STATH HORTlCXTLTtrRAL SOCIETY. gl 



These are each again to be divided by two : 



ist. As to the members of the organization, 



2d. As to the people of the locality in which the meeting is held. 



I understand that the first general division comes properly first in 

 importance. To meet face to face, to grasp each other warmly by the 

 hand, to talk of the days gone by and of the associations which we 

 delight to recall, to gain a nearer acquaintance and firmer friendship, to 

 sympathize with disappointment and defeat, to rejoice with joy and vic- 

 tory, to gather encouragement from worthy examples, and to strengthen 

 the confidence in success through agreed-upon union of effort; these and 

 their kind are reasons enough to call for an assembly, if no learned 

 papers were read and no new facts elicited. Every meeting ought to be 

 in some way so shaped that before its close the persons present should be 

 made to feel a lively and growing enthusiasm for our work and a readi- 

 ness to undertake renewed and increased efforts to carry into effect the 

 proposed plans of their own and of the Society. 



It appears to me that something more than we usually have in the 

 way of social intercourse would tend to this end. A banquet or collation, 

 in some room hung with mottoes and decorated with flowers, with a 

 goodly number of toasts and responses, with plenty of time for chatting, 

 merriment, introductions, etc., could not be counted dissipation nor 

 useless. 



Again, China is called the land of flowers, but in China woman is 

 excluded from the public assemblies. We have not done this. Indeed, 

 many of the fairer sex have been admitted to all the privileges of mem- 

 bers, except that of paying dues; and our meetings have been enlivened 

 and our reports brightened in consequence. But have we had all the aid 

 and assistance possible from those whose purer lives and finer qualities of 

 mind and heart make them more than man's equal in the amiable art we 

 seek to cultivate ? Have our programmes and meetings been specially 

 arranged and conducted to secure this welcome encouragement and 

 efficient influence? Though we, the "lords of creation," say it to our 

 shame, it is to the mothers, the wives and the daughters of these imperious 

 lords to whom we must look, as a usual thing, for the carrying into effect 

 at the homes of the people the sweet and pure influences that flow from 

 the horticultural art. The lord — oh, how meritorious the name ! — fills 

 his pipe and elevates his feet above his head on the front piazza, permit- 

 ting without compunctions of conscience the chickens to scratch up the 

 precious treasures which have been fondly committed to the earth by a 

 care-burdened wife, impelled by an inherent instinct which connects 

 flowers with the divine emotions and rich affections of every true woman's 

 heart. Blessings on the women of Illinois and crowns upon their horti- 

 cultural tastes and labors I Let us solicit, at least in years not divisible 

 by four, their increased attendance and assistance at our annual gatherings. 

 Upon one of these other years they may possibly leave us out upon the 

 programme, and raise the standard of excellence so high that we shall 

 afterward feel like keeping back seats. At any rate, if our meetings 

 shall have something more than heretofore especially designed to arouse 



