HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 151 



lature, and all efforts in that direction Iiad hitherto been vetoed. He had 

 charged that the members had been derelict. In this he seemed to be mis- 

 taken. 



Mr. Davis moved that a committee of three be appointed, with Col. Stevens 

 as chairman, to prepare snch a bill as would be acceptable. 



Col. Stevens, as chairman, with Messrs. Baker and Elliot were then appointed 

 such committee. 



Judge Baker then moved that the thanks of the Society be presented to 

 Senator Baxter for his efforts in behalf of the Society, and expressing the 

 hope that he would continue them. 



Carried. 



A member remarked that there was understood to be in the hands of some 

 one there, a communication from Mr. C. M. Loring. Moved that it "be read, 

 and the motion was carried. The Secretary then read the following letter 

 from Mr. Loring : 



Minneapolis, Jan. 11, 1873. 

 Hon. R. J. Mendenhall, President Minnesota State Horticultural Society: 



Dear Sik:— It is with regret tliat I have to announce my inability to meet with the Horti- 

 cultural Society at their annual meeting. I have, unexpectedly, been called upon to attend to 

 some business matters that will take me away from the city for some days, perhaps weeks, 

 and I assure you it is a great disappointment to me not to be with you. 



I feel that it is the duty of the friends of the Society to meet at least once a year, to discuss 

 the questions of interest to the Society, and to learn from each other's experience how to 

 lay our plans for the coming season. 



I wish the people of the whole State could have the benefit of the experience of the men 

 who will be present at this meeting; and they can have it, if the Legislature, which is now 

 in session, will appropriate the small, very small sum, in proportion to the benefit to be 

 received, of $1,000 for printing and distributing the report of the transactions of this meeting, 

 and I would suggest that a petition be presented to the Legislature, setting forth the advan- 

 tages the State will derive from the publication of these reports, and asking that the bill now 

 before the House, providing for such an appropriation, be passed. 



Our State Horticultural Society is not so large as it should be. It has not kept pace with 

 the rapid development of the State; and why? The answer is plain. It has not received 

 encouragement nor aid from any source since its organization. Its members are poor. They 

 have struggled along alone, working, watching, waiting for the results from the trees, seeds 

 and vines which they planted years ago, until they have demonstrated the fact that in this 

 Northern State, of which it was said that nothing but small fruit would grow; that apples, 

 pears and grapes, of the finest quality, can be raised here, and that it pays to raise them. 



The Society, heretofore, has not given that attention to horticulture which it deserves. 

 The cultivation of plants and flowers has grown to be a business of considerable importance 

 in the State. In this city alone, there are no less than five greenhouses, and as many more 

 in St. Paul, w*here plants and cut flowers are sold, and the supply of the latter has never been 

 equal to the demand. 



There is hardly a town of any importance in the State where the business would not be 

 profitable for at least one greenhouse, and it is a business particularly adapted for ladies, 

 giving pleasant and profitable employment. 



I would suggest that the Society ai oint a committee on greenhouses, who shall report 

 at each annual meeting, the number of greenhouses in the State where plants and flowers 

 are sold, and the aggregate amount of sales each year, and I will make the following propo- 

 sition : 



I will place in the hands of the Treasurer of the Society the sum of $100, provided the 

 Society will appropriate a like amount, to be given as premiums to the three best green- 

 houses in the State that are conducted entirely by ladies, the awards to be made by the com- 

 mittee on greenhouses at the next annual meeting. $100 to the lady having the best collec. 

 tion of plants and the best conducted greenhouse; .^75 for the next, and S'25 for the next, the 

 ladies wishing to compete for the prizes, to notify the Secretary of the Society previous to 



