28 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ANNUAL MEETING 1896, 

 IOWA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



J. p. ANDREWS, FARIBAULT, DELEGATE. 



The annual meeting- of the Iowa State Horticultural Society was 

 held in their very pleasant and commodious rooms at the capitol 

 building-, Des Moines, on December 8, 9 and 10. There was a very 

 good attendance but not quite enough to secure reduced railroad 

 fare. All the delegates were cordially welcomed and very hand- 

 somely cared for at the " Kirkwood." 



The very excellent fruit exhibit was in the basement of the cap- 

 itol in the large area of the main corridor, and the great variety of 

 choice new seedlings as well as established varieties spoke very en- 

 couragingly of the prosperous future of apple growing in Iowa — 

 and we may reasonably hope to secure some of these seedlings that 

 will prove hardy enough and good enough to add materially to our 

 list of hardy apples for Minnesota. Mr. C. G. Patten, of Charles City, 

 had the largest individual display of fruit, having one hundred and 

 fiftj^-eight plates, representing one huqdred and eighteen different 

 kinds, twenty-five of which were seedlings originated by himself. 



A prominent feature of the first day was the annual address of 

 the president, Dr. F. M. Powell, of Glenwood, giving an interesting 

 review of the past and calling attention to the numberless seedlings 

 scattered over the state that have never been brought to public no- 

 tice, and advising the sending out of seedlings to amateur planters 

 of the state to grow to maturity and report results; also the testing 

 of all orchard fruits on their own roots as a means of obtaining 

 more productive and longer-lived trees. He strongly recommended 

 the teaching of horticulture in the public schools and thought it 

 consistent for the society to instruct its secretary to prepare a man- 

 ual for the use of pupils as an aid to practical lessons given ©n the 

 school grounds and in adjacent fields. In this line. Superintendent 

 of Public Instruction Henry Sabin read a very interesting paper 

 advising the teaching of horticulture in the public schools, also 

 strictly enforcing the law requiring each school district to keep at 

 least twelve trees growing in a thrifty condition upon the school 

 grounds. The school grounds should be the pleasantest place in 

 the district. The sentiment expressed in this paper touched a re- 

 sponsive chord in the society, and Mr. J. G. Berryhill offered the 

 following, which was unanimously adopted: 



RKSOLN'ED. That this society through its officers and members, co-operate 

 with the State Superintendent of Public Instruction in the encouragement of the 

 planting of ornamental trees and shrubs on the school grounds of the state. 



Secretary Geo. H. Van Houten's report contained some very inter- 

 esting information about apple markets. For their surplus crops, 

 he thought the European markets should be looked up, as the East- 

 ern states do. American apples in Europe take the lead. The seed- 

 ling apples that are now in sight should be looked up; many of them 

 have had no one to bqom them, in many cases their owners being too 

 modest to push their own products. It is too bad thej'^ are lacking 

 in the boom element for their seedlings, when people have suffered 

 from such a superabundance of it in this part of the country. Out 



