156 State Horticultural Society. 



horticulture, a subject in which you are so largely interested, and not 

 only financially but from the aesthetic and the home improvement stand- 

 point as well. 



In the two able addresses to which you have just Hstened the full 

 Significance of the broadening influences of horticulture has been pointed 

 out. Perhaps no where in the State can we find a locality where horti- 

 culture means more to the people or where the people in turn have con- 

 tiibuted more to horticulture in its various aspects. Your orchards and 

 gardens demonstrate that your wealth and industrial activity rest largely 

 upon your horticulture; the excellence of these orchards and the intel- 

 ligent care bestowed 'upon them show that you are awake to this fact, 

 and that you are making the most out of the natural opportunities which 

 surround you. You are located in a section which presents beautiful 

 natural surroundings, green hills, clear streams, salubrious atmosphere — 

 just the place for a home ; your beautiful homes, surrounded with orna- 

 mental plantings show that you appreciate and develop these natural 

 advantages to the upbuilding of home life. 



The word home evidently signifies to you all that it should mean 

 in the English language, and particularly in America. Our word home 

 is translated in other languages by use of the same word that means 

 house, or the domicile which shelters one. In this country the word home 

 means not only the house, but it embraces the grounds about it, the shade 

 trees, shrubs, clustering vines — in fact the entire surroundings. It em- 

 braces all the tender associations, memories and traditions which cling 

 to one's place of birth. It affords a unit, out of which grows patriotism, 

 love of country and native land. It is the unit of our civilization and of 

 our strength as a people. In our language home means more than a 

 mere post office address. The homes about Neosho demonstrate the fact 

 that the above facts are to you a living reality. They are not merely good 

 liouses, they are homelike. 



The man who plants a large orchard or berry field and succeeds with 

 it does well, he who combines with it a home, where horticultural knowl- 

 edge and skill beautify the place with trees and flowering plants does 

 better. The proceeds of the former support life, the associations and 

 traditions and the aesthetic enjoyment which grow with the latter make 

 life. The interests of this Society do not stop with the orchard, the in- 

 fluences of its work also extend to the home and its surroundings. We 

 have met then in good a place for our work, and our work has auspic- 

 iously begun. 



