SUMMER MEETING AT LOUISIANA. 35 



AVhen we reflect that the best of flour is made into wholesome bread 

 by the use of poisonous powders and impure air, that teas are doctored 

 and cofi'ees adulterated by chemical processes, that disease and death 

 is conveyed to the human system through unhealthy meats, that butter 

 is made from tallow and axle grease; we should cast about us for 

 some source from which to supply our tables with wholesome food. 

 Whence can we obtain this except from the products of the soil? in 

 mother's earth their is no deceit, her chemical processes are pure and 

 thoroughly reliable— there is no poison in a ripe berry, apple or peach, 

 find nothing obnoxious to the human system in a well matured vege- 

 table. Other men have furnished us the means of supplying our tables 

 with pure butter and milk (as well as buter milk with which to make up 

 pure bread) by the importation of Jersey cows, and when you come 

 ])roposing to furnish us with countless varieties of fruits and vegetables, 

 calculated to tempt the palate and satisfy the stomachs of the great 

 variety of our people, as well flowers, we can but appreciate your 

 efforts and bid you not only welcome but thrice welcome to our midst. 



RESPONSE BY 3IAJOR RAGAN TO THE ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



We are here to thank you for the generous hospitality extended 

 to us. It is our second meeting in north-east Missouri. We are sub- 

 ject to the invitations of the people of the different parts of the State 

 to meet with them in our annual and semi-annual meetings, and we have 

 accepted your invitation to meet with you in your beautiful city of 

 Louisiana, on the banks of the Mississippi. We come to learn rather 

 than to teach, and we ask the people of the city and the couutry to 

 participate in the deliberations of our meeting. We wish to engage 

 the interest of the people of the State of Missouri as much as we can 

 in the subject of horticulture. There has been a great interest taken 

 in the last year compared with the feeble efforts made in the last 

 twenty-five years. We again thank you for your invitation, and we 

 iiope to be Uue means of entertaining and being entertained. 



