FIFTH ANISrUAL MEETING, AT F'El^N VILLE, DEO. 



18-20 1888. 



One of the most vahnible meetings ever held by Michigan pomologists was 

 that of the West Michigan Fruit Growers' Association, which opened in Fenn- 

 ville the evening of Dec. 18. Its value consisted chiefly in the practical 

 character of most of the papers and discussions ; but aside from this, there 

 was begun a movement to secure cheaper and better transportation by rail to 

 Chicago of the fruit crop of this section of the state, which has good promise 

 of success. Its establishment would revolutionize that branch of the fruit 

 growing business and save annually thousands of dollars to the producers. 



There was a fair attendance when President Phillips called to order and 

 announced music by the Fennville band, and then introduced State Senator 

 McCormick for the address of welcome. 



Mr. McCormick alluded to the many glorious advantages and resources of 

 our country and specially extolled Michigan and her famous fruit belt, defin- 

 ing the latter as "a narrow strip from Grand Traverse to Berrien." 

 Declaring his pride in the work of the horticultural societies of the state, for 

 their aid in advancing and enlightening the fruit growers, he paid deserved 

 compliments to *'the Lyons, the Garfields, the Phillipses, and the LaFleurs." 

 He praised the pioneers of our state and the wives who so bravely shared 

 their labors ; thanked the Fennville business men's association for their 

 complete provision for entertainment of the visitors, and extended to the 

 latter a cordial welcome. ^^'y^^ -" MMfej aa 



To this Mrs. N. H. Bangs, of Paw Paw, thus fitly responded :^,^ 



We have come to a period in our history when anything that savors of 

 antiquity has ian interest and charm for us. Pictures and pottery dug from 

 the ruins of P-ompeii bring fabulous sums. Even an article of common 

 stone-china, if it has reached the age of one century, outranks its more 

 modern sisterhood, takes upon itself airs, graduates from the dining-room to 

 the parlor, and, smiling down upon us from the mantel, seems to tell us 

 stories of our ancestors and the long ago. If by reason of grea^ strength or 

 careful usage its age is lengthened, its value is correspondingly increased. 



Freemasonry asserts for itself an early beginning in the chronicles of the 

 world. I may not be well versed in their theories, but I think some writers 

 say the order antedates the flood — at least the building of Solomon's temple — 

 which, upon the theory of the "survival of the fittest," gives them great 

 respectability and a claim upon us for veneration for the organization. 



Agriculture, for the last century or more, has been demanding greater 

 prominence among the professions as her due, basing the same upon her early 

 origin and the dignity of her work, and now it stands as the peer of any, 

 recognized by all as a power to be courted by those aspiring to high places. 



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