ANNUAL MEETING—1868. 
529 
Mr. L. Woodworth had charge of 160 varieties from the town of Bristol, 
Kenosha couLty, 66 of which were of his own raising; and seven varieties of 
pears. 
Among the grapes were fourteen varieties from Fond du Lac, including good 
specimens of lonas and Isabellas, showing that grapes can be grown very far 
north. 
ANNUAL MEETING—1868. 
February, 4th, 1868. 
The Annual Meeting of the State Horticultural Society, convened in the 
Supreme Court room at o’clock P. M The meeting was called to order 
by the president, Dr. Joseph Bobbins, who delivered his annual address, as 
follows, viz: 
WELCOME. 
Xrentiemen of the State Horticultural Society :—It is very gratifying to see so 
many familiar faces at this our Annual Meeting. There is, indeed, at all 
times a personal and peculiar pleasure in meeting with others of similar tastes, 
the same sympathies and pursuits. But beyond and above the mere social 
gratification of such meetings, there is a sort of “ higher pleasure,” a deeper 
satisfaction in meeting from time to time men from various parts of the state 
and from abroad, whose lives are devoted to doing a good work; I mean to 
the introduction and cultivation of a taste for Horticulture. 
Yo\i, gentlemen, regarded from a proper stand-point, are not mere nursery¬ 
men, fruit-growers or gardeners. You are among the pioneers not only of 
civilization, but you are the pioneers of almost all that makes a new state 
beautiful and pleasant to live in. The work you have commenced in this, as 
yet comparative wilderness of the Northwest, seems lowly and humble, but as 
sure as you now live, the fruits of your labors will follow, and our valley and 
hills shall laugh with the gladness that you have made them to know. 
Besides, gentlemen, your work is not confined to the beautiful alone. Hor¬ 
ticulture is something more than a beautiful art. It ranks with those arts 
the most useful, and not only ranks with them, but is indeed, historically 
considered, the mother of all other arts. That which God initiated and in¬ 
dicated as the occupation of the first man needs no praise. TFe cannot exalt 
it, nor is it in the power of ma)' to abuse it. The day will come, gentlemen, 
when our heads shall be low beneath that green sod we are now so devoted 
to, but the earth is full of gratitude to those who know her, and what better 
or more grateful memento could be wished for than the pleasant places we 
leave behind us for our country and those we love ? What can give us more 
delightful satisfaction than the consciousness that we have been, in our day, 
the humble imitators of them who set us the first example and gave us the 
first lesson in this, our beautiful science and art of horticulture, 
84 Ag. Trans. 
