8 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ANNUAL MEETING, DEC. 1-3, 1896. 



F. H. NUTTER, MINNEAPOLIS. 



The annual meeting- of this society was held in accordance with 

 the announcement in the December Horticulturist, from December 

 1st to 3rd, in the rooms of the count}-^ commissioners at Minneapolis. 

 These rooms are especially adapted for such a purpose, the main 

 room affording ample accommodation for a g-ood sized audience, 

 while in the committee rooms adjoining, the various exhibits are 

 displayed to the public. 



The attendance at the different sessions was large and the interest 

 shown b}'^ those who took part in the discussions proved that horti- 

 culture has many earnest students in this state. 



Although the program was necessarily long, still, under the 

 guidance of Pres. Underwood, it was dispatched promptly, and 

 almost every session closed with its business disposed of. 



The first day was devoted mostly to the discussion of small 

 fruits, and the interchange of ideas and experiences was interest- 

 ing and profitable. 



In the evening the annual address of the president and the reports 

 of other officers were submitted and showed that the society was 

 prospering to a degree never before attained in its history, the num- 

 ber of members now enrolled being 523, while the growth of the 

 library is seriously taxing the accommodations of the office. 



Wednesdaj'^ forenoon was spent on the subject of apples, and in 

 the afternoon plums, grapes and peaches had their turn. Every- 

 thing that was brought forward proved that, even in what are con- 

 sidered tender fruits, varieties are being developed which promise 

 much for the experimenter in Minnesota. 



Wednesday evening the more ornamental branches of "Floricul- 

 ture and Arboriculture" were considered, and on this occasion more 

 than any other during the meetings, perhaps, the ladies were in 

 evidence in the audience. Many facts of value were educed by the 

 various speakers, but the most interest was aroused by the paper 

 read by Mrs. Mildred M. Barnard, chairman of the Flower Comnait- 

 tee of the Minneapolis Improvement League, in which she set forth 

 in enthusiastic words the success which has attended the efforts of 

 her committee in interesting the school children of the city, espec- 

 ially in the poorer sections, in the cultivation of flowering plants by 

 the free distribution of seeds; and showing how frona these small 

 beginnings the spirit of improvement has extended to the older 

 members of the families. 



The principle incident of Thursday afternoon was, of course, the 

 election of officers; and the society expressed its approval of what 

 had been done in the past by unanimously re-electing those officials 

 whose terms of office had expired. 



Thursday evening a considerable portion of the time was occupied 

 by students from the Agricultural College, at St. Anthony Park,and 

 their papers were much appreciated. The most interest was appar- 

 ently shown in what was said on "Gardening in the Jersey Islands'' 

 by Mr. E. W. Major, whose boyhood days were spent there. The idea 

 of paying an annual rental per acre that would purchase outright 



