50 ANNUAL REPORT 



a system of" experiments shall be inaugurated and conducted by 

 them to be in sympathy with the State Horticultural Societj'. The 

 new farm is well located for that purpose, and as that is a State in- 

 stitution and receives annual appropriations to defray the expenses 

 of conducting all beneficial work, this could be done without 

 any special legislation. If the project should be carried out, it 

 would add greatly to the interest and usefulness of the institution 

 in providing a place where the students in agriculture and liorti- 

 culture may have opportunity and facilities for demonstrating the 

 practical working, or rather proving the value of a thorough scien- 

 tific education. The 3'oung man who intends to make horticulture 

 the business of his life, will always find it to be of great advantage 

 to be thoroughly educated in the business, and after he has mas- 

 tered eveiythiug contained in the literature his education will still 

 be incomplete without it is accompanied with practical illustra- 

 tions. The present incumbent of the agricultural chair is in ray 

 estimation just the right man to direct such an enterprise, and in 

 my opinion he would most heartily undertake the testing of a 

 limited number of our best seedlings and to conduct some experi- 

 ments on scientific principles in selection of seeds and hybridizing 

 with the view to originating that new, hardj', handsome, good long 

 keeping variety that we have talked of so much and looked for so 

 anxiously. We have no right as a society to dictate or in any way 

 interfere in the management of the farm, but as citizens of Minne- 

 sota we may petition those in authority on matters that pertain to 

 the public welfare. 1 would suggest the appointment of a stand- 

 ing committee whose first duty it shall be to confer with the 

 Regents of the University and the Professor of Agriculture upon 

 this matter and if it is put into practice to visit the grounds at least 

 once each season and report at each annual meeting the progress 

 being maie in the work. If we succeed in making the arrange- 

 ment I trust that all members of this society will take enough in- 

 terest in the work to stand ready to lend aid and encouragement 

 by looking up scions, and saving seeds from the hardiest grown 

 fruits. 



We have nothing tangible in the shape of a home. We very 

 much need a place that we can call headquarters of the society and 

 where we can safely keep our property. We have some surplus 

 copies of past volumes of transactions that will some time be of 

 great value to us. I have directed that they be temporarily stored 

 at this place. We are also getting, in exchange, reports from other 

 societies, and if we had a place to set them up they would form the 



