120 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



All the various plants offered are, with most growers, of an experimental 

 character, and much good should come from their distribution. The society 

 is especially interested in the distribution of apple and plum seedlings, both for 

 grafting and for the growing of new varieties of fruit. 



No selection of premiums can be made until the membership fee is paid, 

 and it is hoped that the full membership may be in and the premiums selected 

 within the time specified. 



New Legislation Reouired bv the Horticui,tural Society. — Bills 

 are now pending before the State Legislature, having been introduced into 

 both Houses, which if they become laws will increase the number of printed 

 reports of the society from 4,000 to 5,000 annually, and the annual money 

 appropriation of the society from the state from $2,000 to $3,000. 



Many facts bearing upon the needs of the society in asking for this 

 legislation have been recited to our members elsewhere. These increases are 

 imperatively needed if the society is to go on with its work developing along 

 the lines heretofore followed with such success, and we are assured of the 

 hearty support of the membership in securing them. Many members have to 

 our knowledge already communicated with the members of the Legislature from 

 their respective districts in regard to these matters, urging the passage of these 

 bills. Any others who have not as yet done so and would like to see the 

 society prosper are urged to write at once to their representatives in both the 

 House and Senate, very briefly, asking their support to these measures. 



With a membership of 1,800, a library of 2,000 volumes and the work in 

 many lines connected with the offices of the society, the association finds itself 

 very much cramped by the present conditions of things; and the assistance 

 which each individual member can give to the bringing about of an improve- 

 ment in these conditions will contribute to that extent to the continued success 

 and growth of the association, and the advancement of the purposes for which 

 it exists, covering, as they do, the entire range of horticulture in the state. 



Large Money Prizes for Pi,um and Cherry Seedlings.— Private par- 

 ties are following in the footsteps of the horticultural society in extending 

 encouragement to the originators of new fruits. At the last annual meeting of 

 our society Mr. C. M.Loring, of Minneapolis, offered a premium of $100, to be 

 awarded to the originator of an improved variety of seedling plum 

 according to conditions to be presciibed by the executive board of the 

 society. There has been considerable correspondence as to these cordiliors, 

 and they are practically decided upon and will be announced at an early date. 

 To add still greater zest to this pursuit, the Jewell Nursery Coxnpany now 

 comes forward with an offer of $1,000 for a new seedling plum of practically the 

 same description as is required to secure the $100 prize above referred 

 to. The exact details of this offer are not yet announced, but the fruit will cer. 

 tainly have to be something nice, and the tree productive and hardy, to win 

 this prize, and it is possible that it will require a cross between the native 

 American plum and the Japanese, Domestica or some other semi-hardy sort to 

 secure the qualities demanded. That success along this line, in meeting the 

 required conditions, is possible is the judgment of local plum experts who 

 have considered the matter. While this award will not be made by the soci- 

 ety, the judges selected will be admittedly as well qualified for the task as any 

 in the northwest, being Messrs. Wyman Elliot, J. M. Underwood, Profs. N. E. 

 Hansen and Samuel B. Green. Save plum seeds (and cherry seeds too, as the 

 same amount is offered for a cherry seedling) of desirable sorts, and prepare 

 to make crosses with whatever offers promise of successful results. You will 

 find it a fascinating pursuit, if you win no money prize, and rejoice in this 

 newly discovered means of wholesome enjoyment. 



