Qfficers' ^i^i^lial ^^[?eports. 



1898. 



PRESIDENT'S ANNUAL ADDRESS. 



J. M. UNDERWOOD, LAKE CITY. 



Members of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society: — 



The rapid development of all the material resources of our 

 country during- the past ten years has been shared in a marked 

 degree by the horticultural interests of our state. The forces of 

 improvement and progress permeate the air, and out of the dark 

 clouds of seeming failures and reverses that hung over the 

 fruit interests of Minnesota in its infancy, has burst the morning 

 sunshine of success. The tottering limbs of our horticultural 

 infant have strengthened, and it now stands on an intelligent and 

 firm foundation. Its periodical attacks of colic, accompanied by a 

 panic among its anxious guardians, are now but memories, and at 

 the annual gatherings its windy cries of trouble are heard no more; 

 but sunny smiles wreath its face instead, and ripples of joy and glee 

 bubble up and flow from the well-spring of its heart, shedding its 

 influence far and wide throughout the state. 



There are some planters among us who have often declared that 

 our best varieties of apples were failures, but they are now forced 

 to abandon that position by the abundant returns that they them- 

 selves are receiving from those very varieties, while the persistent 

 and vigilant enthusiasts who, through their determination to 

 succeed earned the worthj'^ title of " cranks," and are now reaping- a 

 rich reward. 



Horticulturists, as a rule, are the most persistent, indomitable 

 class of people engaged in the struggle of developing the hidden 

 resources of nature. Reverses act as a stimulus to them, quickening 

 their efforts and strengthening their determination to persevere 

 until success is achieved. They deem no sacrifice too great that 

 will demonstrate the worthiness of a variety of fruit, and they are 

 firm in unfaltering reliance upon what the future may have in store 

 for them. 



The past thirty years of experience with the pioneers of horticul- 

 ture form an unwritten history that is full of practical lessons, 

 drawn alike from failures and successes. Year by year we have 

 come together for counsel and advice, which have been freely given 

 and gladly received. It is true that we have occasionally become 

 over-zealous in advocating our pet theories, which we firmly 

 believed would revolutionize all other methods of fruit raising, and 

 most of us have experienced a fall from some dizzy height or hobby^. 

 Still, ludicrous blunders will oftimes point a lesson that will prove 

 of inestimable value. 



