350 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE STUDY CLUB AND ITS ADVANTAGES FOR BUSY 



WOMEN. 



MRS. !•:. M. I. A PENOTIERRE, MINNEAPOLIS. 



Unlike the lady vvho said she felt a little embarrassed in ad- 

 dressing this company of horticulturists I must say that 

 I feel very much at home in this atmosphere, indeed I 

 feel like saying that I am the oldest horticulturist in 

 the room. My earliest recollection of being of any as- 

 sistance in the world was in assisting my maternal grand- 

 father, Johnston Glass, who was a leading horticulturist in 

 his day in his chosen work. lie made his farm out of the wilder- 

 ness in western Pennsylvania, near the city of Pittsburg, and lie 

 traveled all over that country to secure switches and scions and then 

 grafted them upon the native fruit, anything that he thought might 

 support life. He used the crab apple as a basis to produce fruit's. He 

 went north, south, east and west to get anything lie could find. 

 My part was to carry a small basket in which there was a supply 

 of clay, which he took out of the bottom of a spring, and which he 

 used to cover the grafts and buds. He had none of the modern 

 conveniences to carry on his work, and yet he was very successful. 

 He came to have the very best selection of fruits in that part of the 

 country, and many people came long distances to obtain scions of 

 his culture. After my marriage, twenty-eight years ago, I had the 

 honor of being elected treasurer of a local horticultural society, 

 which had an eventful history for a few years. The excuse 



given by one woman for joining the society was unique. It 

 was in a prairie town, and in the evening we could see a locomotive 

 headlight twenty miles away : the country was very flat and treeless 

 and the lady gave the excuse that now she would be able to get 

 switches at home, to correct her children, while before that she 

 had to go three miles to obtain them. (Laughter.) I slill have in 

 my possession $2.35 of the funds of that horticultural society. I 

 hope some time I may be located where I can put it to good use 

 with some horticultural society. 



This is the preface to what T am called upon to say to you on 

 the advantages of the study club. I feel complimented to be invited 

 here and to have the privilege of speaking upon this subject, be- 

 cause it gives me an opportunity to defend the woman's club. The 

 federation of club women in the United States numbers now about 

 750,000, so naturally the federated club movement is a far reaching 

 one, and it has been such a success that it has been universally 

 approved of, but if there should be the idea conveyed in this 



