230 State Horticultural Society. 



being stolen. From this I conclude they wanted the law to keep the dogs 

 in the orchard. It is well to notice, however, that the further statement 

 was made that Captain Blossom's apples were keeping better than those 

 of any one else. Thus from a mere circumstance they learned a fact too 

 few of us heed today. "Pick your apples just in time. To keep in the 

 best condition apples as well as pears should be gathered before they are 

 quite ripe." A Ben Davis September \\ ind fall will keep longer and cook 

 better than an over-ripe one, though picked and handled ever so care- 

 fully. 



The seventh annual meeting, January, 1866, was an important one. 

 Being the first after the close of the war, the Association of the Nation's 

 Chief Magistrate, and the emancipation of four million people held as 

 slaves, our brethern found themselves confronted with new and momen- 

 tous questions. But with Rev. Mr. Peabody to bear them upon the wings 

 of earnest prayer to the Throne of Grace ; with Henry T. Mudd to out- 

 line the work in his opening address ; with Secretary Muir to make valu- 

 able suggestions, and with Norman J. Colman, Dr. Morse, Dr. Spauld- 

 ing, Dr. Clagett, Mr. Guye, Mr. Murtfeldt, Mr. Elliott, Mr. Stark and 

 Prof. Hussman, and a host of others for counsel and work, he who ac- 

 quaints himself with the grandeur of these men by reading the history 

 of this Society as I have done, will not wonder that they rose equal to 

 any occasion that presented itself. Upon this period I would love to 

 dwell; and the more I read it the more I realize my inability to do it 

 justice. Read it for yourselves. You will find it in the first Agricultural 

 Report, 1865, a copy of which you can now find for the first time in the 

 Secretary's library. The respects of this meeting were largely directed 

 to Washington, and while I had not time to follow out the whole history, 

 I doubt not that one "Philadelphia huckster," Mr. Newton, Commissioner 

 of Agriculture at Washington, lost his oflficial head. They were too 

 busy for a Treasurer's report, and the little balance of $2.30 last re- 

 ported, is lost to history for ever more. 



In spite of the fact that the Secretary displayed a little bad temper 

 because he thought the business committe had somewhat encroached upon 

 his prerogatives, the 1867 meeting was a great meeting. The minutes 

 cover 166 pages in the Second Annual Report of the State Board of Agri- 

 culture. The second Treasurer's report printed, is found in these minutes. 

 W. C. Flagg's paper on the apple is a veritable classic. I wish it might 

 be reproduced in our minutes in the near future. The discussion on the 

 report of the special committee on the location of the Agricultural Col- 

 lege was fine. At the close of this meeting Henry T. Mudd retired from 

 the presidency, having served in this capacity five consecutive years. He 



