ANNUAL MEETING, PLANT BREEDERS' AUXILIARY. 17 



ANNUAL MEETING, 1906, OF PLANT BREEDERS' 



AUXILIARY. 



CLARENCE WEDGE, ALBERT LEA, SECY. 



The first meeting of this "Inner Circle" of our State Horti- 

 cultural Society occupied the greater part of ^he Friday afternoon 

 session and was in every respect exceedingly encouraging and 

 gratifying to those interested in the success of this new move- 

 ment. It was very appropriately preceded by a lesson in hand 

 pollination, given by Mr. Max Pfaender, of the School of Agri- 

 culture, illustrated with beautiful enlarged models as well as with 

 the real flowers, which was given the closest attention by a large 

 group of interested members. It is to be hoped that these lessons 

 may become a permanent feature of the winter meetings, and pos- 

 sibly an hour of such work done in the open with the actual 

 flowers might be made a useful addition to our short summer pro- 

 gram. 



President J. M. Underwood in his address brought to the atten- 

 tion of plant breeders the value of a plant register kept on lines sim- 

 ilar to those of the herd registers of the animal breeders. Such a 

 register would in time serve a valuable purpose in giving plant breed- 

 ers a knowledge of the "blood lines" combined in the individuals 

 with which they may be working. 



V The report of the secretary showed a membership of sixty-eight 

 gathered during the year, and a general success with the seed dis- 

 tributed by the society. Nearly all the members are working on the 

 apple problem, but the plum and lesser fruits are occupying the at- 

 tention of a goodly share of the members also. 



The program was of exceptional interest and strength, "breed- 

 ing for hardiness," in its broad sense, being the subject given most 

 attention. x\s a closing number Prof. Samuel B. Green gave a re- 

 sume of the plant breeding work undertaken by the central station 

 during the past year, at the close of which by a unanimous rising 

 vote the society endorsed a resolution asking the legislature to ap- 

 propriate a sum sufficienti to buy and maintain a tract of land to 

 be used by the horticultural department of the university for plant 

 breeding purposes. 



The retiring officers were unanimously re-elected. And when 

 the president called for volunteers to join in the good work- of the 

 society, over forty responded by rising to their feet and giving 



