PROCEEDINGS OF THE WINTER MEETING. 99 



BY MK. R. MORRILL, TO THE ILLINOIS SOCIETY. 



Mr. Morrill: The next report should come from Mr. Hamilton, of 

 Ganges, but he is ill, and as I was there with him I will make a brief 

 report. Previous to that, with Mr. Monroe's permission, I will supple- 

 ment some things he said of the New York society. I was there also, and 

 last year, as well; and, not even excepting Michigan, it is the brightest 

 and best society meeting I .ever attended, and I will t-ell you what makes 

 it good, and if we can ever live to see the same conditions prevail here 

 I think horticulture will be an ideal occupation. At that meeting were 

 gathered from 500 to 1,000 men, at each session, and a good many women, 

 and not just a few bright men, well informed in their business. Their 

 disputes, if there were any, were on the finer details of the work. They 

 are familiar with the outlines, all of them. We found there men of con- 

 siderable polish and much ability; we found young men, who had stepped, 

 perhaps, into their fathers' tracks, they took the matter up where their 

 fathers left off — men who could get up and address an audience in a 

 smooth, easy, logical way. It was remarked how many could do that. 

 Older men, too, who would speak from experience, plainly, nicely, and 

 in a way that would interest you, and there were hundreds of them. It 

 is a place to go to learn. I can see a great improvement in the work of 

 the Michigan societies in the past five years. Men are becoming more 

 common among us who can tell what they know, and I hope to see the 

 Michigan State society reach the same high position of the society in 

 New York; but, in order to do that, there must be a general interest 

 taken. 



The New York society numbers five hundred members and they are 

 active. The Ontario society numbers 2,000. Just think of that. There 

 is no antagonism between the different societies in the state of New 

 York, of any consequence. The Western New York society seems to 

 have the field. 



Now we will come to the Illinois State society, and I will briefly detail 

 how they are organized and work. In the first place, they have an 

 appropriation of |4,000 from the state for conducting their work. It is 

 considered educational. Our own state has finally come to the same 

 conclusion. But Michigan appropriates only |1,500. The Illinois local 

 societies are formed wherever they can be. Most of them are in good 

 working order. They pay their allegiance to the state society, not in 

 dues or funds, but in reports, keeping the parent society well informed. 

 They have three district organizations — northern, central, and southern. 

 These are under the direct management of the state society, which holds 

 one meeting each year, as a state society, then one meeting with each 

 of the district societies. They maintain twelve experiment stations, 

 themselves. They select one of the ablest men, in a certain fruitgrowing 

 section, furnish him the plants for testing, and pay him for the labor, if 

 necessary, and he is expected to report on these varieties. Every year 

 they gather, from at least twelve locations, a report as to the desirability 

 of certain varieties and the peculiarities of varieties; and you can see, 



