44 ANNUAL REPORT 



Exhibitors from a distance, having more fruits and vegetables for the meeting 

 than they can bring by hand, are recommended to choose a mild spell of weather 

 and ship them by express, prepaid, to Prof. Edward D. Porter, State University, 

 Minneapolis, for storage. Label each package with name of sender and contents, 

 and notify Prof. Porter by postal card, of the shipment. For further particulars 

 apply to 



JOHN S HARRIS, President, 

 OLIVER GIBBS, Jr., La Crescent, Minn. 



Acting Sechktauy, Lake City, Minn. 



The annual address of President Harris was then read by W. J. 

 Abernethy, and was as follows: 



PRESIDENTS ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



Gentlemen of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society: 



Once more we have come together in annual meeting for con- 

 sultation, a friendly conference upon the experience of the past, 

 and to'lay plans and devise ways for improvement and progress in 

 the future. We have good cause for congratulation in the pro- 

 gress we have made in the past and equal cause for being grave and 

 earnest in meeting and discussing the great questions in Horticul- 

 ture that are exciting interest at present or will arise in the future. 

 Some of these questions are: Shall our beautiful prairies be made 

 more beautiful by being dotted over with groves and forests of de- 

 cidious and evergreen trees to mollify the temperature, break the 

 strength of blizzards and impart humidity to the atmosphere, or 

 shall they be cropped w^ith wheat until their owners can no longer 

 eke out a miserable existence and then be abandoned to become 

 barren wastes? Shall the homes of our farmers be only places of 

 shelter with bleak surroundings, or shall they be true homes situate 

 in the midst of landscapes beautiful to the eye and cheering to the 

 heart? Shall we have an orchard and garden upon every farm and 

 raise our own fruit — fruit for our families, fruit for the denizens of 

 the cities, and fruit to load our steamboats and cars to export to 

 other markets, and thus swell the volume of our commerce — or 

 shall we raise more wheat, rising early and toiling late, that we 



