ANNUAL MEETING AT NEVADA. 257 



vince them that a peach orchard in Southern Missouri, a small fruit plan- 

 tation in Southeast Missouri, or an apple orchard almost anywhere in 

 the State is, well taken care of, a paying thing. But thanks to the Rn-. 

 ral World and Missouri State Horticultural Society, the people are 

 becoming convinced of the truth of what has been iterated and reiterat- 

 ed a thousand times. Thousands of acres of orchards are now being 

 planted yearly, not simply family orchards for home use, but commercial 

 orchards of from ten to fifty acres, and it will not be long till Missouri 

 apples will comprise a large share of those put on the market. And 

 they will sell because they will be equal to or better than any grown in 

 other States. Have not Missouri apples been shown at meetings of the 

 Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society, the American Horticultural So- 

 ciety, the American Pomological Society, at the World's Exposition at 

 New Orleans, and on many minor occasions, when the best fruit in the 

 Union were contestants for honors } And never yet has Missouri failed 

 to take first honors where her fruit was shown. And these results have 

 been obtained almost without State aid, with but little co-operation on 

 the part of transportation companies, and only by the officers of the 

 State Horticultural Society going down into their own pockets for money 

 with which to pay expenses, and by giving their time and labor without 

 stint to the cause, even to the neglect of their own business. 



Could they do any more than had been done .'' To ask them to do 

 more was almost like riding a free horse to death, but the Rural World 

 wanted to see one thing more accomplished, and two or three years agcy 

 proposed that the Missouri State Horticultural Society make, in St. 

 Louis, a show of Missouri fruit such as had never before been seen in 

 the history of the world. Such an undertaking involved an inconceiva- 

 ble amount of labor and the outlay of considerable money, but the offi- 

 cers of the Society knew that the purpose could be accomplished if suf- 

 ficient funds were to be had, and it was not until this fall that the effort 

 could be made. 



Early in the summer, arrangements werd made with the manage- 

 ment of the St. Louis Exposition to make the fruit show in connection 

 with the exposition, which opened Sept, 5 and continued forty days. 

 One of the finest rooms in the building was secured and the directors of 

 the exposition assisted the society in fitting it up for the show. 



Then began the work of collecting the fruit. The officers and 

 members of the state society, the local societies, individuals, and the 

 press took hold of the enterprise and the result was the grandest show 

 of apples both in the number of plates and quality of fruit, that has c\er 



II. K,— 17. 



