THE ANNUAL MEETING. 323 



is under d is ad vantages, tlio soil of the farm being mostly unfavorablo to the 

 growth of fruit-trees. Most varieties of fruits are being experimented upon, 

 also forest trees of various sorts, screens, hedges, etc. Tiieir wild garden is a 

 spot containing 400 varieties of native plants and trees, and is a favorite resort 

 of students and is of great interest and value to all. He detailed the work of 

 growing various sorts of grains, grasses, vegetables, etc. lie had done some 

 work in the way of testing seeds and found that the best of seedsmen some- 

 times sent out worthless goods. A course of eleven weeks of lectures, one hour 

 eacli day, is given in the college, on horticulture, and the students have prac- 

 tical instruction in budding, grafting, etc., both indoors and out. Picking 

 and packing fruits, plants, and scions are taught, and the crossing of species, 

 and kindred subjects, are given due attention. Students are taught chiefly to 

 help themselves and are put upon the road to success and expected to continue 

 in it. During the lirst years they have a varied experience upon the farm, but 

 in their senior year they are given certain work and kept at it. A new build- 

 ing will soon be ready for the preservation of collections of specimens of all 

 sorts. Efforts are now making to secure land for a sample apple orchard. 

 Many things, such as changes of the board of professors, a lack or an uncer- 

 tainty of funds, are constant drawbacks to the success or even the undertaking 

 of long-continued experiments. 



The meetinf]r adiourned till morning. 



Thursday Morning, 



The session was opened with a discussion upon the proposition to change a 

 part of the name of the society from ^'Pomological" to '* Horticultural." 

 There were many speakers who expressed the opinion that the name was good 

 enough as it is; that the society's work was broad enough now; that a change 

 would in a measure rob the society of the prestige it now holds at home and 

 abroad ; that Michigan is more distinctively a pomological State, and the 

 name and the work should correspond with this fact. The opposition urged 

 that the support of the term ^'Pomological" came from the western part of 

 the State, and was local, the interests of the eastern portion being in effect 

 ignored ; that nothing would be lost to the society by the change, as horticul- 

 ture includes pomology and all kindred branches, and despite the name, the 

 society's practice has been to include horticultural topics in its deliberations; 

 that really the society has been sailing under false colors. Upon motion of H. 

 C. Sherwood, the question was tabled. 



Another resolution that was laid over from the Lansing February meeting 

 recommending the use of hedges for fences was next taken up, and Mr. J. C. 

 Ratcliff spoke of the efforts made in his part of Indiana, at growing hedges, 

 representing them as abortive, and people were turning to wure fences. In 

 the northern part of his state, osage orange hedges have been successful to 

 some extent. He suggested painting wire fences some bright color, that stock 

 may more easily see them and avoid injury. Mr. W. N. Cook, of Grand 

 Rapids, found osage orange to be a failure generally, but Mr. Hanford, of 

 Indiana, found them successful where properly cultivated. In Kalamazoo 

 county, Mr. Buell said, there were hedges of osage orange and Virginia thorn 

 which were proof against all stock. A vote was then taken and the resolution 

 rejected. 



