158 HISTORY OF HORTICULTUUR IN MINNESOTA. 



In additiou to which 100 miles of track were fully graded, and which the 

 unusually setting in of the winter alone prevented from being in operation, 

 which would give the State 2.000 miles of completed railroads, or one mile 

 for each 260 inhabitants. 



These statements will be sufficient to illustrate the rapid growth and devel- 

 opment of Minnesota within the last 13 years. 



A single State of that great Northwest which is now attracting the attention 

 of the whole world, and which is destined at no distant day, to wield an 

 immense influence on the destinies of the nation — but a portion of that 

 "great wheat garden of the continent," which when cultivated but to the 

 extent of five per cent, of its tillable soil, will yield in round numbers 6,000,000 

 bushels of wheat. 



Thus I have endeavored to picture the North Star State as possessing 

 within herself all the elements of future greatness, and as having already 

 made long strides toward the final consummation ; and I trust you will agree 

 with me that it requires but a united effort and a reasonable use of the means 

 within her grasp to rival the first State in the Union, and that it is the duty 

 of every citizen in his appointed sphere, no matter how humble, to urge with 

 might and main the rapid progress of the mighty future. 



At the present day we look back on the years that have passed, with con- 

 tempt at the slow progress of those days, and smile in satisfaction that our 

 lot has been placed among the rushing actualities of the present. 



But greater things are yet in store for those who come after us. 



Twenty -five or fifty years hence will witness such development as would 

 at present, even with our exaggerated ideas of progress, be considered absurd 

 to express in words, or even to contemplate. 



But it is sure to come, and although we may not see it, those who come 

 after us, and carefully consider the initiative steps which have been taken in 

 our day and generation, will bear witness to the foresight and energy of those 

 who preceded them, and who so securely laid the foundations of their pros- 

 perity. 



Having thus sketched, as briefly as the nature of the subject would permit, 

 the; progress of the State in the past, I proceed to the consideration of points 

 more intimately connected with the objects, wishes and results of your Asso- 

 ciation. 



Horticulture, as distinguished from agriculture, the cultivation of the field, 

 is that branch of rural art which consists in the formation and culture of 

 gardens. 



It has excited the attention of all civilized nations from the earliest periods 

 of history. 



We read in the Scriptures that Adam was placed in the Garden of Eden " to 

 dress it and to keep it," and that after the flood, which swept rebellious man, 

 save eight persons, from existence, that "man became an husbandman and 

 planted a vineyard." 



It is recorded of Solomon, to Miiom God gave wisdom and understanding 

 above all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt, that 



