116 GENERAL HISTORY. 



borders are also vast forests of pine and also of hard woods, hardly equaled in variety 

 by any State in the union. 



From these forests, sir, within the past few days has gone up. as from a fiery fur- 

 nace, a cry of suffering from destitute, homeless thousands, which touched the hearts 

 of tlie east as well as the w^est, and which has met with such a generous response in this 

 city. 



Mr. President, it seems to me that the heart of tliis whole nation has grown very 

 tender within the past few months. That bed of pain and suffering upon which the 

 President had lain for so many weary days, watched over by a loving and heroic wife, 

 has done more to awaken generous sympathy and bind together the different sections 

 of the country than all the reconstruction acts ever passed by Congress. There can be 

 no enmity in our hearts toward those whose fervent prayers have mingled with ours 

 for the president's recovery. And to Boston, whose heart is ever tender and responsive 

 to suffering, let me express the thanks and gratitude of our whole State for the gen- 

 erous donations you are sending to relieve those made destitute by the recent forest 

 fires. 



Mr. President, of the Massachusetts State Horticultural Society, allow me to say that 

 this bancjuet is something more than a mere feast of good things. In this you have 

 crowned and dignified what has preceded it. It comes naturally as a part of what 

 ■we call the eternal fitness of things. For three days, sir, you have shown us the 

 noblest fruits and the fairest flowers of your soil, and to-night, here in this room, we 

 have had the pleasure of meeting the noblest fruits and flowers of your moral and 

 intellectual culture. One speaker had said this evening, quoting from Emerson, that 

 much of truth goes floating about the world in popular proverbs. Doubtless this is 

 true, and there is an old saying that every New Englander, when he dies, expects to go 

 to Boston. Now if this be true, and it probably is, let me express the wish that each 

 soul may go b}" the way of Michigan, and thus escaping purgatory, reach here tlirough 

 paradise. 



The closing of the sessions of the society on Thursday evening necessitated 

 a prompt return home to be in time for the opening of the State fair on the 

 following Monday. 



The annual fair of the State Horticultural Society for 1881 was held at 

 Jackson, on September 10th to 23d, in connection with that of the State 

 Agricultural Society. The exhibit was made in the rather poorly lighted 

 hall occupied at the last exhibit of the society held on the same grounds. 



The entries, amounting to one thousand last year, were this year increased 

 to above twelve hundred. 



Collectors found more than the usual difnculty in securing perfect specimens, 

 which was only done by giving extra time and labor to the work, with the 

 result of securing a highly creditable exhibit. Several members of the execu- 

 tive committee of the State Agricultural Society, who had for years watched 

 our exhibits, remarked that they had every reason to be well pleased with 

 this one. 



Entries were received from Illinois and also from the State of New York, 

 as well as from sixteen counties of this State. 



During the year efforts were made to awake an interest in the matter of 

 improving country school grounds, and an offer was made by the firm of D. 

 M. Ferry & Co., of Detroit, to send a collection of flower seeds to the children 

 of the first five school districts in each county in this State, whose teachers 

 should make application for them in the prescribed form. 



