262 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



appropriate business of the meetings increased. A desire to share 

 in the advantages of connection with the society, in its addresses, 

 its discussions, its volumes of transactions of the state societies, 

 and its other means and processes of developing and disseminating 

 knowledge in the various departments of husbandry, rapidly grew 

 and spread among the farming population of the county. And 

 already the permanent results of the lively interest thus created 

 and sustained in the labors of the Brown County Society, clearly 

 appear in the large addition, during the past year, to the cultivated 

 territory of the country; the improved condition of the farms, 

 and the corresponding increase and excellence of farm products. 

 The society continued these farmers' pic-nics, as its meetings 

 came to be designated, till the close of the out-door season of 1877, 

 and then it returned to monthly sessions in the common council 

 room of the city, where, during the ensuing winter, a faithful few 

 continued to preserve its existence, and, perhaps, prepare somewhat 

 for the campaign of the next year. 



In the spring of 1878, the campaign of the farmers' pic-nics 

 opened again, and has since been carried on even to the present, 

 not only with unabated, but with constantly increasing interest and 

 success. We did, however, in the beginning of the season, intro- 

 duce a new feature into our proceedings, namely, music, both 

 vocal and instrumental, duly distributed through the scientific de- 

 liberations. This was the second element of "play " granted dull 

 Jack, and he felt and appreciated its regenerating power. 



I said the society had continued its meetings at the houses of its 

 members since the spring of last year to the present. When fall 

 came, however, and the gardens, groves and orchards of the farm 

 premises were shut off from our use by the cold, we gathered into 

 the mansions themselves of the farmers, intending to carry all our 

 plays with us; but I am compelled to say that we have thus far 

 been forced to leave behind the principal one of them, our picnic 

 baskets, for the reason that the farmers or their wives have insisted 

 on heaping up the tables with the products of their own toil and 

 tillage, without waiting for the baskets to pour out their various 

 contributions. I would, however, scarcely recommend this particu- 

 lar act of the " play" to other associations, because there may be 

 behind the scene too great a cumulation of solid work, and that, 

 too, to be done by those whom we would delight to relieve, as far 



