256 NEBRASKA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



§3. Thornless aud prickless; leaves rolled up in the bud; racemes 

 several flowered ; calyx-tube elongated. 



Ribes aureum Pursh. — Missouri, Flowering, Golden, or Buf- 

 falo ^Currant. — This is a free growing bush four to six feet high, 

 throwing up suckers from the roots. The leaves are rounded and 

 three-lobed. The flowers are bright yellow with a spicy fragrance, 

 the lubes of the calyx much longer than its spreading lobes. Fruit 

 black with a bluish bloom. Var. chrysoccoccus Ryd. has yellow fruit. 

 This is found wild from Missouri westward to the Rocky mountains 

 and is widely cultivated as a flowering shrub, both in this country and 

 Europe. It has been long known and under many difl^erent names, 

 having beeu at times called the Utah or Utah Hydrid Currant. More 

 recently it has been introduced as the Crandall. It is decidedly variable 

 in the size of its fruit. Some plants sent out as Crandall bear fruit 

 nearly or quite as large as a Downing gooseberry, while that of other 

 plants is no larger than a common red currant. Its peculiar flavor and 

 the fact that the berries ripen irregularly and must be picked one by 

 one is against it as a fruit plant. It is a very attractive ornamental 

 plant in the early part of the season and is well adapted to the dry 

 climate of the western plains. Its chief fault in this regard lies in 

 the fact that it loses its foliage early. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



E. F. STEPHENS. 



Fellow- Members of the State Horticultural Society, Ladies and Gen- 

 tlemen: Another year has passed since we last convened in annual ses- 

 sion. It is gratifying to me to meet again with those who are mutu- 

 ally interested in horticultural development and advancement of the 

 state. Since we model the future by the profitable experience of the 

 past, it may not come amiss to review the lessons of the past year. 



The spring of 1895 opened with abundant promises for the horti- 

 culturists. In May, however, severe frosts caused serious damage in 

 portions of the state. The unusual heat aud drouth of September re- 

 suitetl in a premature ripening of apples. Not having prepared to 

 retain our fruit by cold storage, the main portion of the apple crop 



