The Mission op Horticultuee. 53 



In practical horticulture females have recreation from the ordi- 

 nary cares of life, and healthful industry in outdoor air. Contact 

 with mother earth and strong sunlight, would give bronze and 

 health to many a woman now repining in an atmosphere which 

 would give consumption to a rose bush. Very much can and 

 should be said for horticulture from a sanitary standpoint, in the 

 dietetic necessity of fruit, as well as the open air exercise in its 

 culture, but space will not allow of enlarging in this direction, 

 on that which is so universally accepted. 



The first known society of modern time for the promotion of 

 this art was the London Horticultural Society of England, which 

 was organized by Thomas Knight and others in 1808. This 

 parent society has been a mighty power in that and other lands. 

 Organized efforts in this country made little progress until within 

 the last thirty years; Massachusetts and Pennsylvania leading in 

 the east, and that grand national association, the American 

 Pomological Society, was organized in IS-iS. The Northwestern 

 Fruit Growers' Association in 1S53 embracing all of northern 

 and southern Wisconsin, Of the western state societies : Illinois 

 organized in 1857 ; Wisconsin organized in 1862 ; Iowa organized 

 in 1865 ; Minnesota organized in 1866; Kansas organized in 1866; 

 Michigan organized in 1870. 



Prior to the organization of these state societies, those more 

 local or sectional existed in the several states, which were the 

 "John the Baptists" of pomology, and, though clad in rough 

 garments, and having less of the dainties of horticulture than we 

 now enjoy, they were prophetic of our advanced light and 

 progress. 



Our own state organized the Wisconsin Fruit Growers' Associ- 

 ation in 1855. Of the members of that old association, lew re- 

 main to tell the story of our earl^ hope of Peach and Greening 

 growing, and of the first bitter experience of losses in 1855-56. 

 In 1862, the old society was merged into the present State Society, 

 which, with the help of its numerous offspring in our wide state, 

 in its literature and practical teaching, is second to none in the 

 Union. 



The work of these societies is to enlist all classes in the prac- 



