WINTER MEETING. 215 



REPORT OF SECRETARY. 



When I began to prepare the program for this meeting and real- 

 ized that I was to write down 40th annual meeting, it occurred to me 

 that I had been in Missouri for some time, and found that it had been 

 long enough to call me an old settler, 30 years old. Ten years after 

 the organization of the Society I came to Missouri and settled in West- 

 port. For 40 years has the Society been working and working, wait- 

 ing and waiting, testing and trying, hoping and trusting, fearing and 

 dreading, but still working and working all along these 40 years. Onlj^ 

 two or tree men are living who helped to organize and put in motion 

 the work we are now doing, and yet the work they then started is still 

 growing and developing and increasing until they would no more know 

 the fruit interests of the State nor their magnitude. Since the Society 

 put on new life in 1882, for 15 years the development has been a very 

 gradual and uniform one, and one that has made the State known all 

 over the country as the "Fruit State of the West." From a few thou- 

 sand of barrels of apples the production has grown and grown until 

 now we see that Missouri stands first this year in the quantity, quality 

 and value of her apple crop. It has simply been a wonder to all east- 

 ern, western, northern, southern and foreign buyers the number of 

 barrels and the quality and value of this year's apple crop. Two and 

 one-half millions of barrels from Xorth Missouri, three and one-half 

 millions of barrels from Central Missouri, three millions of barrels 

 from South Missouri gives a fair illustration of the wonderful value of 

 the fruit interests of Missouri in only one particular. No state in all 

 this Union can dispute the position of Missouri as the head of the list 

 this year in apple growing. And this is only one of our fruits, and its 

 value to our State. Next comes the peach crop. Never before has 

 this State been so peculiarly placed in regard to her control of the 

 peach market. The peaches of the State were the wonder and aston- 

 ishment of ourselves. Every crack and cranny of the State where 

 peaches were growing the trees were loaded, loaded down, and the 

 quality not surpassed anywhere. Peaches went to Boston, Philadel- 

 phia, Baltimore, New York, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, 

 Chicago, St. Louis, St. Paul, Omaha, Denver, Pueblo, Galveston, New 

 Orleans, Memphis, Mobile, Birmingham, Louisville and hundreds of 

 other places, and that is not all, they were pronounced the finest 

 peaches in color, quality and size that many had ever seen. South 

 Missouri produced two millions bushels, Central Missouri one million 



