HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE L\ MINNESOTA. 27 



whicli would be about 815,000. Adding to this aggregate the amount received 

 at Dundas and NorthfiekU and the further amount of the orders filled by 

 nursery agents for trees and stock from abroad, and we shall find the amount 

 annually drawn from Rice County alone, will fall little, if any, short of .825,000. 

 The statistics of the importations of 8t. Paul, the past year, show that 20,937 

 barrels of green, and 3,«21 of dried fruits were imported, the aggregate value 

 of which would probably reach 8100,000. From these data we feel justified in 

 assuming that considerable over a quarter of a million of dollars a year are 

 drawn from the resources of our State to supply our people with the essential 

 article of fruit and fruit trees, from which it will be seen that we annually use 

 up no small proportion of the profits of the wheat crop, and that the subject 

 of saving this amount to the pockets of our people, is one which may even 

 well claim the august attention of our State legislative body. 



In another aspect, as we believe, our society ma}' well claim for the advance- 

 ment of its ol)jects, some assistance from the State. The promotion of im- 

 migration has been held to be of such importance, as to have justified the 

 appropriation of 810,000 from the State Treasury the past year, for the pur- 

 pose of securing a share of the influx from the over-populated countries of 

 Europe. But is it not readily apparent that if the fact can be established and 

 authoritatively proclaimed, that Minnesota is an apple producing State, and 

 that any one of ten or fifteen hardy varieties of fall and winter fruit may be 

 planted with as much certainty of a successful result as in Western New 

 York or Michigan, that we have established an inducement for immigration 

 far surpassing anything the State can offer through immigration agents ? 

 And the class which would thus be tempted to take up their homes upon our 

 broad and fertile prairies would comprise the best element of our country, 

 t)eing the intelligent, hard}', and enterprising farmers of moderate means, 

 from the Eastern and Middle States, who are now held back or turned to 

 Missouri or Southern Iowa, by the fear that in coming to Minnesota they 

 must forego the privileges of fruit. 



I would suggest that the experience of practical fruit culturists has already 

 been sulHcient in the State to warrant the commencement of a list of hardy 

 varieties which shall furnish a basis for additions as future experience shall 

 warrant. Such a list would prove of value to those embarking in the cultiva- 

 tion of fmit, and save them from the waste of time and money into which 

 they might be drawn by unreliable nursery agents. 



I need refer but briefly to the question of small fruits, which the point 

 being conceded that they can be raised in abundance, will elicit from our As- 

 sociation only discussion as to the best varieties and methods of cultivation. 

 Y"et there is a great deficiency of knowledge on these points, and if this con- 

 vention can be the means of stimulating the interest of the masses, and turn- 

 ing general attention to the subject, it will confer great and lasting benefits 

 upon the State. To one point under this head, however, it has seemed to 

 me well that the particular attention of the convention should be invoked. 

 I refer to the cultivation of Cranberries. The fact that this fruit is indige- 

 nous to our soil, that it is capable of preservation and transportation to a great 



