52 ANNUAL REPORT 



ture — the belles lettres of agriculture, is something vastly 

 different in a region of antipodal e'xtremes — in a region 

 where tropical heat is displaced by polar cold from what it 

 is in more congenial climes. This Society came into existence 

 at a time when the belief was almost universal that fruit grow- 

 ing was one of the impossibilities of this region. Tt was said 

 that nothing of the fruit kind would grow here, save insignificant 

 berries, which could mature under sun-protecting leaves and 

 grasses; and crab apples and plums sufiiciently bitter and 

 sour to excite the contempt and disgust of Jack Frost. . This ver- 

 dict of man seemed to be warranted by the evidences of nature, 

 so that it may well be said, the obstacles which confronted the 

 infancy of the Society were really appalling. 



It shall be no part of my mission to tell in detail what the So- 

 ciety has accomplished during the last quarter of a century. 

 The story of its successes is more eloquently told in the luscious 

 fruit, fragrant floAver, thrifty orchard and succulent vegetable 

 than any mortal tongue can tell it. In a region where the heat 

 of summer is always as great an obstacle as the cold of winter, 

 something more than mere planting, tilling and pruning has been 

 required; the work of hands alone could never have materialized 

 into the grand results of to-day; it had to be supplemented by 

 the work of brains; thought has guided the hand, and thought 

 itself has been cultivated and strengthend by your annual meet- 

 ings like this; meetings where experiences have been exchanged, 

 discoveries disclosed, lessons taught and learned, and where, by 

 friendly intellectual controversies, you have been made stronger 

 and better for your future work. 



I feel warranted in likening this meeting to a council of war. 

 Since your last conncil you have been doing active campaign 

 work. Each one of your experimental stations a fort; each farm 

 where fruit growing was attempted an outpost; every worker 

 in the cause a soldier and hero. Another season of aggressive 

 warfare with the powers of earth and air has closed. You 

 have retired within your fortifications, are entirely upon the 

 defensive. Your tenderly cared for plants are now prone upon 

 the cold, but not unkind, bosom of Mother Earth, getting, you 

 feel sure, sufficient protection to enable them to reward you dur- 

 ing the coming season; your trees are protected by yonr prayers, 

 all you can do for them, and now, while the habitations of the 

 children of your labor and solicitude are being assailed by the 

 ^'cavalry of the winds, and the infantry of the snows," while 



