ANNUAL MEETING AT NEVADA. 205 



of life, to come into possession of this birthright of God. Here we have 

 the basis of that important plank in the labor union platform protecting 

 every man's right to an inalienable, God-given home. And here to-day 

 I love to think of this horticultural meeting as a kind of Labor Union 

 Society, not gathered here, seeking to find seme new, sharp, short cut to 

 great fortune through horticulture, not by union and co-operation to 

 mass our strength to defeat or take any advantage of our neighbor, in 

 this or any other profession. But I trust we are here as disciples to 

 learn God's methods as expressed in tree and plant life, and the laws 

 that govern all things in the mineral and vegetable kingdom, and all 

 these in their relation to man. We shall most undoubtedly find that 

 men do not gather grapes from thorns nor figs from thistles, that a cor- 

 rupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit, neither can a good tree bring 

 forth evil fruit. Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatsoever a 

 man soweth that shall he also reap, whether in natural or spiritual things. 

 We have a right to believe that God intended that we should have homes 

 patterned after this perfect, this Divine model, wherein every tree that 

 is pleasant to the sight and good for food, is made to form so important 

 a part, and reared in such a home, and taught as God directed when He 

 said : " These words that I command thee this day, shall be in thine 

 heart, and thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and thou 

 shalt talk to them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou 

 walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou riseth up, 

 and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine he.id, and they shall be 

 as fruitlcts between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts 

 of thine house, and on thy gates." May we not expect to see genera- 

 tions of people going forth from such homes, filled with the spirit of him 

 who made us in his own image and likeness to a life of usefulness, to a 

 life of service to others, and not of self only, and so became exalted in 

 the highest sense of exaltation. 



Leaving the question of the relation of horticulture to our homes 

 and passing all those questions of adaptation of the various kinds of fruit 

 to succeed best in our own location and climate, what exposure is best, 

 whether north, east, west, or south for orchard growing, and what kind 

 of soil is best adapted to this or that variety of apples, pears, peaches, 

 plums, or cherries, and when to plant, and which varieties of each to 

 plant, and how to protect from rabbits, insects, and other enemies, pass- 

 ing all these questions so very important in the science and art of horti- 

 culture, we will endeavor to consider some questions pertaining to the 

 adaptation of our fruit growing to the market, and the changes likely to 

 occur in the future. In the past the markets for our small fruits have 



