TWO MINUTE SPEECHES. 197 



are twenty years old, they are all, I think, of the crab varieties. This 

 past summer I have been out considerably through the smaller towns 

 from St. Cloud south to Albert Lea through the counties of Wright, 

 McLeod, Sibley, Nicollet and Blue Earth, and from what I have 

 seen this summer it has renewed my belief that we can raise apples 

 in this state. I have seen trees of standard apples growing and hung 

 so full that they had to prop up the limbs, and so plentiful that some 

 farmers did not pick them up from under the trees, and I believe 

 Minnesota is yet going to be one of the best apple growing states in 

 the union. I have commenced again to set out apple trees. I set out 

 some two hundred and fifty last spring, and I am going to set out 

 some every year, and I believe I will, eventually, succeed. I am 

 satisfied I never did take hold of the matter right, but through the 

 information I have received here and will receive in the future I 

 believe I can make a success of it. 



Mr. J. S. Harris : I would like to tell something about Capt. 

 Reed, something that will atone for his failure in horticultural 

 practice. Capt. Reed has the honor of being the father of the 

 farmers' institute of this state. (Applause.) He is- the man that 

 got a few of us cranks together before the state would give anything, 

 before anybody would come to an institute, but we held quite a num- 

 ber of institutes at the expense of Capt. Reed, and I know we will all 

 consider that what he did in that direction will amply atone for all 

 his shortcomings in horticulture'. (Applause.) 



Mr. Oliver Gibbs, Wis. : Mr. President, I hardly expected 

 to find my name on the list of prophets in this race. I never thought 

 I would have to come into active service again. When the sharp 

 young man sees an old man coming down the street, and he does not 

 want a reminiscence he takes to the nearest alley, but when two old 

 men meet on the street there is a moment of happy conjunction of 

 venerable heads. When I was visiting with my old friend cx-gov- 

 ernor Turner, of Nebraska, he said to me he thought he had better 

 quit trying to keep up with the crowd, and I thought I would have 

 to follow his example, but I have changed my opinion entirely. I 

 believe the proper thing for us old men to do is to keep right on saw- 

 ing wood and die in our tracks doing it. At the same time bear in 

 mind that we have got to be succeeded by somebody, and we must 

 bring these young men into training to be ahvays ready to step in 

 and take an official position in the horticultural society. 



The Secretary : There have been between thirty and forty 

 young men attending this session ; they are all interested members, 

 and they are going to stay. There is a lot of young blood coming 

 in that is going to help in the future. 



Prof. C. B. Waldron (N. D.) : Mr. President, one of the great- 

 est things that is accomplished by this society is the missionary work 

 that is being done, the extent of whose influence is found through- 

 out the whole northwest. Except for the fact that T had drawn 

 courage and inspiration from my visits and from the reports of this 

 society, I have seen many times in the last ten years when I felt like 

 lying down and giving up every hope of trying to instill any horti- 

 cultural feeling or spirit into the people of North Dakota. Last 



