334 TRANSACTIONS OF THE KANKAKEE 



cal part in garden and orchard, has been productive of much good, 

 and will continue to bear fruit long after we have laid down the pen, 

 the spade, and tjie hoe, and are gathered to our fathers. Yet I think 

 there is need of more careful and systematic encouragement in this 

 direction. Let us remember the words of W. H. Ragan, of Indiana, 

 when he so feelingly rehearses the words of encouragement the late 

 Dr. Warder bestowed upon him at the first horticultural meeting he 

 ever attended. He says: "Those words will never be forgotten. To 

 think that the then celebrated Dr. Warder would interest himself in 

 a stripling of a boy as I was at that time, made such an impression 

 on my mind that it had a controlling influence in shaping the whole 

 after part of my life." It is not alone the knowledge of horticultu- 

 ral matters that we obtain by organization, but we enlarge and 

 broaden our views on many other subjects, adding depth and breadth 

 to our minds by coming in contact with others, for no one is so per- 

 fect in knowledge but they may learn something from most every 

 one they meet on some of the subjects useful to mankind, and cer- 

 tainl}^ not one of the least advantages of meeting together is the 

 social improvement and pleasure we enjoy, for our social natures are 

 as susceptible to improvement as any other part of the complex 

 mechanism we call man. A lifetime isolation, hard and constant toil, 

 may bring success in a monetary point of view, but prove a disas- 

 trous failure socially, intellectually, and in many cases, morally. Is 

 a success that proves such a ruinous failure to be desired? Rather 

 let us strive for success in everything that tends to build up true 

 worth and manly character, and to do this a sufficiency of what the 

 world calls the money is very convenient and necessary, but should 

 be considered a means, and not an end, for hoarding does no one any 

 good. The successful maintemance of organizations of the peo])le 

 for any legitimate purpose aids greatly in developing the better traits 

 of human character, as well as the material resources of our coun- 

 try. And amongst all the secular institutions of our land the horti- 

 cultural societies are foremost in beautifying this fair earth of ours; 

 ornamenting and rendering more lovely the works of nature, causing 

 the wilderness and waste places to bud and blossom as the rose, 

 where tree and vine make glad the thankful heart by their abundant 

 fruitage. And in no other organization of similar character is friend- 

 ship more true and lasting. Attachments formed at our meetings 

 usually remain strong and binding to the close of life, with a feeling 



