Winter Meeting. 271 



and should, wherever known, be condemned relentlessly. Too 

 much of this swindling is going on continuously all over this land, 

 in out-of-the-way places and among the uninformed, taking their 

 money without giving legitimate return, and we can only warn and 

 condemn where found. If men would only go to their home nur- 

 sery they would save themselves many dollars. 



The American Pomological Society and the Jamestown Expo- 

 sition are matters of interest and import, and our Society should 

 take its part, as it has always done, in both these important events. 

 There has been no time in all our history that we have not had a 

 man to stand before us for good in all these gatherings during 

 the last fifty years, and while some drop out of the active work, 

 others take their places and push to completion the plans so long 

 and well outlined. The American Pomological Society has been 

 the beacon-bearer to light us into new fields; it has been the su- 

 preme court to settle and establish every word and work in all 

 these years, and it has done this so impartially that we have found 

 no one, except those who were attempting impositions of some kind 

 or other, who have gainsaid their verdicts in any instance. 



This great gathering will be held some time next year, prob- 

 ably at Jamestown, and we are expecting to have it not one of the 

 best, but the best and greatest meeting this grand old Society has 

 ever held. We shall be there, of course, with our fruits and our 

 men, to again add to the laurels we have won so many years. It 

 pays to meet with these men, to know them, and know them well. 

 It makes you work better. 



Our Society has been doing such good work all these years 

 that we have been known all over the world as leaders in western 

 horticulture. You can glory in this as do your officers, and, for 

 your edification, I submit only one of many letters received in 

 commendation from different parts of the world : 



Des Moines, Iowa, November 24, 1906. 



"I appreciate the honor of your kind remembrance of me in 

 sending me the program, and though it will hardly be possible for 

 me to attend your meeting in person, yet I assure you that I will 

 be there in heart and spirit. After a thorough and careful exami- 

 nation of the program, I find that you only remain to represent the 

 pioneers on whose shoulders was carried the weight and burden 

 of what is now one of the best State Horticulture Societies in the 

 world. Though no doubt you, with your united force, are as zeal- 

 ous now as in the days of yore, yet give honor to the old veterans 



