REPORTS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES. 351 



GRAND RIVER VALLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



PKEPAEED 15 V BECEETAEY BENNETT. 



OFFICERS FOR 1886. 



President — C. \V\ Garfield. 

 Vice President — J. Albert Ilovey. 

 Secretary — Geo. G. Bennett. 

 Treasurer — W. N. Cook. 



Executive Board — R. D. Graham, E. M. Ball, Geo. Linderman, L. C. 

 Woodman. 



At the first meeting of the year, Jan. 0, the society discussed plan- of work 

 for the new year and concluded that we must get the public, and especially the 

 ladies, interested, and make the meetings attractive as well as beneficial. To 

 this end the executive board was instructed to take appropriate measures at 

 once. The place of meeting was soon changed to the finely furnished rooms 

 of the Royal Arcanum, and three committees appointed to work up interest in 

 the different branches of the society works, one on fruit growing, one on 

 gardening and one on flowering plants. 



Pres. Garfield read the following paper, setting forth the purposes of the 

 society, under the title 



HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY WORK FOR CITIES. 



If we ask a friend, who knows little of our purposes, to meet with our horti- 

 cultural society some afternoon, he very naturally inquires, "What for?" We 

 should be ready in whatever form, or from whatever source this inquiry 

 may come, to give a reasonable answer. 



This is an era of societies, everybody belongs to one or another of them. 

 It is natural for people having similar business or social interests to unite 

 together in an association. 



The friend we invite to meet with us may at once say, "I am not a horti- 

 culturist and don't belong there.'"' The reason we should be prompt in giv- 

 ing him a response, involves the objects of our society and the work we are 

 aiming to accomplish. We do not meet as trade-men to further our business 

 enterprises or protect our rights; we do not gather as producers to establish a 

 demand for our products; nor are our conventions held simply for the fun of 

 it. It is perhaps safe to say that all these objects arc involved in our under- 

 takings, but they are auxiliary to greater purposes and more praiseworthy 



