412 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of scarlet flowers throughout the early part of the summer. It 

 seems to be perfectly hardy, and well adapted for places w^iere a 

 delicate rather than a heavy foliage climber is wanted. After the 

 flowers have gone, the fruit clusters are quitr as ornamental as in 

 most other plants of this class. 



THE SOUTHERN MINNESOTA HORTICULTURAL 

 SOCIETY. 



JONATHAN FREEMAN, DEI.EGATE, AUSTIN. 



The eighth annual meeting of the Southern ^Minnesota Horti- 

 cultural Society w'as held at Austin, Nov, 20, 21 and 22, 1900. 



Although I was elected a delegate to your honorable body at 

 the previous meeting held at Albert Lea, still, because of a trial 

 change of time of meeting, my successor will pardon me for appar- 

 ently and necessarily trespassing upon his field, in reporting the acts 

 and doings of our society to the present. 



Although the organization was a full fledgling from its first 

 meeting proper, still, as told by our worthy friend and its god- 

 father, Mr. C. Wedge, the surroundings at its birth were rather 

 unprepossessing and discouraging. But, as suggested before, after 

 it had an existence, through the nurturing care and strenuous ef- 

 forts of its Wedge, Kimball, Hawkins and others, in connection 

 with encouraging visits and actual vital assistance from active hor- 

 ticulturists in other parts of our own state, and especially from 

 those in several northeast counties of Iowa, it has grown and la- 

 bored most of the time like a young athlete. As a state organiza- 

 tion, in numbers I believe you stand at the head of the class, and 

 we opine that we are assisting you well in retaining that position 

 by our numbers of ninety-seven, sixty-three and seventy-two, sev- 

 erally, for the years '98, '99 and 1900. 



Nevertheless we are crest-fallen when we observe our decrease 

 instead of increase in numbers since 1898. We are anxiously in- 

 quiring of each other, "What's the matter?" Why are we also illus- 

 trating the facts of history and astronomy, by an "ebb and flow 

 of tide," or the "perigee and apogee of the moon," in human and 

 earthly aft'airs? And while this is true, those who do attend gen- 

 erally acknowledge that the programs as prepared and executed 

 have continued to improve, being deeply interesting and highly in- 

 structive. 



Now, because of the wide expanse that the state organization 

 covers, don't you flatter yourselves too much and be led to depre- 

 ciate us somewhat because of our limited field. Please remember 



