38 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Stand up against the storms of opposition and the tendencies of organi- 

 zation toward disintegration has been so often forcibly illustrated within 

 the memories of us all that it must needs now be accepted as a truism. 

 As things are constituted in this world, evil has a spontanous growth and 

 comes unsought, while good only comes from civilizatign and deter- 

 mined effort. We see this forcibly illustrated in the inclination of pes- 

 tiferous weeds to grow in our fields and gardens to the detriment of 

 useful plants ; and in the proneness of the human race to err despite the 

 constant efforts put forth — at least by its better element — to do only 

 that which is right. So, if we would accomplish the greatest good in any 

 calling we must persist in on r efforts, and let reverses only stimulate us to 

 still greater exertion. This is the only way by which we can completely 

 revolutionize "fogyism" in the State of Missouri and convince our broth- 

 ers that vegetables and fruits are just as desirable products as are hogs and 

 corn. 



Already the attention of the people in some part? of this state is 

 being rapidly turned to horticulture — and as a permanent occupation, 

 too — and the time is sure to come in the quite near future when all of 

 our now unproductive hillsides will be crowded with vineyards, straw- 

 berry beds, ras^Dberry vines, blackberry canes, currant bushes, flower 

 beds, and vegetable gardens. Do you ask what can be done with all 

 the enormous amount of horticultural products that will be thrown upon 

 the market when this state of affairs come to exist .'* If so, the answer 

 must suggest itself to you the moment you glance at a map of this 

 country and note our geographical location thereon. We are situated 

 almost in the exact center of the United States. Almost equidistant be- 

 tween Maine and San Francisco — between Manitoba and the Gulf. We 

 have immediate railroad communicaton with all points north, northeast, 

 west, and northwest. Our early fruits and vegetables of all kinds matur- 

 ing,as they do here fully a month earlier than the same varieties mature 

 a distance of but a twenty hours run north of us, will find a ready and 

 permament market there at comparitively ruinous prices to them, possi- 

 bly, but certainly, at very remunerative, even enriching prices to us. 

 And neither is this all ; but just as soon as we shall succeed in produc- 

 ing these articles in sufficient abundance to justify the outlay, we feel 

 sure that we can safely depend upon it, that the railroad companies will 

 provide more efficient service and more rapid transit than we have even 

 now, for tnese products to those markets which so eagerly and impa- 

 tiently awaits them. 



Our late fruits, such as apples and pears, always sell well in this same 

 territory, — as they do also in Kansas, Nebraska, and other prairie states 



