the 



STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 15 



T V ESD A Y A FTE 1 { NOON. 



President Brvuiit having arrived, occnpied the chair and read 



PRESIDEXTS ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



In response to our call we have assembled to celebrate the 

 thirty-tirst annual session according to our rules and customs. You 

 are expecting an address from your presiding otficer. Speaking in 

 })ublic is not my forte, so I will beg your kind indulgence while I 

 make a few remarks, promising not to consume much of your valu- 

 ul)le time. Tn taking a retrospective view of horticulture and horti- 

 cultural work in this state, considering the crude materials that the 

 founders of our first associations had to work with, and the obstacles 

 they had to overcome, we are almost amazed at the strides this study 

 has taken in the last twenty-five or thirty years, and are led to 

 wonder if the next quarter of a century will see as much advance- 

 ment. 



From its first organization oiir society has been one of the most 

 successful in the land. Its founders were men who worked for the 

 love of their profession and the good of the community rather than 

 for the gain that was to be derived from it. At that time the 

 nomenclature of our fruits was in a condition that might well be 

 termed cJidotic. 



Horticulturists were at sea as to what varieties were suitable for 

 our soil and climate, and many were unbelievers in the success of 

 fruit growing iu the west. 



To correct these errors and solve the pr(»l)lenis of fruit growing 

 in general was the task they had to perform. For proof of how 

 faithfully they did their work. I refer you to the published proceed- 

 ings of this Society, which are eagerly sought for and read by emi- 

 nent horticulturists all over our country. Much of the value of 

 these volumes is due to the editor. Our Society has been very fortu- 

 nate in securing the services of such aide men for secretaries. Men 

 who have spared neither time nor lal)or to make the reports full and 

 of interest to all. We feel that much credit is due thejn for the 

 faithfulness and ability with which they have performed their work, 

 a large jxirtion of it being labor for which they received no adequate 

 .comj)ensation. 



Tiuit much good has been accomplished by our societ}' through 

 the earnest labors of its members is shown by the quantities of fruit 

 that are grown and consumed every year, and the train-loads of ber- 

 ries that are sent to our principal nuirkets. 



But the labor of investigation and research has but just begun. 

 Heretofore it has mostly been carried on by individual enterprise 



