THREE NOTED HORTICULTURISTS. 95 
shaking hands with the old people. I shall never forget that occasion while 
I attend meetings in Minnesota or anywhere else. 
Last year at your meeting he came in at yonder door, he was noticed 
by the audience as he walked up that aisle and took his seat close up here. 
‘The president, Mr. Underwood, gave an intermission of ten minutes and 
asked the members to rise and shake hands with Mr. Gideon. Now when 
that audience shook hands with him they acted as though they appreciated 
his work, they then felt he was entitled to honor, and they felt honored by 
his presence. 
Perhaps no one was more impressed with Mr. Gideon’s presence at 
your last fair than I was. I went and sat down beside him, and I think I 
spent an hour with him at two sittings. He had before told me time and 
time again that while the fairs permitted horse racing and gambling he 
would not exhibit. I said to him, “You have considerable fruit here, Mr. 
Gideon.” > “Yes, I know,” he replied, “but I am not showing for a pre- 
mium. I want to show the people that peaches can be raised in Minnesota, 
and I have some new seedlings here that some of you have never seen. The 
people of Minnesota have been so good to me, and perhaps I have said things 
I should not have said: no doubt I have. I am not showing these apples 
for a premium. I have been in straightened circumstances, I have been 
burned out and have lived alone out there, yet not only the people of Min- 
nesota, but of other states have said good things about me and made me 
some donations which I appreciate. You said good things about me at 
Omaha, and I have come to make this show because I appreciate what has 
been thought and said of me.”’ I then noticed that a tear was trickling down 
from each eye over his wrinkled cheeks. I do not know whether he had a 
presentiment that that would be the last meeting he would ever attend in 
Minnesota. I saw he was failing, but I little thought he would leave us so 
soon, or, as he insisted, I would have gone home with him to see his seed- 
lings which he loved so much. He believed he had spirit communications 
and he believed he was directed in his work by a higher power than the 
words of the Minnesota Horticultural Society or any one in the flesh. 
There is one incident that I often think of which happened at one time 
‘while I was visiting him. It was my first visit to his place and in going 
along the walk there was a toad sitting right beside the path. “Now,” said 
he, “step around on this side so we do not disturb that toad. That fellow,” 
he said, “stays here all the time; he is the best friend I have, for he catches 
many injurious insects, and he works for nothing—I do not have to pay him 
a cent.” It struck me then that only a kind hearted man would step out 
of his way to give a toad a chance. That little incident convinced me that 
Mr. Gideon was a kind hearted man; and his gifts of flowers that day to the 
school children ratified my opinion of him. 
I will say nothing of the Wealthy apple; that has been spoken of here 
before. I made a specialty of showing northern seedlings at Omaha. Pro- 
fessor Taylor was asked three years ago at the Wisconsin meeting what 
the value was of all the seedlings grown in the north, to which he replied 
they were not worth fifteen cents. When I thought of how men like Mr. 
Gideon and others had been spending the best part of their lives in propagat- 
ing seedlings I felt as though the judgment of Mr. Taylor was very harsh. 
He tried to modify his statement by saying that the men who originated the 
seedlings had never made fifteen cents. Perhaps that was true. I never 
