502 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



The President : If there is no further discussion Mr. Under- 

 wood has asked the privilege of bringing before us an interesting 

 matter in connection with the Gideon Memorial Fund, and it seems 

 to me very good to take this matter up in place of an intermission. 



Mr. Underwood : I have been in hearty sympathy with what 

 has been said upon this Gideon memorial subject as Mr. Philips 

 spoke of it last evening, and I think I was the one who took the 

 initiative in seeking to place a fund with the state agricultural school, 

 the interest of which should be given as a prize or something of that 

 kind to perpetuate the memory of Peter M. Gideon. I thought I 

 might enlist your sympathy and interest in this subject a little more 

 if I went about it in a practical way. We happened to have a barrel 

 of Wealthy apples on hand that were sent up here and placed in 

 cold storage as an experiment, and I rolled it out here and piled 

 the apples up on the table, and I want you all to have a Wealthy ap- 

 ple to take home with you or eat it here, as you choose. In regard to 

 this particular fruit this is just as it was picked from the tree ; there 

 was nothing selected for this occasion. I wish it might have been a 

 choicer barrel. You will notice some little spots on some of the 

 apples ; that is due to freezing in cold storage. I hope you will enjoy 

 the apples, and I hope you will feel still more interested in the 

 Gideon memorial fund. I hope others will say something on this 

 subject more than I can say. 



Mr. C. M. Loring: My object in saying a few words is to ex- 

 press my appreciation of the very fine avtdience we have had. The 

 forestry branch of this association is always crowded off to the last 

 end of a long session. I wanted to impress upon the minds of the 

 members of this society the necessity for doing something for that 

 branch of the organization. I remember hearing the story of a rail- 

 road man who had been a pretty rough character, but who had ex- 

 perienced religion and became a very active member of the church. 

 He got a lot of the railroad boys in and he was asked at one time to 

 pass the contribution box, and as he started around the church he 

 said, "I want you to be liberal ; religion is free, but it costs like the 



d 1 to run the church." (Laughter.) The forestry association 



wants a little money, and they want it for the purpose of sending 

 out literature. I wish the members of this society would join the 

 independent organization of the forestry association. A dollar or 

 even fifty cents from each member of the society would give us a 

 fund which would enable us to send out literature and eventually 

 make the state more beautiful; 



Mr. C. M. Loring offered the following resolution of respect to 

 the retiring president, W. W. Pendergast : 



Whereas : Our honored fellow member, Mr. W. W. Pendergast, 

 who has for the past four years served this society in the most satis- 

 factory manner as its president has declined a re-election, now 

 therefore, be it 



Resolved: That the thanks of this society are hereby tendered 

 to the retiring president for the able, dignified, and impartial manner 

 in which he has presided over its deliberations, and that by his 

 courtesy and kindness in the discharge of the important duties of the 



