442 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



even, of the natural parching heats of summer and winter's cold 

 tempests, all who come within their charmed precinct. Such selec- 

 tion of trees and such disposal of them will call for the wisest 

 planning, the best judgment, the highest skill. Tree planting can be 

 done in a hap-hazard, slipshod way, by Tom, Dick and Harry, but 

 did we not set out with the full determination to do a little better 

 than the "ignoble vulgar," whom the poet Horace so heartily despis- 

 ed? Were we not, if possible, to surpass the very elect? Then we 

 must educate ourselves by persistent, concentrated thought based 

 on demonstrated facts, which is, in fact, the only education of any 

 value. 



The various fruit trees must be increased in hardiness of root, 

 stem and bud, in size and beauty, in flavor and keeping qualities of 

 the fruits. Desirable exotics should be sought out, introduced and 



made to feel themselves at home with us, but above all our native 

 kinds, the old friends we have loved from childhood, and, would it be 

 too much to say, "who have reciprocated that affection," should 



be carefully cultivated, their faces made more charming, their 

 fragrance more delightful, their season prolonged, their hardiness, 

 where they are not already iron clad, increased. 



How shall these desirable improvements be brought about? 

 How does nature, unaided by man, manage to effect a change for 

 the better in the growth and vigor of her plants ? Supposing a neg- 

 lected part of the garden is filled with mustard seed, a hundred or 

 more to the square foot. All of these cannot live, grow to their nor- 

 mal height, bear seeds and thus answer their life's great end. Watch 

 carefully day by day, and you will see that the strongest and most 

 vigorous crowd out and overpower the weaker ones, which are 

 doomed thereby to death. Those best fitted to their surroundings, 

 as shown by their superior vitality and consequent thriftiness, live to 

 reproduce their kind ; and this process, continued year after year, 

 gives rise to a superior strain, as far as health, hardiness and vigor 

 are concerned, of the weed which we are considering. The fact 

 that no two living organisms are exactly alike is of the utmost im- 

 portance to the progressive horticulturist, whose chief desire is to 

 deduce principles from established facts and from them work out 

 some practical good. From the slightly differing plants of a kind, 

 which promise a suitable reward for his zeal, patience and skill, he 

 wishes to evolve a new and more valuable variety. He will select 

 the ones which come the nearest to his ideal and then proceed to 

 widen the gap between these and their fellows, always keeping in 

 view the particular excellence he had in mind at the beginning. 



