IXDIANA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 321 



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llilnking that oiir meeting would be on the 14th instead of the 4th, there- 

 fore he could not be with us tonight. I have tried to secure a substitute 

 on the same subject, but the time being limited 1 failed to get one. 



President Stevens: I am sorry that Mr. Ellison is not able to be with 

 us this evening, l)ut we have with us very unexpectedly and we are very 

 glad he has not forgotten us, and that conditions have made it convenient 

 for him to visit us, our old friend, Mr. W. H. Ragan. whom everyone in 

 this Society knows, and who is probably one of the oldest members. 

 We would like to have a little talk from him this evening. 



Mr. W. H. Ragan: Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemeji— I am 

 almost as much surprised to be here as you are to see me. It has scarcely 

 been forty-eight hours since the idea occurred to me that I wanted to see 

 the Indiana horticulturists again. I will not say that this is the first time 

 I have wanted to see you, because the idea is always with me, but 

 business matters so arranged themselves so that I could settle some busi- 

 ness at Greencastle and come here. I am with you as I have been fre- 

 quently before, and I have alwaj's enjoyed my past visits and expect to 

 continue to as long as I enjoy this world and am in a shape to enjoy 

 myself. I am really unprepared to talk upon any particular topic. In- 

 deed, those who know me best Ivuow that I never talk off-hand with any 

 degree of intelligence. Sometimes I can collect my ideas to some extent 

 at home and put fhem in shape so that they are presentable at least, 

 but I never try to make an extemporaneous speech with any degree of 

 acceptability, as this would be impossible. I met one of my friends 

 luckily at the station this ^--vGning. and as we drove out here I looked at 

 the fields and after having seen the world, not all ol it, but quite a 

 good deal. I thought to myself, that if there could be a little block cut 

 out of Indiana that would include the gas fields it would beat any place in 

 the world that I have ever seen, and is as near paradise as any place 1 

 know of. That Is a compliment to Indiana. I say to you in great 

 earnestness, and I have been in California, and most of the States north 

 and south, that there is no place that has been given the natural re- 

 sources that southern or central Indiana has. This much I will say for 

 Indiana. Now for the subject of my work. I will say that I was called 

 to Washington a few years ago to perform some work I was supposed to 

 be competent to do, that would propably take a man three weeks, and 1 

 am still there, and I am in my fifth year. I have never made any appli- 

 cation for the place, and this may be another compliment to Indiana. I 

 did not seek the place: but the place sought me. I am doing work of a 

 particular character that has shaped itself from the beginning. The 

 special work was to perfect a list of fruits adapted to the United States 

 and Canada. This is why I \Aas called to Washington, and when that was 

 finished something else came up. and so I am still there. Now, I am en- 

 gaged in what when it is finished will be the best work of my life. I am 



21-Agri. 



