130 State HorticnUural Society. 



The Society by its officers and working members, has visited 503 

 towns of tlie State and told them how to develop the fruit industr\-. 

 It has sent out articles of instruction and practical information from 

 more than a thousand men of experience in fruit growing-. It has pul)- 

 lished, in circulars and reports, information that has brought to this 

 State buyers from nearly every northern and eastern state to take our 

 fruit products. It has sent ou.t over 100,000 volumes of the annual 

 reports of the society, and the work of experienced fruit growers. 

 Who will say wdiat these 100,000 volumes. State reports of 400 pages 

 each, have accomplished?' Who^ will measure the results? Over 

 200,000 letters and circulars of information, of instruction, of advice, 

 as to location of orchards, character of soils, varieties to plant, how- 

 to grow, prune, cultivate, gather, market aad make money out of 

 fruits have been distributed. Only those who are thus called upon to 

 answer these questions can realize the magnitude of this one item of 

 its work. 



But let me call your attention to another and more important part 

 of our society work, and that is in teaching our members how^ to think 

 and how to^ study and how to learn. It has taught them how to see 

 and how to draw conclusions fromx what they see. This is science. 

 It has taught them how to observe closely what they do. It has 

 taught them to apply their thoughts (and control them) to one sub- 

 ject for a definite time. All this is education. It has taught them to 

 use their brain more and their hands none the less. It has opened 

 up a field for our young people to enter, in the realm of thought and 

 study and observation that they never knew before, and it has led 

 them to think that there is something more "than drudgery on the 

 farm. It has opened up to them a new life and new interest in wdiat 

 they do. Did you ever realize what a difference it makes in your 

 work if you are working to some end or to accomplish some result, 

 or to prove a fact, or to discover some new plan of operation, or to 

 create some new fruit, than if you simply worked and worked wdthout 

 any end in view? One is pleasure, the other drudgery. Well, this is 

 part of our w'ork, and a very important part, too, and w^e have been 

 in love with it all these years, and we are happy that we have such 

 •results to show, and have a hand in producing them. 



For twenty 3^ears, or until 1882, the work of this faithful band was 

 to sow the seed, sow the seed. About this time the Society w^as at its 

 lowest ebb. Troubles wdth varieties, the great mixture of Eastern 

 varieties scattered all over the west and their entire failure as money 

 producers discouraged thousands from planting commercial orchards 



