Meeting at the State Faie. 127 



The secretary read a communicatiou from Mr. Loririf^, commis- 

 sioner of agriculture, requesting the society to send delegates to a 

 national convention to be held at Washington, T). C, under the 

 management of the department of agriculture. Attention was 

 called to the fact that in the list of topics given out for considera- 

 tion at this convention, the only one that in any way pertained to 

 horticulture was " Cultivation of the grape, in relation to the man- 

 ufacture of wine." This subject was of little practical value to 

 us. It was probable that other and more important branches of 

 horticulture would be considered. If so, the interests of horti- 

 culture in Wisconsin should be represented there. 



After a brief discussion, a motion was made and carried, in- 

 structing the president to confer with Commissioner Loring, who 

 was in attendance at the fair, in regard to the horticultural subjects 

 that would come before the convention, and to report to the 

 society at a subsequent meeting, to be held during the fair. 



The secretary stated that the Illinois State Horticultural Society 

 were now holding a fair for the exhibition of western fruit in 

 connection with the Chicago Exposition. The fruits of a number 

 of the western states were represented at this exhibition, and were 

 attracting considerable attention, and he thought it would be well 

 if our own fruit could be exhibited there. A very creditable exhibit 

 could be made by taking samples from the plates on the tables in 

 the fair. If the owners would donate their fruit, or part of it, 

 when the fair closed, for this purpose, there would be but very 

 little, if any, expense attending it, and he thought it would con- 

 tribute much to the benefit of the horticultural interests of the 

 state, for it would be largely seen and would tend to do away 

 with the impression that good fruit cannot be raised in Wiscon- 

 sin. Some varieties of our apples now on the tables would com- 

 pare very favorably with any now on exhibition there, and in 

 Siberians and grapes we could far surpass them. 



Mr. Pilgrim said that there was no fruit on exhibition at the 

 Milwaukee Exposition, and he should favor having our fruit 

 represented there, rather than to send it out of the state. Those 

 in charge of the exposition would be very glad to receive it, and 

 would probably be willing to pay the expense of transportation. 



The secretary remarked that he was not aware that there was 



