164 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF THE 



pie, it is said, to the detriment of the natioual health. The 

 annual consumption of fruits, of late years, is estimated to be 

 on the increase, and no one can contemplate the fact without 

 satisfaction, for health and morals are involved in this change 

 of diet. 



At a recent meeting of the State Agricultural Society ot 

 Massachusetts, it was asserted that, in 1864, the value of but 

 three other crops in that State equaled in value the general 

 fruit crop, and those were hay, corn, and potatoes ; and one 

 of the speakers at that meeting declared that fruit, once 

 regarded by many merely as a luxury, will hereafter be looked 

 on more as a necessary, healthful, and palatahle article of food. 



Let fruit become the cheap dessert and food of the millions, 

 adding a glow of beauty to the humblest as well as to the 

 richest spread board of the land. For this and kindred humane 

 objects the Michigan Pomological Society was instituted, and 

 for this unselfish and humanitarian end its members have 

 engaged to unite together. 



