28 State Horticultural Society. 



Plains. Naturally, I desired to see how each quarter of the State 

 had fared. To determine this I drew a line east and west, on a 

 map, through Jefferson City, a central point from north to south, 

 and perceived that it coincided with the south line of Johnson 

 county, left only a narrow strip of Cass south of the line, ran north 

 of the river at Washington, and out south of St. Louis. But by 

 counting all east of Jefferson City and south of the river, in the 

 south half, I had the State divided into two almost equal portions. 

 Again, a line due south from a point a little west of Jefferson City, 

 cuts the south half into almost equal parts; and by extending the 

 line between Pettis and Cooper counties north, a little east of Milan, 

 and close to Unionville, I had the north half into almost equal parts. 

 If we call these sections the southeast, the southwest, the northwest, 

 and the northeast quarters of the State, and omit the meeting for 

 organization in January, a call-meeting at the St. Louis Fair 

 grounds in September, 1859, and a special meeting at Hermann, in 

 September, 1860, we shall see that of the 70 working meetings, the 

 southeast section has had 23, the southwest 14, the northwest 21, 

 and the northeast 12. If we now make proper allowance for the 

 peculiar conditions existing along the river, east of Jefferson City, 

 for the first 20 years of our existence, we have only eight meetings 

 to the credit of the southeast section, while the northwest section 

 has had 21, seven more than the southwest section, nine more than 

 the northeast section, and 13 more than the southeast section. If 

 in this, you gentlemen of the northeast, think you see any partiality 

 to the northwest section, go there and see the greater development 

 of the fruit industry ; and if you see any logical connection between 

 the greater frequency of our meetings in the northwest and its 

 fruit development, you will acknowledge that our meetings are 

 beneficial to the localities in which we meet, and justify our mis- 

 sionary spirit. 



But you say why have you not come among us more frequently? 

 I answer, that every time I have helped the Executive Committee 

 determine the place of meeting, the first question settled was, where 

 can we do the most good ? The second, do they want us there, and 

 if so, how much? and the third, what will the railroads do for us? 

 To answer the first, we must know that there are men and women 

 in that locality interested in fruit growing. To answer the second, 

 we simply consider your invitation, whether made in person or sent 

 by mail ; and the third is answered by corespondence with the rail- 

 road authorities. With one exception, this has been the invariable 

 rule, and that was last December, when we went to Kansas City 



