SUMMER MEETING, 1882. 49 



Ml". Tracy: Paid contributions to newspapers are oftentimes simply 

 "stufling." WJKit \vc want is the experience of practical men as it occurs, 

 and an editor who can put it in good shape witliout impairing its accuracy. 

 Here is where our society can do a great deal of good by contributing to a 

 journal devoted in part or in whole to Micliigan horticulture. 



[At this juncture Mr. Mason, of Chicago, in answer to a question, stated 

 that Michigan fruits in Chicago market as compared with southern fruits, 

 stand high. This season at tlie time when southern strawberries were selling 

 for ^G per case of 24 quarts, Michigan berries sold readily for 85 per case of 

 12 quarts. Organization of societies had a great deal to do with this. 

 Superior fruit in better packages and finer shape was largely due to the edu- 

 cation which fruit growers get by comparison of notes, observations, and 

 experience. — Secretaey. ] 



In continuation of the same subject Mr. T. S. Braman of Shelby, Oceana 

 county, read the following essay: 



The beneficial effects of constant intercourse with our fellow creatures is 

 apparent. The great influence that learned societies have in forming a true 

 national character is also a noticeable fact. It is a true theory tliat in union 

 there is strength, and knowledge is power. No education deserves the name 

 unless tiiere is a development of thought. When minds meet minds and 

 there is an interchange of ideas, then will intelligence increase in a noticeable 

 degree. There is a rapid growth of the intellect. 



May we not safely a])ply these principles to that branch of agricultural 

 industry called horticulture? Man is gregarious by nature. To this fact he 

 owes almost all that he knows, except to eat and to walk. Had not this been 

 the case our farmers might still be rooting up the soil with a hooked stick, 

 and our wonderful Oliver Chilled Plow would not be known. To this same 

 fact man owes almost all he knows of the arts and sciences. There are many 

 examples in the lives of men which illustrate the condition of man without 

 association. The life of Casper Hauser, who only knew how to write what 

 was supposed to be his name, and to repeat a single sentence taught him, 

 illustrates my point. Man is imitative and inventive. His knowledge in this 

 direction has taught him to build houses to shelter from the heat of summer 

 and the cold blasts of winter; to construct and improve the plow, harrow, 

 cultivator, mower and reaper, thresher, and all of the varied useful imple- 

 ments designed to assist tlie farmer in a thorougli and more rapid culture of 

 the soil. 



There are a few, however, who dare not take advantage of tliese useful 

 means, who will not step outside of the old beaten paths of their predecessors, 

 but will still hold fast to the suj^erstitious notion of ''planting their beans in 

 the moon." Whoever dare go beyond tlie old beaten track, however, is sure 

 to have a score of followers, some to criticise, others to admire and follow in' 

 their footsteps. These are the men who march on to enteriirise and improve- 

 ment. The men vrho do not meet and associate with their fellows are little 

 else than hermits and misers. Let two farmers, or fruit-growers, meet and 

 converse upon the various methods of farm husbandry, or upon the proper 

 culture and management of an orchard, exchanging views and experiences 

 upon the same topics, and who will deny that something can bo learned tliat 

 will be of great advantage to them. 



How much more, then, can be learned from a society like this, composed of 



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