26 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



names as the Pawnees, Omahas and Otoes. It is not without a 

 thrill of interest that a Nebraskan can look upon the frail and 

 discolored parchment upon which for the first time in the 

 history of the world these words were written. 



But let us return to the development of our state. We are 

 prone to view with a feeling of regret the thought that our ad- 

 vancement will not, in the future, be as rapid as it has been in 

 the past. Prima facie this is the case, but in reality our feel 

 ing of regret is utterly without foundation. If the world of 

 agriculture has been conquered, why not look for more worlds 

 to conquer instead of becoming indolent and reclining on 

 flowery beds of ease. In the year 1885, as I understand it, 

 occurred the first meeting of the Nebraska State Horticultural 

 Society. Since that time our interest in the growing and pro- 

 duction of various kinds of fruit has greatly increased, until we 

 are at present in a position to look for rapid development along 

 Horticultural lines. That development, when once begun, may 

 reasonably be expected to increase and continue for a great 

 period of time, and the interest of Nebraskans in Nebraska 

 will never have cause to wane. If we are true to our duty we 

 can make our state in Horticulture what it has been as regards 

 our school systems, the greatest state in our nation. For if we 

 judge the various states in the scale of a ladder, we see among 

 the topmost such names as Iowa; but far above them aU, and 

 upon the topmost round, is Nebraska, and from that round 

 there floats a penant, upon which is inscribed in letters of non- 

 perishable gold, the greatest motto a state can have, "Equality 

 before the Law." 



It is with a feehng of mingled pride and pleasure that we 

 welcome you to our city. Our earnest hope is that before this 

 meeting shall close there shall be much good accomplished, 

 that you who are present will carry back to those who were 

 unable to attend, our feelings of sincerest friendship, that in 

 some manner the good done here will go abroad, that it will 

 cause our sister states to look to Nebraska and say, there is a 

 people, just and fearless, whose interest in life is the edification 

 of man, the development of their state, and the upbuilding of 

 our nation. [Applause.] 



