STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 21 



girls to make it their special care and to provide tiie table with all the 

 fruits of the season ; and while their city cousins are deciding the moment- 

 ous question, what they shall wear at the next party, or poring over the 

 last sensational novel, let them be wooing health and beauty in the 

 orchard and garden, and assisting their mother in her various household 

 duties, at the same time making themselves proficient in all the accom- 

 plishments a lady of the present day should possess; and they will be 

 prepared, both physically and intellectually, for a life of usefulness, and 

 to become the companions of the cultured men who are, in the good time 

 coming, to be the leading spirits of the land. 



A higher standard of education must also be sought for. Not only 

 should agricultural and horticultural schools be multiplied, but our com- 

 mon schools should be made more attractive and efficient. More attract- 

 ive, by making the house comfortable and pleasant, and surrounding it 

 with trees and ilowers. More efficient, by adding geology, entomology, 

 meteorology and ornithology to the present course of study, and employ- 

 ing only teachers qualified for their work. And as a large portion of the 

 pupils in our public schools will make rural pursuits their life business, 

 it is but reasonable to ask that they be managed somewhat in their 

 interest. 



In conclusion, I would recommend that a special effort be made to 

 interest the young people in the work of our Society. Our present mem- 

 bership is largely composed of men who have passed the meridian of life, 

 and must soon pass off the stage. But we look in vain for the young 

 men who are to take their places. How to accomplish this desirable end 

 I will not now suggest. 



I would further recommend that the Committee on Farmers' Horti- 

 culture be continued, and that prominence be given to the subject in our 

 discussions. The farmers of the West need to be educated in both useful 

 and ornamental horticulture, and if we can interest them in our work an 

 important point will be gained. 



In view of our present financial condition, and the fact that nothing 

 can be done toward the publication of our transactions until we have 

 assurance of aid from some quarter, it will be readily understood that it 

 is of the utmost importance that an appropriation of, at least, $2,000 be 

 made by the General Assembly this winter. And I would recommend 

 that a committee be appointed at this meeting to devise and organize a 

 plan to get the subject properly before that body, and press it upon their 

 attention at the earliest possible day. 



It has occurred to me that the interests of the Society would be sub- 

 served by hereafter paying the Treasurer a small per cent, on all moneys 

 passing through his hands, and to require him to so keep a bank account 

 that, in the event of his death, his successor could control the funds. 



The sixteenth session of the American Pomological Society will be 

 held at Baltimore next September. It is important that our State and 

 Society be fully represented there. I would therefore recommend that 

 such action be taken at this meeting as will secure a proper representation 

 in that body. 



