GRA.ND RIVER VALLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 345 



in the presence of Flora and Pomona without the accompaniment of sacrifices 

 or uunecessary jjomp and show. Avoiding any stiff formalities, we shake 

 bands and oichange experience. We act upon the plan that we are in this 

 world to help one another and reap as large a measure of satisfaction as pos- 

 sible from our environment. "Live and let live" is our motto, and if there 

 is any horticultural good that comes to any one of us, it becomes the property 

 of the whole. In carrying out this idea, we cau not afford to have jealousies, 

 or invidious comparisons, and our society should be perfectly free from them. 

 The promotion of kind feeling and aiding each other in securing the largest 

 reward from the soil and the most wholesome satisfaction from the prosecution 

 of our employment, should be the aim of our society. 



We are all experimentiug, but in a disjointed way, and often our results are 

 misleading. In order to reap the highest benefit from any line of experiments 

 made by the state experiment station, I have arranged to make a test of any 

 varieties desired by the station, upon Burton Farm, the tests to be made in 

 t he name and for the benefit of our society. I want the society to take sufficient 

 interest in this work to suggest desirable tests to 'be made, and to counsel 

 with regard to the management of the trials in hand. We still owe allegiance 

 to our parent, the State Horticultural Society, and should not fail to do our 

 part in its support. We ueed the valuable annual reports for our members 

 and should be prompt in our contributions toward maintaining the high charac- 

 ter of these documents. Our secretary should be authorized to prepare an 

 abstract of our proceedings, that we may appear upon the pages of the forth- 

 coming volume as an aid to the society that has done so much in promoting 

 Michigan's horticulture. 



Although we have suffered from the change of occupation of Mr. Skeels, 

 who was selected as our official reporter, still we cannot lay any blame at his 

 door. I trust the society will coutinue to fill this office with some person 

 fitted for the work, to whom the newspapers can go with confidence for ac- 

 counts of our pro3eedings, and through whom we can hope to be correctly 

 interpreted by the press. 



The future success of our society depends upon economy of management, 

 simplicity in our arrangements, and interesting the young people in the 

 objects at which we are aiming. A society like ours cannot exist long if 

 there is a continuous struggle to make both ends meet. By spending little 

 we can gather enough funds without extra effort to carry us along, and the mat- 

 ter of finance maybe dropped out of our minds. But the question of expense 

 is often little thought of in the management, and money is voted for various 

 purposes that could well be subserved in some other way. If by convening 

 at our own houses hall rent is saved, and we have just as good times, why 

 spend money for a hall? If by dividing the labor of caring for the details 

 of management we can avoid paying any money for the work, and it is just 

 as well done, why not economize in this way? But the success of all this lies 

 in such simplicity of arrangement as. to make the labor light. In meeting 

 at the homes of our friends we should expect to take care of ourselves, and 

 reduce the labor and trouble we make to the least amount possible. It is 

 only by this means that our scheme can be made to work for years without 

 becoming irksome to some. And by all means, to ensure permanence to our 

 work, and a constantly increasing interest, we must secure the cooperation of 

 those whose hair is not silvered and on whose faces we can look Avitnout 

 noting the care lines. It is legitimate for us to keep young, and absorb cheer- 



