Cfecretary's (®orqer. 



Our Membership for 1904. — The annual membership roll for 1,904 at 

 this date, March 16, stands at 1,349, which is 2S0 ahead of last year at this 

 time. Have you sent in the name of a new member this year as yet ? 



Condition of the Perkins' Seedlings. — A letter from Mr. T. E. 

 Perkins, of Red Wing, under date of March 12, says: "I have been out look- 

 ing over my trees and find them in fine condition, hardly a twig killed." We 

 hope to secure a fine show of fruit from this seedling orchard for display at 

 the St. Louis Exposition in the coming fall months. 



Constance Horticultural Club. — This club has been in existance 

 several years and has renewed its vitality again for the year 1904 with sixteen 

 members. Constance is located a few miles northeast of Anoka. They hold 

 regular meetings every two weeks. The oilicers elected for the year are as 

 follows: D. G. Williams, president; Robert Swanson, vice-president; John 

 Sim^ason, secretary; Gust Johnson, treasurer; Sam Severson, librarian. 



Shipment to the St. Louis Exposition. ^The material that is to go 

 into the structure upon which to display Minnesota fruits at the St, Louis 

 Exposition was shipped by itself in a car over the St. Louis road, leaving 

 Minneapolis March 15. The car contained also, in eleven cases, the fruit put 

 up in glass jars which is to be used with this exhibit. It is expected that the 

 car Avill be in St. Louis by the 19th and if everything goes well the structure 

 will be completed by the 5th of April. The exposition opens the 30th of 

 April, which allows a large margin. 



Selecting Strawberry Plants for Setting New Beds. — "Select 

 plants grown on new ground and that have had good cultivation. Do not use 

 old plants, but only those which were grown the previous year. If you select 

 such plants and plant them on good ground and take good care of them, and 

 plant such varieties as Senator Dunlap, Sample, Clyde, Bederwood, Lovett, 

 Warfield and Splendid, you will have a fine crop of berries as I did the last 

 year, i<^o3, when I raised 11,000 quarts on a little over one acre — and if my 

 plants had a 'pedigree' I did not know it." A. Brackett, Excelsior. 



Plum Pocket. — Plum pocket is caused by a fungous disease. The same 

 fungus also causes leaf curl on peaches. This latter form of it has been 

 almost entirely prevented by the following treatment: Spray in the spring — 

 at least two weeks before the buds expand — with a solution of sulphate of 

 copper at the rate of one pound to twenty-five gallons of water; or spray with 

 Bordeaux mixture made of five pDunds of lime, five pounds of sulphate of cop- 

 per and twenty-five gallons of water. In applying this material it is very 

 important to apply it two or three weeks before the buds expand, and do it so 

 thoroughly that every twig and bud and crevice in the twigs shall be wet. 

 Prof. Newton B. Pierce, the most eminent expert along this line, believes that 

 plum pocket can be entirely prevented by this treatment. As this disease is 

 especially troublesome in some parts of Minnesota at this time, I hope that 

 miny will try this prevention and report their results to the secretary of the 

 Horticultural Society at an early date. Prof. Samuel B. GrEEN. 



