HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 89 



causes of failure. No doubt the majority of the people are excusable for this 

 ignorance, for they have been their own schoolmasters ; but if this Society 

 will collect, digest and disseminate the information that can be derived from 

 the experience of the best and most successful fruit-growers and encourage 

 experiments, this darkness will begin to lift, and the quantity, quality and 

 variety of the fruits grown and consumed will continue to increase very 

 rapidly. When the modus operandi is understood, I believe that Minnesota 

 will produce pears that will rival those of California in size and l)eauty and 

 excel them in quality, and at an early date they should be discussed in our 

 meetings. 



Grapes are already coming into favor with the people, and no l^ettcr grapes 

 can be shown east of the Rocky Mountains than were produced in this State 

 last season. There are but few varieties worthy of cultivating, and we 

 should notice the best, that the people ma}" know which to plant, and savi- 

 themselves the vexation of waiting for grapes, audio! they have nothing Ijut 

 wild grapes. 



Strawberries and raspberries are perfectly at home in our climate, and so 

 easily grown, that there Is no excuse for being without them, and the currant 

 will yield its fruit for every one who will take the trouble to plant the bushes. 

 Still this Societj^ may do much to improve and encourage the cultivation o 

 all of them. Thus far the tame plum, ( Prunus Domestica ) has succeeded but 

 very indifferently, and in most localities it is money thrown away to plant 

 them extensively. But we have native plums but little inferior to the l)est of 

 them, and if they were looked up and brought into cultivation, they would 

 very likely improve and be good enough. It is claimed by the best botanists 

 that the Sloe, ( P. Spinosa ) is the original parent of the tame plum. If sucli 

 large and delicious fruit as the Washington and Blecker Gages have been 

 derived from so humble a parentage, what may we not expect from our own 

 ( P. Americana ). I fancy our children may yet produce the fruit as large as 

 goose eggs, and l)etter than the gages. 



There are many other varieties of fruit that are worthy of your notice. l)ut 

 I will pass them by for the present, and call your attention to the flowers, the 

 loveliest of all God's gifts to fallen man. The love of them is almost universal. 

 It seems to be a principal of the human soul to love the good and the beautiful. 

 This love manifests in the child at a very early age, and ought to be encouraged 

 and cultivated. It is in the power of man to make his home a Paradise but 

 little below that garden "in the eastward of Eden "where the Beneficient 

 placed our first parents before the earth was cursed for their disobedience, 

 and made to bring forth " thorns and thistles." What is so attractive to the 

 traveler as that modest, unpretending cottage, where the ivy, the woodbine, 

 and the honeysuckle twine about the piazzas like pleasing memories about the 

 good man's life ; and the rose, the queen of flowers, stands sentry upon the 

 neatly kept lawn, and the pinks, verbenas and violets trail or peep out along 

 the walks, regaling each passer-by with their soul reviving fragrance? In the 

 back-ground stands the well trained orchard, groaning beneath its load of 

 fruit. There are no briars or thistles crowding the fence corners. No rubbish 

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