ANNUAL MEETING, I9O3, WOMAN S AUXILIARY. 33 



ANNUAL MEETING, 1903, WOMAN'S AUXILIARY. 



The Woman's Auxiliary had charge of the Wednesday afternoon 

 meeting, a session that has come to be an especially enjoyable feature 

 of the winter gathering. Miss Emma V. White, the president, 

 opened the meeting with a few pleasant words of greeting, in- 

 geniously weaving into her remarks the topics that were to be pre- 

 sented. She said : 



"The Woman's Auxiliary of the Minnesota State Horticultural 

 Society, unlike the parent society, can boast neither great numbers 

 nor power, yet, like that of the women in the homes, we hope our 

 influence though not so patent is no less, potent. At least we hope 

 we are no discredit to the horticultural society. 



"It has become a custom for us to conduct one session of the 

 annual meeting, a concession I think that at first was somewhat 

 grudgingly granted, but we believe that even the greatest of the 

 horticultural cranks enjoy our program, and some were gallant 

 enough to say last year that we had the best session of the week. 



"As the ladies are supposed to be the ornamental part of creation, 

 so it is fitting that in our auxiliary we emphasize the ornamental in 

 horticulture, and that is what our Organization stands for — to further 

 to the extent of our limited ability the extension of town and village 

 improvement work, the beautifying of our school and home grounds, 

 whether country, village or city, and to foster the beautiful in nature, 

 leaving to our brothers the more practical things in horticulture. 



"So we do not come to you with lengthy papers about best 

 methods of tree grafting, but to bring to mind something of their 

 intimate and, I may say, their personal relation to us ; not to talk 

 learnedly about budding, but rather of the budding of the beautiful 

 June roses, the modest wood flowers or the gorgeous paeonies ; 

 not about how we can get rid of the birds that sometimes have a 

 free feast on our strawberries or raspberries, but how we may pro- 

 tect these, 'our summer boarders,' and perpetuate their beautiful 

 notes ; not how every inch of space may be utilized for orchard or 

 garden, but how we may improve and beautify the home surround- 

 ings ; not to find out how some farmer grudgingly cuts off a corner 

 from the least inviting part of his farm for a school site, but to 

 learn how to select the most desirable spot, and how to care for and 

 improve the grounds ; not to talk about how many onions or cabbages 

 can be raised in the limited area of a town lot, but to show something 

 of the health-giving pleasures of garden work — and we feel that 

 these things are quite as important as the other work of the societv. 

 We may say of the practical, 'This ought ye to do,' but also of the 

 aesthetic, 'these things ought ye not to leave undone.' 



"So we thank you, gentlemen of the societv, for sfiving the ladies 

 a part of the program, and for your respectful and interested atten- 

 tion always so freely manifested." 



The ladies were fortunate in being able to borrow the services 

 of some of the horticultural brethren, who lent their aid to the 

 program. Rev. C. S. Harrison, the well-known paeony expert of 



