488 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Now Mr,. E. D. Covvles from that "dry" state is with us, and we 

 like to know what tidings he brings from the state of South Da- 

 kota. 



Mr. E. D. Cowles (S. D.) : We are glad to know of your en- 

 thusiasm. I have learned this, that whenever our tree men meet 

 the one nearest him reaches out his hands to the one nearest his 

 house. If a tree man comes through he will stop to see your or- 

 chard. I have a little orchard, and I think it is going to be a suc- 

 cess. We are trying to help our farmers. I have just told you 

 what we did this winter. An agent comes into our neighborhood 

 and tries to sell some stock. If it is not what the society recom- 

 mends the farmers let him alone. One man who had an orchard 

 of four hundred plum trees realizes that he made a mistake since 

 all his trees have been killed. In our work we have tried to make 

 it helpful to the farmer, and we have gone to the extreme in one 

 direction. We even have a rule that nurserymen should not be 

 members of our society. If I had not been a nurseryman I think 

 I should have been president. I calculate to get my dollar's worth 

 here before I go home. 



The President : We see, according to Mr. Cowles, that tree 

 peddlers sometimes make mistakes ; they do not get hold of the 

 right kind of a victim. It is like the story of the two Irishmen who 

 at one time met in going over a bridge. Said one, "How are ye, 

 Mr. O'Flaherty?" "How are ye, Mister Finnegan?" "How is the 

 woife and the children, Mr. O'Flaherty?" "O, purty good, purty 

 good, Mr. Finnegan, but I am not Mr. O'Flaherty." "Nayther am 

 Oi Mr. Finnegan." "O, bedad, Oi thawt it was you and you 

 thawt it was Oi, and it turned out to be nayther wan av us." 

 (Laughter.) 



Now we have with us Mr. G. H. Purdy representing the North- 

 eastern Iowa society. We do not want to do anything to offend 

 our sister state of Iowa. When I was on the western coast it was 

 a great honor to come from Iowa, and some people that came from 

 the next state south said they came from Iowa, but they gave it all 

 away the first time they opened their mouths. 



Mr. G. H. Purdy (Iowa) : I am afraid I shall do the same as 

 those people the president speaks of. I should consider myself for- 

 tunate in being omitted from this part of the exercises, and I wrote 

 your secretary that I .was not accustomed to making speeches. I 

 simply wish to say that I am very glad to be here, that I admire 

 the enthusiasm you display, and I shall go home with a very pleasant 

 recollection of your meeting and with a fund of new and useful 

 knowledge. As I told you, I am not a speech maker, and therefore 

 I beg to be excused. 



The President: Well, Mr. Purdy, we are very glad to hear 

 from you and to make your acquaintance, and we hope you will likf* 

 it so well that you will come again. 



We have another South Dakota man with us, Mr. Whiting, and I 

 am going to ask him to sav a few words to us to cheer us along. 



Mr. G. H. Whiting (S. D.) : I think it is rather an imposition 

 on the good nature of these people to take up their valuable time in 



