REPORTS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 543 



GRAND RIVER VALLEY HORTICULTURAf. SOCIETY. 



REPORTED BY SECRETARY COOK. 

 OFFICERS FOR 1888. 



President — 0. W. Garfield. 



Vice Fresidetit — J. A. Pearce. 



Secret aril — W. N. Cook. 



Treasurer — E. C. Phillips. 



Executive Board — R. D. Graham, E. M. Ball, S. S. Bailey, Thomas Wilde. 



Ill accordauce with the requirements of the by-laws of the Grand River 

 Valley Horticultural Society the secretary submits this his annual report. 



In the mouth of January a meeting of the executive board of this society 

 was held at the home of its president, Chas. W. Garfield, at which meeting 

 was prepared a plan of the operatious of the society for the ensuing year. A 

 new departure from the usual course of holding meetings in a hall in the city 

 was decided upon, viz., the holding of such meetings at the residences of its 

 members. The advantages of this plan, it was thought, would be twofold : 

 First, giving the members the opportunity to see the method adopted by each 

 in his specialty, and, seeing the result, compare methods and thus reach 

 practical conclusions. Second, by making each meeting a picnic affair, hop- 

 ing to interest the ladies in our work, and so advance the social interests of 

 the society. To this end a series of meetings, one for each month, was 

 arranged and has been carried out without a failure. The action of the 

 executive board was approved at the February meeting. 



These meetings opened with one held at the residence of Mrs. Sarah Smith, 

 in the township of Walker, on April 5th, which was the '^ Floral" gathering. 

 The interest centered in the greenhouses, which were greatly admired by sixty 

 members in attendance. This was followed by one held at Barton farm, Paris, 

 the home of our president. May 3d, where ''Economic Fruit Growing" was 

 the leading topic. June 10th found a large number collected at the beautiful 

 home of S. S. Bailey, in East Paris, where strawberries, large, red and by the 

 acre greeted the eye and courted the appetite, and there was no stint of straw- 

 berries and Jersey cream and good cheer. July oth found the society assem- 

 bled at the hospitable home of our esteemed brother, W. K. Emmons, in 

 Wyoming. This being the "Raspberry" meeting that luscious fruit, in all 

 shades of color, was found growing in profusion, and all left for their respec- 

 tive homes feeling that the day had been profitably and agreeably spent. 



The *' Peach " meeting was held on July 29th, at Joseph A. Pearce's place, 

 in Grand Rapids township, on one of the hottest days of the season, notwith- 

 standing which about one hundred were present. The meeting and picnic 

 were held in a pleasant grove. There was a very fine display of the Alexander, 

 Beatrice and Louise peaches; also, Tetofski and Red Astrachan apples and 

 others of the Russian sorts. 



The grape meeting was held at H. H. Hayes's home in Talmadge, Ottawa 

 county, and on the only rainy day that occurred at any of the series of meet- 



