20 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



quirements for hardineSvS and other qualifications of the section in 

 which it is to be used. 



Further references to the method of prevention of swindling- will 

 be more fully made in the secretary's report. 



From experience for seven years past with our long list of stand- 

 ing committees, we are led to believe a change could be made which 

 would result advantageously to us. The interests of horticulture 

 would, we think, be much better served if special topics were sub- 

 divided and each part given to members qualified to treat each par- 

 ticular section specifically; this work to be assigned at the begin- 

 ning of the year; and then each writer would have the whole season 

 in which to make observations and note any information that would 

 be desirable to bring before the society in a condensed form; each 

 paper to be followed with discussions. 



In closing, I wish to call j^our attention to the preparation of the 

 premium list in the horticultural department of the state fair for the 

 year 1897, and would suggest that whoever is designated to take this 

 work in charge should be supplied with premium lists, for reference 

 and comparison, from all of the principal state agricultural and hort- 

 icultural societies, as they can be procured by our secretary. 



SECRETARY'S ANNUAL REPORT. 



A. W. LATHAM, MINNEAPOLIS. 



Mr. President and Fellow Members: — I was asked lately "what has 

 the horticultural society done for the state?" It was a fair question 

 and set me to thinking. It is now thirty years since the society was 

 organized, and in that time it has held thirty annual meetings of 

 two to four days each, besides an equal number of mid-summer ses- 

 sions; it has published, including the present volume, twenty-four 

 annual reports of from one hundred pages in the earlier issues to 

 five hundred and fifty in the latest one, and in editions of from one 

 thousand to three thousand five hundred volumes. Most of these 

 publications have been distributed within the state, though the as- 

 sistant librarian's report will probably show in the aggregate sev- 

 eral thousand still in storage, comprising more or less in number 

 of every issue. Besides these, during the last three j^ears, one 

 thousand magazines have been printed monthly, in all twelve thous- 

 and in the year, and these have all been distributed by the members 

 or officers of the society, excepting a few hundred of this year's 

 issue. 



The membership roll has risen from its dozen or two pioneer 

 members at the outset to its present dimensions of over five hun- 

 dred, and, probably, from its inception until now several thousand 

 different persons have been enrolled. A large proportion of these 

 members have attended the meetings and been benefited thereby, 

 and given off something of what they have gained in their later 

 contact with others. The society has annually prepared a fruit list, 

 in which is crystallized the latest knowledge as to the adaptibility 

 of fruits to our climate, and, at least of late years, this list has been 



