126 MISSOURI STATE HORTICULTEAL SOCIETY. 



WELCOME ADDEESS. 



BY W. A. GORDON, M. D., PRESIDENT OF LAFAYETTE COUNTY SOCIETY. 



Ladies and Gentlemen of the State Horticultural^ and visiting memhers 

 from other Societies: 



The Lafayette County Horticultural Society appointed me to 

 deliver, in its bebalf and in behalf of the citizens of Lexington and of 

 Latayette county an address of welcome on this occasion. 



You need have no fears of being bored with a long speech ; I take 

 it for granted that you did not come here for that purpose, but to listen 

 to the statement of facts as we have learned them from our observa- 

 tions and experiences. One of the principal objects of the State 

 Society in holding semi-annual meetings is that we may become better 

 acquainted with each other; that we may form new acquaintances and 

 that we may increase our knowledge in all matters pertaining to horti- 

 culture, by listening to the papers that may be read on this occasion 

 by the criticisms and discussions that may be made upon these papers, 

 and by relating our experiences one to the other as to the best methods 

 of cultivating and caring for the various products of horticulture. 



For example A, who has given a great deal of time and attention 

 to the culture antt selection of the best varieties of strawberries for 

 profit and aUo for the family, will tell us what he knows and what he 

 has learned from long observation and experience ; B will tell us what 

 hie has learned from actual observation and experience about the grape, 

 how to make your selections, how to plant and how to manage your 

 plants after being planted ; C having had long and extensive experience 

 in the cultivation of the apple will give us his varied successes and 

 failures; by relating to us his trials and troubles with nursery men, 

 with the codling moth and with the borer; while D will tell us from his 

 observations and experiences with flowers and shrubs, and so on to 

 the end of the chapter. 



Horticulture, as defined by a writer in the American Encyclopedia 

 is "the most perfect method of tilling the earth, so as to produce the 

 best results; whether the products are objects of utility or of beauty." 

 This definition being true, we have a wide field in which to prosecute 



