STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 17 



SCARCELY PERFECTED THE A B c's, TET. 



With all the progress we have made we are to-day scarcely out 

 of the A B C's of the great book of Horticulture. The Wilson 

 strawberry stands to-day as it did a score of years since at the head 

 of the list for general cultivation, and it is too uncertain for the 

 ordinary farmer. The choicest raspberries will not withstand the 

 rigors of our winters. Of blackberries, the Snyder alone will give 

 us a liberal crop after a mild winter, and the Siberian species 

 of apples, with the addition of the Duchess, Tetofsky and Weal- 

 thy, still remain the only safe ones to plant except in the most 

 favored locality. Doubtless our native fruits will prove succepti- 

 ble of improvement, and many of the choicer fruits of other 

 climes can, in the course of time, be acclimated and made at home 

 with us. Science, learning and the experience of the past are at 

 our command, and the refined tastes, appetites and actual necessi- 

 ties of a million people are calling on us to arise and fulfill our 

 mission; and when it is fulfilled the veteran survivors will put in a 

 grand jubilee. 



MORE HARD WORK. 



There still remains before us an unlimited field for advancement. 

 We have learned by dearly bought experience what wo ought to have 

 known by observation years since. We have learned tliat the varie- 

 ties of apples and other fruits that have originated ill tii'> eastern 

 and middle States, with a few exceptions, will not thrive lu Ivliunesota 

 or the northwest. We even know that varieties that have been 

 originated and have acquired great celebrity in one neigborhood or 

 locality have proved unworthy of cultivation in another adjoin- 

 ing and apparently equally favorable locality, but why it should be 

 so we do not fully understand, and it will require careful research, 

 observation and experiment to master the subject, and we have no 

 time for that. We want an abundance of the best quality of fruit 

 in the very shortest possible time, and to have it we must originate 

 or create it. If we look back through the geological epochs of our 

 globe we find constant changes and continued development in- 

 delibly stamped upon the remains of every species of animal and 

 plant. We also notice that every thing changes more rapidly 

 under cultivation and domestication. Everything changes slowly 

 by nature, some for good and some for evil, but very rapidly in a 

 certain direction when aided by wise selections. For illustration I 

 refer you to the fine breeds of sheep, swine and cattle of to-day as 

 compared ?yith those of our boyhood days. We ought to have 

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