164 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



nomenclature he occupied places for a long term of years which it 

 will be exceedingly difficult to fill with anything like equal ability 

 and effectiveness. Indeed, in what field was he not of infinite use to 

 this society ? We shall sadly miss him in every branch of our work, 

 which he loved so well. The life of the society was in large meas- 

 ure his life, and its reports teem with his thoughtful words and the 

 productions of his facile pen. 



As an attendant at the meetings of the society he had a re- 

 markable record, with one unavoidable exception, as far as the writer 

 can learn, never having failed to be present at the annual gatherings 

 of the society since its organization in 1866. 



As to what Mr. Harris has done for the pomology of the state 

 we will let his own words speak in a scrap of his penciling that has 

 come into our hands since his death : 



"I have spent more than one-half of a reasonable long life and 

 the best years of it in helping to work out the problem of successful 

 pomology for Minnesota. From the first planting made in 1857 

 which consists of apple, pear, plums and grapes, down to the present 

 time my work has been largely experimental, and I have given every 

 variety a trial that I could get hold of that offered any reasonable 

 hope of succeeding under any conditions, and in that time have 

 planted thousands of trees and hundreds of varieties." 



Mr. Harris' name is a household word throughout the northwest 

 with all who have any interest in its horticultural development. His 

 valuable services were recognized beyond the boundaries of our own 

 state and even those of the contiguous states. Few pomologists of 

 the day in this country had a wider a acquaintance, and none are more 

 highly respected and loved for a sturdy honesty, a wise discernment, 

 and a kindly heart. 



Other words which should and sometime will be said about the 

 life and work of this lamented one are left by the writer to a more 

 eloquent pen, though no one has it more in heart to write them. This 

 death comes as personal loss to each one who knew him, but to no 

 one outside the immediate family circle more than to the writer. In 

 his memory is found a precious legacy, an inspiration and a hope, 

 and this he is leaving to each of us who still "linger on the shore." 



Mr. Harris was married on Dec. 24, 1851, to Miss Melissa J. 



Clayton, who still survives him, as also four children, Mrs. Emma 



J, Webster and Mr. Frank I. Harris, of La Crescent, Minn. ; Mr. 



Eugene E. Harris, of Galesville, Wis. ; and Mrs. Ida May Robinson, 



of Money Creek, Minn. 



A. W. Latham, Sec'y. 



' "Were you to ask me who has been the most constant and suc- 

 cessful exhibitor of beautiful "object lessons" before the agricultural 



