JOURNAL OF ANNUAL MEETING, I9O3. 5O9 



and they told me there were no apples on those trees yet. I thought 

 it would be too bad to disappoint them, so this fall I went along- and 

 stuck some apples on the limbs and the little girls found them. I 

 have a daughter who has been living here eighteen years, and that 

 is one reason why I am here so often. I have enjoyed this meeting 

 wonderfully well. As I said before, I wish more of the people of 

 this city could have seen this wonderful display of apples you have 

 here. There are ten thousand people in this city who ought to have 

 seen it. 



The Chairman: I believe we appreciate Mr. Kellogg's pres- 

 ence just as much as he enjoys our meetings. We hope to see him 

 here for many years. I am now going to call on Mr. Ditus Day, the 

 oldest member of the Minnesota Horticultural Society. 



Mr. Ditus Day : Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : I am 

 glad to meet with you. I was one of the first members of this so- 

 ciety, and I wish to say to you today that I have always looked for- 

 ward to these meetings and enjoyed them, and I enjoy being with 

 you today. I have not taken an active part or had much to say in the 

 meetings' of the society for the past few years, but years ago I had 

 considerable to say ; and of late years I have found that others have 

 taken my place who can talk better and serve you better than I can. 

 When I wish to speak on a subject sometimes the words fail to come 

 td my mind which I wish to use to express my ideas. Therefore I 

 have not endeavored to take any part in the discussions, but never- 

 theless I have enjoyed myself tremendously. I recall to mind when 

 we used to meet in the early days of this society there were only a 

 few of us, but we were full of hope and enthusiasm. There is only 

 one person here who was present w^hen the society was organized, 

 and that is Mr. Wyman Elliot, and another one, A. W. Sias, is living 

 in Florida. As I said before, only a few of us met, but our hearts 

 were in the v/ork. Some people thought we were foolish to try to 

 raise fruit, but notwithstanding discouragements we persevered. 

 My brother-in-law, Capt. Aldrich, used to say to me, "Ditus, why do 

 you spend so much time going to those horticultural meetings? I 

 can sow an acre of wheat and with the proceeds buy more apples 

 than you can raise in twenty years." There were many others who 

 practically told me the same thing, and I recollect that thirty years 

 ago there was a general impression that we could not raise fruit 

 in Minnesota, but we have succeeded wonderfully, even beyond our 

 own hopes and expectations. I have met a number of my old asso- 

 ciates and have enjoyed myself very much, and before I sit down I 

 wish to thank you, gentlemen, for the privilege of saying these few- 

 words to you. (Applause.) 



The Chairman : We are very much pleased to hear these words 

 from Mr. Day. It gives us fresh courage and inspiration when we 

 compare our present conditions with those of thirty and forty years 

 ago, when v/e still have some of the pioneers in the work with us 

 to urge us on. I am now going to ask Mr. Frank Yahnke to say a 

 few words. He is always ready to say the right thing. 



Mr. Frank Yahnke : Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen : 

 The highest honor that was ever bestowed on me, the biggest bouquet 

 ever thrown at me, was at the time our late president, Prof. Pender- 



