SUMMER MEETING. 101 



at the side of the road a short distance west from where the " dummy " 

 bridge now crosses the Missouri Pacific road. 



In the spring of 186S I had planted out a moderate amount of 

 fruit-trees and plants of different varieties, and for 15 years continued 

 to grow strawberries, raspberries, plums, cherries, grapes, peaches, 

 pears, apples, etc., on the bluffs of the Missouri river, a mile and a half 

 north of the court-house, in Independence. I now look back over 

 those years as among the most pleasant, and in some respects as the 

 most profitable ones of my days of toil; as the out-door exercise had 

 much to do, I doubt it not, in restoring my health, which had been im- 

 paired while in the newspaper business. 



Several of the friends with whom I took pleasure in comparing 

 notes and experience in fruit culture in this part of the West, met in 

 Independence December 18, 1868, and organized the Jackson County 

 Horticultural Society by the adoption of certain by-laws, and electing 

 Alexander Proctor, President; Z. S. Ragan, Vice-President; U. P. 

 Bennett, Secretary ; Dr. John Bryant, Jr., Treasurer, and the Board of 

 Directors composed of Henry Parker, W. E. McBride, Jas. A. Blair, 

 Abram Renick and E. M. McGee. For some years we continued to 

 meet during suitable weather at the homes of the members, where the 

 exercises were both pleasant and beneficial to those attending them. 

 The meeting at Lee's Summit, in August, 1873, was said at that time 

 to be the largest meeting of the kind ever held in the county. 



At the Kansas City Exposition, September, 1873, the premium of 

 ^150 for the largest and best display of horticultural products was 

 awarded the Jackson County Horticultural Society. And with part 

 of the same fruit Maj. Ragan and I attended the Kansas State Fair, at 

 ^opeka, latter part of the same month, where we took about all the 

 premiums we entered for, including that offered for the greatest and 

 best display of fruit by any county — $150. 



Daring 1870 the Missouri Valley Grape-Growers' Association was 

 organized. Two of its meetings were held at Leavenworth and one at 

 St. Joseph. In September, 1872, at the meeting held during the Kan- 

 sas City Exposition, this grape-growers' association was merged into 

 the Missouri Valley Horticultural Society. 



Some time after the county society was organized at Independ- 

 ence, another horticultural society was formed at Kansas City, with a 

 name that spreads out over more country than the State lines include 

 — Missouri Valley — the meetings of which became so attractive that 

 many of us became members of both organizations. And after min- 

 gling together for some years in a kind of courting, sweet heart style, 

 the two societies were wedded on the 29th day of May, 1875, Maj. 



