STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 59 



bility of fruit raisin^i here, and that Minnesota cannot be beaten 

 in the United States for the beauty and high quality of its fruits. 

 This, it seems, would be of immense pecuniary advantage to the 

 State in the encouragement of emigration, and gratifying to the 

 pride of its people, sufficient to justiij' the legislature in making a 

 special appropriation for the purpose. The legislature of Michigan 

 appropriated one thousand dollars for a display of its fruits at the 

 Boston meeting in 1881, to be expended under the direction of the 

 Governor, and a committee of five gentlemen, headed by President 

 Lyon of the Horticultural Society of that State, was appointed by 

 the Governor to gather up such an exhibition as they deemed best 

 and take it forward to the meeting. The State was divided into 

 districts, and a collection of fruit obtained that carried off the 

 highest honors. We cannot of course expect to compete with 

 Michigan in number of varieties, but we can challenge the world 

 to excel such as we do raise, and can now silence the taunt "you 

 can't raise fruit in Minnesota!" and do it effectively, if the legisla- 

 will provide means to pay the necessary expenses. 



THE REPORT FOR 1882. 



The president has alluded to the unsatisfactory appearance of 

 the volume of transactions for 1882. The use of so much fine type 

 was occasioned by an overestimate made by the State Printer as 

 to the number of printed pages that Secretary Hollister's manu- 

 script would fill, and an apparent necessity for crowding the 

 matter in consequence. A careful estimate need not vary ma- 

 terially from the actual space required, and one such occurrence as 

 this cutting down ofuur report and introduction of fine type for 

 the body of the matter may bo a good hint to future secretaries to 

 made their own count and to request of the public printer that he 

 give us a book that will be more comfortable for the eyes of the 

 old folks. 



The manuscript was furnished to Mr. Cunningham immediately 

 after my appointment as acting secretary, and with the exception 

 of two days' delay in one case the corrected proof sheets were re- 

 turned to him by the first mail after their receipt. The first copies 

 of the work in paper covers were furnished in November and those 

 in cloth binding are but just received. 



IMPROVEMENT IN STYLE — AN EARLIER ISSUE FOR 1883. 



In regard to an earlier publication hereafter, the public printers 

 for this year, 1883, Johnson, Smith & Harrison, of Minneapolis, 



