Te 
OFFICERS’ REPORTS. 14 
of the many valuable papers that represent the interests of horti- 
culture; then, instead of throwing away his money, he would save 
and spend it judiciously along lines that would help him and bring 
him blessings instead of curses. This opportunity lies at the door 
of almost every man inthe land. It is astonishing how much fruit 
or how many vegetables can be grown on an ordinary city lot with 
the facilities that are at command. And yet people neglect their 
opportunities, preferring to live without or live on what they can 
buy in the market, which is seldom so fresh and nice. It is difficult 
for men to think they can do more than one thing, and I know fail- 
ures often discourage them. 
But people must be taught better ways. A few years ago, the 
farmers in this country thought they could not grow anything but 
wheat. Added facilities cheapened the product, and they seemed 
panic stricken. They were compelled to grow other things. The 
Farmers’ Institute came along and experienced and skillful teachers 
taught them how to make diversified farming profitable, and today, 
no more prosperous, happy, contented and independent people can 
be found in the world. 
Last summer, in talking with one of the ladies living ona farma 
few miles from here, I asked: “Do you have fruit at your home?” 
“Oh! yes,” she replied, “we have more than we can use; we sell and 
give away quantities every year.” Ina gardenin this town,there were 
raised last summer thirty-three bushels of tomatoes from a piece of 
ground twenty feet square. A friend of mine grew enough vegeta- 
bles in his garden, with the help of city water, to pay all the expense 
of water for his place and interest on the investment. There is 
knowledge needed to do these things, it is true, and thatis the ob- 
ject of our society—to help others to know how to do and how to be 
successful in those interests which we represent. 
When men and women are out of work and suffering for food, their 
immediate wants can be supplied, and it is very commendable in 
those who open soup kitchens where they can be fed; but inthis way 
they find only temporary relief from hunger, and a person must 
surely feel humiliated and his character weakened by frequent lean- 
ing upon charities of this kind. Many of the charities in our large 
cities command our enthusiastic admiration in their intelligent 
provisions for supplying some of the most necessary things: such 
as bread, milk, and coal in small quantities at actual cost. And it 
has been demonstrated as practical and accomplishing great good 
to conduct a loan agency for furnishing money for temporary assis- 
tance at a low rate of interest, on chattel mortgage, and thereby save 
many a poor man or woman from the necessity, as a last resort, of 
going to a pawnshop and paying an exhorbitant usury. Assistance 
of this kind is calculated to relieve distress without taking away 
one’s self-respect and self-reliance and must rank as a higher class 
of charity than gifts bestowed outright. 
There is still another way to help people, and that is by furnishing 
them work,and I count it an honor for a man or a corporation to in- 
vest large sums of money that give employment to others. I know 
there are some who are never satisfied with the way this or that man 
