156 HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 



uecessan- before an audience so well informed, to trespass upon your time 

 and patience, bj' a detailed historj' of Minnesota, with her vast natural re- 

 sources and unparalleled progress in internal improvements and agricultural 

 development, such reference will only be made to those points as will serve 

 the better to illustrate the general subject under consideration. 



In addition to this (without attempting an elaborate essay) a sketch will be 

 given of the progress of horticulture, viewed more as an adjunct to agricul- 

 ture, than as a separate branch of industry, with some of the causes which 

 retard its progress — the influence of horticultural associations, and the means 

 of t'xteudiug the same ; closing with a few brief remarks on the discourage- 

 ments and failures of former years, so that from the lessons of the past, fresh 

 encouragement may be found for renewed effort in the future. 



The commanding geographical position of Minnesota, located in the centre 

 of the Xorth American continent, midway between the Pacific and Atlantic 

 oceans, and midway between Hudson's Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, has long 

 been recognized. 



Its eastern store washed b.v Lake Superior (the western extremity of the 

 chain of great lakes,) forming direct water communication from Minnesota 

 Ijo the Atlantic seaboard and the ports of Europe — the Mississippi — Minnesota 

 and St. Croix rivers forming internal avenues of communication from nearly 

 every part of the State to the Gulf of Mexico and the Eed River through 

 British America to Hudson's Bay. 



It is not necessary to argue the advantages over all other routes to the 

 Atlantic seaboard of railroad communication from San Francisco, or Puget 

 Sound to the head of Lake Superior, (destined to be the great continental 

 highway for the transportation of the products of the immense territory trib- 

 utaiy to Minnesota,) or to refer to the efforts, now making by the different 

 railroads completed within the State and stretching out westward, to inter- 

 cept this traffic, and carry it over her territory. 



You are equally well aware of her large and valuable mineral deposits of 

 copper, iron, coal, granite, sandstone, slate, etc., and that, although the 

 branches of industry have as yet received but little attention, they only await 

 the emplojment of capital and skilled labor to become the prominent features 

 in the business of the State. The manufacturing facilities of the State have, 

 ever since its earliest discovery, been the theme of each traveler and histo- 

 rian; and the Falls of St. Anthony, the St. Croix, and the St. Louis rivers, 

 are as familiar as a " twice told tale." 



Add to these advantages, an exhilerating climate, a soil of great fertility, 

 groves of hard wood, and vast forests of pine timber, easily accessible to the 

 axe of the woodman, broad sweeping prairies, beautiful lakes, gleaming in 

 the rich sunlight, numerous streams threading from every point of the com- 

 pass on their way to the sea, and a picture of attractions is presented — ex- 

 celled by no State in the Union. 



Need we wonder that, following the proclamation of Governor Ramsey on 

 the first day of .June, 1849, population poured into the State with unexampled 

 rapiditv, and that the fatal spirit of speculation took possession of the people? 



