144 American Horticultural Socictt/. 



PrL'sident Eark- rospoiuled l)rielly, as folhjws: 



Lndies and Gentlemen : 



It is with a great deal of pleiisure I respond to the welcome you hive 

 extended to us. I came here four years ago. However, I then had hut one 

 day to give you. That day impressed nie so murh that I hid a longing de- 

 sire to some day hold an American Horticultural meeting here. And now, 

 I am hapjty to say, my desire is realized ; and though not many of us are 

 here, yet there arc enough to represent the Society. 



We have been in California for some weeks, and everywhere we have 

 met with the greatest courtesies and have been receiving the same warm 

 hospitality extended to us here. We have been tendered such banquets and 

 receptions as never have been experienced by any party which has hitherto 

 visited your state. We have been toasted, banqueted, driven through or- 

 chards and farms, and received with open arms by every city, town, village 

 and hamlet. Everything has been done in such a cordial and earnest 

 spirit that we have no words to express our appreciation and gratitude. We 

 have not to teach you, but to learn. Those who had not been here had no 

 conception of the magnificence and grandeur awaiting them, which is all 

 due to the industry of the inhabitants of this fair land. There is nothing 

 like it, I venture to say, in the world. We went three or four hundred 

 miles north of San Francisco but did not reach the limit of this ;j;olden land, 

 and now we are traveling south, and have been for two ilays, and yet no 

 limit. We have found surprising things in the north. There, under the 

 very shadow of Shasta and perpetual snow, we found trees loaded with fine 

 tropical fruit. There is this peculiarity about California : You can produce 

 any of the tropical fruits in every section of the state. No state in the Union 

 can produce such magnificent ajiples, pears, peaches, apricots, cherries, and 

 grapes. I only speak from a market standpoint, for you know that it makes 

 little difference whether they have the flavor or not. No sUite grows every 

 kind of stone fruits as you grow them. We grow a few but you do not know 

 under what ditficulty they are propagated. It impres-es us so strange as to 

 be almost incredible that here you should represent Pomology in all of its 

 phases. We are pleased to note that you are not only raising fruit l)ut 

 homes; guod intdlcdual society with all the rapid growth. We are glad to 

 note that not all is for money, but for comfort and the better inatincts. 

 Nothing has impressed us more than the good people we have met every- 

 where. In .selling corner lots and speculating you have not lost sight of the 

 higher motive; not only have you great wealth, but a Christian society. When 

 you consider the physical features of California, you can not but recognize 

 the promising future. The Hebrews were born looking out over the sea. 

 Rome, Greece, England, France, all were looking westward. The tendency 

 of all good things is west. Civilization must halt here, and here arrested — 

 good will be the result. Barred from further progress you will he stinmlated 

 to great energy. We have thought at every place, as we journeyed through 



