ANNUAL REPORT. 



At this, our first annual meeting, it may be well for the in- 

 formation of those who have not been familiar with our plan 

 from the beginning, to state our purpose in organizing a new 

 school on a new basis, where so many already exist and claim 

 the public interest. 



It was felt by many that it was an object of great impor- 

 tance to open a new and more healthful field of labor for 

 women — to draw them back from the crowded city, where 

 every avenue open to them is over full — to a more simple 

 and wholesome life in the country, and the open air. But to 

 accomplish this it was important to show that they could find 

 profit as well as pleasure in the cultivation of the soil, and 

 to prove that the raising of fruit and flowers was not too 

 laborious a pursuit to be adapted to a woman's strength. 



In order to do this it was needful that some way should be 

 found of affording women that instruction in horticultural pur- 

 suits, without which success could not be hoped for, and as 

 none of the institutions already in existence in our com- 

 munity even contemplated any such end, it became necessary 

 to establish one for the purpose. Hence arose the Horticul- 

 tural School for Women, a school of which the professed object 

 is to teach Horticulture, and only such branches as have a 

 direct bearing upon this subject. 



We are aware that many in the community who are watch- 

 ing this attempt with interest, believe that it would be better 

 to combine other industries, and especially instruction in all 



