Addresses of Welcome. 
BY HON. D. U. FLETCHER. 
Mr. Fletcher spoke extemporaneously 
and rather rapidly, so we are only able to 
give more than an outline of his happy 
and well received address. 
Among other things he said: A day or 
two ago I received a letter from Secretary 
Painter informing me that he had called 
me up over the telephone and requested 
me to perform tonight, that he had print¬ 
ed the programs, putting my name on 
them and enclosed one, hoping I would 
be present. I told him that, under the 
circumstances, I would be here although 
the notice gave me no chance for any pre¬ 
paration. I approve of the Secretary’s 
way, however. He accomplishes what he 
wants and in the easiest, most satisfactory 
manner. He gets his speaker and the lat¬ 
ter has no time to make excuses or get 
nervous. 
There is nothing the Horticultural So¬ 
ciety could ask of me that I would not 
make an effort to grant. We give you a 
warm welcome, but the weather seems in¬ 
clined to over-do the thing. It is un¬ 
necessary for me to emphasize the 
warmth of our greeting, and I assure 
vou that is equally true of its sincerity. 
I would feel very much more at home 
probably discussing some other subject 
than Horticulture. If our friend Painter 
should sell a lot of fertilizer and accept 
a four months note in payment, which he 
negotiated at the bank, and the parties re¬ 
fused to pay on the ground the fertilizer 
was not beneficial, I could sav whether or 
not he would have it to pay; or if Mr. 
Taber should send out nursery stock to 
be paid for at a certain time, reserving the 
title to the trees, I might answer as to 
whether or not the purchaser could keep 
the trees without paying the price as 
agreed. 
If this were an agricultural gathering 
I would be much more at home. I have 
liad some experience raising nubbin corn 
and bumble bee cotton. Nubbin corn 
is that kind too poor to shuck, and 
the cotton referred to is the kind 
which a bumble bee can suck the 
top blossom off while sitting on the 
ground. You have heard of the Doc¬ 
tor who had a patient with fever, and after 
doing all he could for him, he gave him 
some medicine at last that threw the pa¬ 
tient into convulsions and when asked 
why he did so, he stated that he had 
treated him for days and days for fever 
and he did not know how to cure the fever, 
1 :)ut he did know how to cure fits and so 
was giving him something to throw him 
into fits. If I could change this Conven¬ 
tion into an Agricultural Convention 
there are many things I could speak of 
from experience. 
Horticulture is a kind of high toned 
agriculture, or the elite of agricultural 
pursuits. I imagine this thing of stand¬ 
ing on the shady side of an orange tree 
and watching its beautiful leaves and en¬ 
joying its odoriferous flowers while culti¬ 
vating it, following it as the sun moves 
