THE DECEMBER MEETING. 



EIGHTH ANNUAL MEETING OF THE SOCIETY— WITH FULL ACCOUNT 

 OF DISCUSSIONS, PAPERS, ADDRESSES, Ere, Etc. 



HKr-l) DECKMUKR iTii, .jri!, AND Orn. AT LUCE'S HALL, GllAXD UAPIDS. 



The animal Uit'Cting at (Jraud Kapids was called to order promptly at two 

 o'clock ill the afternoon of December 4th, with a good audience, among which 

 were to be seen faces of fruit men from every quarter of the State, and before 

 the meeting adjourned there were present seventy-live delegates from abroad. 



The meeting was called at Ci rand Ivapids at the request of the Grand River 

 Valley Horticultural Society, and everything was done by that association, in 

 the choice of a hall, arrangements for display of fruit, flowers, and plants, and 

 in the entertainment of members from abroad, that could be to ensure a 

 pleasant, harmonious, and instructive gathering. 



After tlie meeting was called to order the Secretary read letters from a 

 number of the Vice Presidents and otiicrs interested in the Society, a few of 

 which are inserted here : 



UIIEKE TO EXPERIMENT. 

 FROM 15EXJAMIX HATnAWAY. LITTLE l>l?Ali;ir; KONDE. 



I am interested in the deliberations of your meeting, and in as much as I can 

 not be i)resent Avill send a few notes upon my own work. 



I have not for the last four years done the usual anunint of experimental 

 work, I have 150 to 200 seedling raspberries, some of which in the canes are 

 very promising. They will be in bearing the coming season, and if any should 

 l)rove valuable you will hear from them. They Avere grown from seed of the 

 Thornlcss, Philadelphia, and ^lamnioth Cluster. 



In regard to tlic most ])romising field for horticultural experiment, it is so 

 large a domain that it is diOicult to determine. I think, however, that it is in 

 the production of new varieties from seed by careful selection by men who have 

 the capacity to discover and cling to the true line of improvement and who 

 have persistence to carry the experiments to a successful issue. 



I have much faith in the thinning of fruit as tending toward the equalization 

 of productiveness, or, in other words, I believe that judicious thinning will 

 develop a tendency to fruit every season. Tlie same end may in a meacurc be 

 attained by judicious pruning, and it is more generally practiced, probably, than 

 the work of thinning. Pruning can ])e done and probably will be done ten 



