% National and Educational Interests. 



their life-work as by sending them to school to con lessons from books. It 

 seems to me that we can make even more of our society in this direction than 

 we have done. 



' ' The man who makes his thousands in a single deal in real estate, who 

 has added nothing intrinsically to the value of the land, may, because of his 

 dollars, cut a wide swath in the community ; but I count of far greater value 

 to the world one who, through the study of nature's possibilities, brings out 

 an added flower or fruit of value to mankind ; and while dealers in stocks 

 and bonds and lumber and land may laugh in derision at our enthusiasm over 

 a new peach that fills a place in the succession of fruits, or a new chrysan- 

 themum with added attractions of form or color, we can in our ecstasy sor- 

 row a little that so few people in this world know how to get the highest 

 pleasure out of life by living near to nature's heart. There is a wonderful 

 field for improvement in the objects with which we deal ; and the more we 

 add to our knowledge of the things that lie nearest to us, the wider will open 

 before us the door to the wealth of information, the acquirement of which 

 will give to us the keenest delight." 



The aggregate attendance at meetings of the national, state, 

 provincial and district societies for 1891 has probably exceeded 

 5,000. I have endeavored to collect exact statistics upon Society 

 this point for the year, but I have not been able to secure statlstlc 

 figures from all the societies. The following incomplete record 

 will have some value, however : 



No. of Average 



NATIONAL OR GENERAL SOCIETIES. Meetings Atten- 



i8gi. dance. 



American Association of Nurserymen 1 Large. 



American Chrysanthemum Society 1 



American Cranberry Growers' Association 2 75 



American Pomological Society 1 100 



American Seed Trade Association 1 



Association of American Cemetery Superintendents 1 75 



Cider and Cider-Vinegar Makers' Association of the North- 

 west* 1 40 



Eastern Nurserymen's Association 1 15 



Peninsula Horticultural Society (Chesapeake Peninsula) .... 1 150 



Society of American Florists 1 750 



STATE, PROVINCIAL, AND DISTRICT SOCIETIES. 



Arkansas Horticultural Society 2 20 



California : 



Fruit Association 10 



Horticultural Society. ... 12 30 



Southern Pomological Society 33 7 to 83 



State Floral Society 12 



* Although this is not strictly a horticultural organization, much of its attention is directed 

 to fostering apple-growing, and it may therefore be considered here. 



The love 

 of plants. 



