THE ANNUAL MEETING. Ill 



Best plate of winter pears for dessert — eating and keeping qualities to rule — 

 First premium, $1'; second premium, 50 cents. 



Three best house plants on exhibition — First premium, $2; second premium, 

 SI. 



There must be exactly five specimens of each variety, and the awarding com- 

 mittee will consider not only the value of the varieties for each particular pur- 

 pose, but the character, beauty, freedom from defects and general perfection 

 of the specimens, and be governed otherwise by the rules of the society. 



One fact in connection with the meeting was quite noticeable. There were 

 nine graduates of the Agricultural College present and contributing to the 

 success of the convention, and several other gentlemen who had taken a 

 partial course at this institution. The delegates to the meeting were met at 

 the station on Monday evening, December oth, and escorted to the hotel and 

 treated to a bountiful repast, after which all repaired to Leighton's opera- 

 house, which had been very tastefully decorated for the occasion. At precisely 

 eight o'clock the convention was called to order by President Lyon, who 

 immediately introduced Mr. Joseph Lannin, president of the South Haven 

 Pomological Society, who welcomed the State Society in the following pleas- 

 ant language : 



Me. Pkesident, Ladies and Gentlemen of the Michigan Horticult- 

 UEAL Society : This is the third meeting of your society in the village of 

 South Haven since your organization on February 26, 1870, and I assure you, 

 sir, the people of this vicinity appreciate the honor you confer and the kindly 

 feeling you manifest toward them. 



Do I over-estimate the importance of these gatherings in their social char- 

 acter when I assume that no other association in the State affords greater 

 opportunities for the formation of pleasant and lasting friendship? The 

 hearty, warm grasp of the hand, the cheerful, kindly greeting, and those 

 pleasant, smiling countenances are not soon forgotten. By the free and 

 easy manner in which the many subjects of importance to all horticulturists 

 are discussed in these meetings, we obtain new light and further information 

 upon our beloved calling, and before we separate we can answer in the affirm- 

 ative Mallock's famous query, "Is life worth living?" 



The work in which you are engaged is a noble one. The propagation and 

 cultivation of the vine, of fruits and of flowers, have attracted the attention 

 and labor of some of the wisest and best in all ages, and none but those who 

 have a sincere love for the beautiful can succeed. Perhaps there is no other 

 calling calculated to make better impressions upon the mind than that of the 

 horticulturist. He is brought into intimate and constant intercourse with 

 nature, and from nature his mind is led up to " nature's God." The horti- 

 culturist can never expect to graduate in his profession. 



To the curious and earnest investigator nature continually and cheerfully 

 unfolds her secrets, and the more assiduous he becomes in his devotions, so 

 much the richer will be his reward. The labors of your society in behalf of 

 the fruit-growing interests of this State have been of incalculable value, not 

 only in promoting a larger production now than formerly, but, what is perhaps 

 of far greater importance, quality. And so remarkable is the improvement in 

 this direction, that no matter where Michigan fruit may be placed on exhibi- 

 tion — whether in the financial centers of the east or the prairie cities of the 

 "west — it becomes at once the center of attraction. It is proper to mark in 

 this connection, however, our deep indebtedness for success to our genial cli- 

 mate and generous soil. Among the problems before you for consideration 



