Annual Meeting — Repokt of Secketaky. 89 



pleasure of the members from abroad. Were our members to attend 

 these meetings in larger numbers, and to take part more freely in 

 the work of conducting them, they would call out a cordial welcome 

 and cordial co-operation on the part of the citizens where held, and 

 these gatherings would increase in interest and in their beneficial 

 results, from year to year. It was an especially noteworthy feature 

 of our last meeting, that there was more of a warm, social feeling, 

 a more marked interest in the subjects presented, than we usually 

 have seen at our annual meetings. There are, doubtless, many 

 things advantageous and pleasant in the plan of holding joint con- 

 ventions, as we have done for three years past, but I have faith to 

 believe that by a little effort to enlarge the range of our subjects 

 and to increase the interest of our annual meetings, we could pre- 

 sent attractions that would draw to us as great, if not greater ad- 

 vantages than we now have. At present we lack much of the unity 

 of interest we would feel in our own organization alone, and the 

 time is too limited to permit of the presentation of more than a few 

 subjects, and the discussion of almost none as they ought to be 

 discussed, and we leave with the feeling that our work has been 

 hurried through with, and but half done. 



There are a large variety of subjects embraced in the depart- 

 ment of horticulture, and it is the duty of the society, as far as 

 possible, to cultivate the whole field. As it is now, many things 

 of vital importance, things that would contribute largely to the 

 wealth of the state, and the happiness and prosperity of the people, 

 if duly considered, are passed by with little or no notice. It would 

 add greatly to the usefulness and interest of our meetings if we 

 could have a greater variety of those subjects presented; perhaps 

 not at any one meeting, but in the meetings of the year, and from 

 year to year. This work could be done most thoroughly by the 

 appointment of a committee, whose business it shall be to lay out 

 the work of the year; to select the subjects for papers and for dis- 

 cussion at the meetings, and at the annual meeting, or soon after, 

 to assign these subjects to one or more persons each, whose duty 

 it shall be to see that they are properly presented at the given 

 time. This method would lead to the presentation of a greater 

 range of subjects and a more thorough preparation, both on the 

 part of those who prepare papers and addresses, and those who 

 usually join in the discussions. When it is left, as now, to the 



