320 secretary's corner. 



A Vacancy Filled in the Executive Board. — At tho semi-annual meet- 

 ing of the executive board of this society, held in the secretary's office on the 

 evening of July 1st last, Thos. E. Cashman, of Owatonna, was by a unani- 

 mous vote of the board chosen to fill the vacancy on the board caused by the 

 death of Mr. Frdnk Yahnke. This appointment will hold good until the 

 next annual meeting of the society in December next. 



IN Pkizes for the Children's Contest.— An industrial contest 

 for Minnesota boys and girls is being carried on this year in the "Farmers' 

 Club," an organization composed of those who have attended the Minnesota 

 Farm School. This contest is being worked up with the assistance of the 

 county superintendents of the state, who are seeking to interest as many 

 boys and girls in their respective districts as they can to participate in the 

 contest. The prizes offered aggregate $1,400, and are divided into some four 

 hundred cash jjrizes, which cover not only the products of the soil, corn and 

 other grains, vegetables and fruit, but also includes lines which belong to 

 especially to the girls, in cooking and sewing. The executive board of the 

 horticultural society look upon this as a good means of interesting the young 

 in horticulture and have appropriated SlOO to be suitably divided as premi- 

 ums upon exhibits of fruit, a condition being that the fruit shown must have 

 been grown on the home farm of the contestant and selected by him for this 

 contest. The premium list for this contest has not yet been received. When 

 it is, it is the purpose to publish the portion of it in which our readers have a 

 special interest. Any inc^uiries for premium list or information as to this 

 contest may be addressed to the "Farmers' Clnb," St, Anthony Park, Minn 



Selection op Land for Fruit Breeding Farm. — After examination of 

 a number of tracts offered for this purpose, the executive board of this soci- 

 ety selected and recommended to the regents a tract of land lying almost 

 immdiately adjoining Zumbra station on the Minneapolis and St. Louis Road. 

 The tract comprises the farm of Daniel Fink, eighty-five acres, also a piece of 

 twenty acres and another of ten acres contiguous to this farm. Six members 

 of the executive board were able, at difl'erent times, to personally in.spect the 

 tract, and they agree unanimously that it is especially well adapted to the 

 purpose for which it is to be used. It is located in what is called "big woods" 

 region, soil growing naturally hard maple and basswood, though this farm 

 has been under cultivation long enough so that the fields are entirely free 

 from stumps and roots. The land has been well cared for and its fertihty 

 kept up. The location is a very high one, approximating one hundred feet 

 above the level of Lake Minnetonka from which it is distant, however, per- 

 haps a mile, though there are one or two small lakes lying between it and 

 Lake Minnetonka. Notwithstanding the elevation of this tract and the gen- 

 erally rough character of the region in which it lies, it is a comparatively 

 level one, not sloping any more than is necessary for good drainage. This 

 fact, with the splendid air drainage provided by the low ground around it, 

 the peculiar character of its soil, etc., make it especially well adapted for 

 orchard experimentation -as well as other fruit breeding purposes. Tliere is a 

 good eight room hous-e on the premises, facing west en the rcf.d Ircm 

 Zumbra station, from which it is only a few rods distant. Besides this road 

 there is also one coming through the tract from the east, and when the addi- 

 tional land referred to is purchased a part of the farm will also lie on the 

 west side of the road first referred to. There is excellent communication 

 between here and Minneapolis either over.the St. Louis road or by electric line 

 and boat via Lake Minnetonka. The board of regents have purchased the 

 eighty -five acre tract referred to, the remaining land to be bought later, it is 

 understood. 



