STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



RESPONSE BY THE PRESIDENT. 



To this eloquent and cordial greeting President Burrill responded : 



In the name of and for the members of this Society I return to you, 

 sir, very many thanks for the cordial and encouraging words with which 

 you have greeted us. And you will allow me to say that your remarks 

 are indeed encouraging, and will be treasured as fresh incentives for 

 renewed and redoubled activity on the part of these my colleagues in 

 their laudable efforts to contribute something of good in their day and 

 generation to the fair land in which we live. 



Your own arduous labors are in other fields, and your tribute of 

 praise is therefore of greater worth and your appreciation of our art and 

 efforts the more highly valued. Daily contact with a certain class of 

 phenomena and ceaseless stud in a given line may unduly influence the 

 judgment and mislead the devo.- in the true estimate of his calling; but 

 when commendation comes from those free from such bias the spoken 

 word carries with it a meaning and value worthy of remembering and 

 cherishing. Again I thank you for the pleasantly chosen words with 

 which you have expressed your good will and appreciation for yourself 

 and the citizens of this community. 



But your own interest in our art has been, to my knowledge, 

 quickened in the past by a participation in its labor. Memory carries 

 me back, how many years I can hardly tell, and presents now in mental 

 vision what my eyes at that other time beheld. It was a warm, bright day 

 in spring-time, and with coat off and spade in hand you were toiling upon 

 the home lot still occupied as your home residence ; and I can say that in 

 this as in other undertakings you won success. President Hewitt, the trees 

 grew. I can testify to that. They were not like those planted by our late 

 honored Secretary of State, Wm. H. Seward. His time had been taken 

 by employments other than those of horticulture, and in the acquirement 

 of knowledge, great as was his store, the facts, and processes concerning 

 tree-planting had not found a place. But having a home place to im- 

 prove, he zealously undertook the work at his own time and in his own 

 way. While thus heroically at work, a neighbor, better informed than 

 himself in this particular, came along, and after watching the interested 

 activity of his more famous friend exclaimed : " Well, it is fun to plant 

 trees, even if they will not grow." 



Now permit me to say that it seems to me eminently appropriate that 

 you, sir, should address us. You are accustomed to talking to students. 

 These whom you now see before you belong to that class. They have the 



