THIRTY-SEVENTH ANNUAL REPORT. 171 



CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS. 



ARTICLE I. NAME, TERRITORY AND OBJECTS. 



The name of the society shall be the Michigan State Horticultural Society, and its 

 territory shall be the State of Michigan. Its objects shall be the development of an 

 adequate appreciation of the peculiar adaptation of the soils and climate of the State to 

 the pursuit of horticulture in all its branches; and the collection and dissemination of 

 information bearing upon the theory and practice of the same, as well as upon the arts 

 and sciences directly or indirectly associated therewith, or calculated to elevate or im- 

 prove the practice thereof. 



ARTICLE II. — OFFICERS AND MODE OF ELECTION. 



The officers of the society shall be a president, a secretarj% and a treasurer, together 

 with an executive board of six members, aside from the president, secretary and treasurer, 

 who shall be ex-officio members of the said board. Any one who has held the office of 

 president or member of the executive board for two consecutive terms or parts of terms 

 shall be ineligible to re-election until after the expiration of one full term. 



Said board shall designate one of its members as vice president. The officers shall 

 be elected by ballot. 



The society may, at its discretion, elect an honorary president, whose term of office 

 shall be for life, said office to be an honorary one, without duties, and established to ex- 

 press the sense of obligations which the society may feel to one of its members who may 

 unselfishly give a lifetime of earnest effort to promote its interests, to further the horti- 

 cultural interests of this State. 



ARTICLE III. A QUORUM. 



Four members of the executive board shall constitute a quorum for the transaction 

 of business at any meeting of said board: Provided, That each of the members thereof 

 shall have been notified, in the usual manner, of the time, place, and object of such meeting. 



ARTICLE IV. ANNUAL MEETING AND ELECTION OF OFFICERS. 



The annual meeting of the society, for the election of officers specified in Article II, 

 shall occur upon the first Wednesday of December in each year. 



ARTICLE V. TERMS OF OFFICE. 



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The officers specified in Article II shall hold their offices until the thirty-first day of 

 December of the year for which they were elected, and thereafter until their successors 

 shall have been elected, and shall have signified to the secretary their acceptance: Pro- 

 vided, That the terms of office of the six members of the executive board shall be so 

 arranged that but two regular vacancies shall occur in each year. 



ARTICLE VI. ANNUAL AND LIFE MEMBERS. 



Any person may become a member of the society for one year by paying to the treasurer 

 the sum of fifty cents; and the yearly term of all annual memberships shall expire on the 

 thirty-first day of December of the year for which they were taken, but be regarded as 

 continuous, and the annual dues cumulative, except as may be provided by the by-laws. 

 Any person may become a life member by the payment at any one time of the sum of 

 five dollars into the treasury of the society. 



ARTICLE VII. AMOUNT OR LIMIT OF PROPERTY. 



The society may hold real and personal estate to an amount not exceeding twenty 

 thousand dollars. 



