SECRETARY S ANNUAL REPORT. 29 



the old days is the amount received from advertising^ in connec- 

 tion with our monthly, which this year anioimted tc $213.76. 



The growth of the society may also be well typified in its 

 library ; in fact, sixteen years ago there v.as no librarv whatever 

 except whatever surplus of Minnesota reports were being held for 

 the benefit of new life members. Neither had the society an office 

 except such as the secretary might make for it in his home. And 

 it was not until the third year of my secretaryship that the nucleus 

 of a library began, occupying a few shelves in a small office ad- 

 joining the office of Mr. Wyman Elliot. A year later the ef- 

 forts for securing exchanges and volumes from other societies — 

 the work of the society developing also in other ways — had borne 

 such fruit that it seemed wise to enlarge the accommodations for 

 the library and open an office, which was done by securing a room 

 in the Kasota building, the one that is still occupied for these pur- 

 poses. 



The work of the society and the grov/th of the library, has 

 much over-filled this office, and it has overflowed into a smaller 

 room across the hall, and into storage accommodations elsewhere ; 

 but we are loath to go from a spot where our friends know where 

 to find us, and so we stay on in the old place. The walls of the 

 office are covered with book shelves, open shelve? for newspapers 

 and magazine exchanges, files of station reports, interspersed with 

 portraits of many veteran members, etc. As Mr. Wyman El- 

 liot says, "It is our work-shop," and indeed it has much that 

 appearance. 



Of late years, large interest has developed in the matter of 

 growing new and improved varieties of fruits adapted to Minne- 

 sota, other methods of developing a local pomology having been 

 tried more extensively during the earlier years of the history of 

 the society. Some six or seven years ago $i,ooc was ofifered for 

 a certain seedling apple, and there are now forty-nine registered 

 competitors for this prize (three new on.es only for this year), 

 none of them seeming so far to be within probable reach of it. A 

 later development in the same direction, which promises inter- 

 esting results, is the offer of $100 a year ^or the best winter seed- 

 ling apple, for a succession of years, the first prize to be awarded in 

 1912, each seedling competing for this prize to be grown from 

 a known parentage. There have been a goodly number of entries 

 ander this competition, amounting at this time to 155. The num- 

 ber is still increasing, and we anticipate that it will continue to 



