HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 25 



The proceedings had at this meeting were not lengthy ; but they comprised 

 a couple of resolutions cordially inviting co-operation on the part of persons 

 all over the State, interested in fruit growing ; and a request of Col. Robertson 

 for a " report" with a view to its publication. Debates on various subjects 

 connected with fruit growing occupied the rest of the time. 



In regard to the above indicated meeting, the Rochester Post of October 

 12 has the following notice : — "Fruit Gkower's Association. At the annual 

 meeting of the Association held here on the last day of the State Fair, the 

 election of officers for the ensuing year was made. We see among the new 

 officers the followmg from this county : Treasurer, John R. Kepner, of Little 

 Valley, Olmsted Co; Chairman of a Section, J. D. Swain, of Rochester; and 

 on the executive, Dr. E. C. Cross, of Rochester." 



membp:rs of Minnesota horticultural society for 1867. 



John S. Harris La Crescent Houston Co. i Mrs. P. A. Jewell, Baral)oo, Wisconsin. 



C. R. Hoag, Kasson. Chas. Hoag, Minneapolis, Hennepin Co. 

 J. W. Harkness, Faribault, Rice Co. i L. W. Rollins, Elgin, Wabasha Co. 



D. C. Harkness, Redwood Falls. A. W. Sias, Rochester, Olmsted Co. 

 Nelson Shearman, Rochester. Olmsted Co. J. Kepner, Little Valley. 



R L. Cotterell, St. Charles. I J. S. Shearman, Rockford, 111. 



The next meeting of the Association, and an important one as it proved, 

 as the members began to experience the value of united eftbrts, was held at 

 Faribault, Jan. 30th and 31st, 1868, the convention having been called to order 

 by a gentleman who has ever since proved himself one of the most active and 

 efficient Avorkers in the whole organization, A. W. McKinstry, President of 

 the Society. He opened the convention by an able speech as follows : 



Gentlemen : It gives me pleasure to welcome you as members of the Fruit 

 Grower's Convention. Your presence, representing as you do widely separ- 

 ated portions of the State, evinces the general interest which prevails on this 

 subject, and is auspicious for the future of this interest. It could scarcely 

 have been anticipated, however, that our youthful society would be as strong 

 as similar organizations in other States, for it is to be remembered that we 

 have peculiar obstacles to encounter. In other States no question exists as 

 to the feasibility of raising fruit, the main points for consideration being 

 through what selection of varieties and methods of cultivation to secure in this 

 branch of industry, the highest success. Here, on the contrary, we have to 

 encounter at the outset the strongest doubts whether fruit, or apples at least, 

 which constitute the great essential of a fruit country, can be raised at all ; 

 or, at the best, can be produced in sufficient quantity to justify our claim to 

 be a fruit growing State. And this doubt is expressed, not by theorists mere- 

 ly, but in numerous instances by practical men, who have devoted time and 

 means to experiments in this direction. Hence, until this point is definitely 

 settled in the popular mind, it will be in vain to expect a high degree of effi- 

 ciency and prosperity in the Association. Yet the existence of this doubt 

 renders all the more necessary the existence of a State Fruit Grower's As- 

 sociation, for the bringing together of men engaged in experimenting in this 

 branch of industry from difterent sections of the State, through whose inter- 

 course, attended with a mutual comparison of experience, which has been 

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