Annual Meeting at St. Josepli. 229 



The society has obtained several new members from among 

 practical horticulturists the present year, which shows its influence 

 is felt and sco23e of usefulness is being enlarged each year. In con- 

 clusion allow me to indulge the hope, the time will sjaeedily come 

 when each county in the State will have within its borders a live 

 horticultural society. 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 



G. W. HOPKIiS^S, Secretary. 



ESSAYS READ AT THE MEETINGS. 



HOKTICULTURAL PROGRESS. 



I believe horticulturists are exceptions to the rule of opposing 

 anything new, or anything out of the ordinary line. Of all 

 classes, they are the first to take any new thing that may present 

 itself, or any outlandish affair that is beyond reason itself. When 

 the fact first became known that the world was round and not flat, 

 the theologians said it would never, never do, the world could not 

 be round, the sun stand still and the Bible be true. But let some 

 new matter come up in the horticultural world and you will have 

 nearly every horticulturist to believe the whole thing. Do you think 

 I am joking ? Let me point you to the swindle of an ear of corn 

 growing from every joint, and the corn sold all over the country for 

 seed. Last winter -a man said that he had a pear and butternut 

 tree growing together, and the butternut fertilized the pear, and 

 the consequence was that he had a pear on the outside and a nut on 

 the inside, and some were ready to believe it. I told a man that I 

 gathered black raspberries out of a Winesap apple tree, and had to 

 use a ladder to get them. He at once thought I had a tree raspberry 

 and wanted the first plants. But for all this every one of these 

 things helps to open our eyes. It sets us to thinking. It starts us 

 to experimenting. It brings us to our books. It makes us study. 

 I shall not attempt to show what has been done by horti- 

 culture, how far ahead we are of the times three hundred years 

 ago, nor one hundred years ago, nor twenty-five years ago. We all 

 know what improvements have been made in the strawberry. We 

 know what changes there have been in grafting and budding. We 

 know we are ahead of old times in our horticultural improvements. 



