348 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and horticultural professorships are much in the back ground, the 

 field being occupied by the amateur workers. What little govern- 

 ment aid there is doled out is in the main given in small parcels to 

 various general educational schools. We are bound to lead them 

 in horticultural pedagogics, and their best men sorrowfully admit 

 the fact. 



While we may be able to push ahead of them in the science of 

 horticulture,we cannot hope to do so in its practice. Their long train- 

 ing, their cheap labor, their more salubrious climate, their larger 

 markets and their long experience with the things they are growing, 

 gives them the lead. Then, too, they are here near this great center 

 where the libraries, the botanic gardens, the large meetings and the 

 much communication permissible by their short distances, enables 

 the individual to learn much from others. As I listened to the ven- 

 erable men of their society tell of the growth and achievements of 

 the organization, I thought of the reminiscences of our older mem- 

 bers. Taking everything into account, the Minnesota Horticultural 

 Society has done a wonderful work for the people of the state. If 

 Uncle Harris and his elderly fellow members of the Minnesota 

 society could be in the meetings and shows of the Royal Horticul- 

 tural Society, they would go home feeling none the less proud of 

 having led in the growing of apples, plums, small fruits and flowers 

 in the north star state. Peter Gideon would have felt at home in 

 the international conference of plant breeders. His intensely prac- 

 tical work would have interested these men, many of whom see only 

 the scientific principles involved. 



The Royal Horticultural Society did a good thing in calling this 

 conference. The American representatives have their heads to- 

 gether for a similar meeting on our side. I only wish we might 

 have it in Minnesota. Plant breeding is in a great boom. The 

 Americans were complimented for their keen sense of the practical. 

 Later on I hope to present to the society a brief report of the plant 

 breeders' conference. 



The English people constantly express their warm feeling of 

 friendship for America. They did this constantly in the meetings 

 and banquets and before the representatives of other nations, I 

 sometimes feared to the discomfiture of the latter. 



Remedy for Bokers. — Where the trees have a rough bark,remove 

 all the projections by scraping with some blunt instrument. Then 

 scrub the trunk and the lower part of the limbs with a mixture 

 made by mixing 1 quart of soft soap or 1 pound of hard soap with 

 2 gallons of water, and after the mixture has been heated to boiling 

 add 1 pint of crude carbolic acid. A small amount of Paris green 

 and lime may be added to this, if desired. With the scrubbing 

 brush apply this mixture to the trees late in May or early in June 

 and then twice at intervals of two or three weeks thereafter. The 

 object of these applications is to prevent the laying of eggs and the 

 hatching of grubs. 



