STATE POMOLOGICAIv SOCIETY. 29 



of society new life and vigor. Help us to know that if the call 

 of husbandry is to be heard and heeded in this present time, as 

 an occupation it must be adorned with becoming attractiveness, 

 aye, with more becoming attractiveness than other occupations 

 for the occupation is more than other occupations and means 

 more to society. Let the farmer recognize his true privilege 

 in society and thus worthily deport himself. Help him to feel, 

 O, God, that he is a fellow worker with Thee, for the accom- 

 plishment of Thy purposes in the earth. Help him to feel that 

 the country is the hearthstone of God and that here must be 

 purity, culture, grace and strength. Help him to aspire to exert 

 these virtues through society as a whole, so that the remotest 

 regions may feel their quickening impulse. 



May the avenues through which these virtues shall flow be 

 those expressions of our common citizenship which elevate men 

 and free them from oppression or handicap. }tlay the busy 

 marts of trade feel that the husbandman, strong, refined, intelli- 

 gent and just insists upon equal rights for all. Bless to Thine 

 own glorious ends the deliberations of this convention and Thine 

 shall be the glory and the honor forever. Amen. 



ADDRESS OF WELCOME. 



By ]\Iayor Will C. Atkins. 



It is with great pleasure that L as the chief executive of this 

 city, greet the members and friends of this, the oldest society in 

 existence. H history serves me right and my memory be not 

 faulty, Adam and Eve were the original promoters of the 

 parent organization, and the place of meeting was in the Garden 

 of Eden. Those two people were much interested in the dispo- 

 sition if not the cultivation of fruits and while at that time the 

 product of the trees might be bartered or sold, it could not be 

 eaten. I understand that the ban against eating has been 

 removed by this society, in fact that the society not only permits 

 eating, but especially encourages it particularly when the crop is 

 large. ]\Iy mother being the daughter of a farmer and fiuit 

 grower, makes me a half ])omologist by descent, so that I ^rve 

 a verv kindly feeling for this society. 



