all strong factors in the development of the fruit interests of the 

 State. 



The work is one of growth and development, and each year find» 

 more and more the necessity of a system of direct information to all 

 our fruit men and women. Your help, your experience, is to be the 

 basis of all this work, and the Society to be the means of dissemi- 

 nating this information. 



Our State report is a valuable one, and one that will be called for 

 more than ever. Our edition of 3500 will not be enough to supply the 

 demand, and I suggest to our local societies to be careful in the distri- 

 bution, that they all go where they are of use. 



The picture of the oldest fruit-grower in the State — one who has. 

 done much to spread information — will be gladly welcomed by many 

 who have never seen the kindly face of Samuel Miller. 



The three pictures of the display at Chicago will give only a 

 partial idea of the fruits there shown or the amount of work it caused, 

 and yet, to those who have not seen, it will be an intimation. 



Already the call has been a large one for copies, and I have just 

 begun to scatter them. 



The Printing Commission have kindly reprinted the report of 1883 

 and 1873, of which there were only a few copies in existence. I can 



