SECRETARY'S CORNER. 91 



A New Horticultural Building at the State Fair.— The 

 movement to secure a new building- at the state fair for our interests 

 has met with a temporary set back from a failure to "connect" with 

 a late meeting of the state fair board. A committee, consisting of 

 C. L. Smith, F. H. Nutter and Secretary Latham, had been appointed 

 to present plans for our proposed building, and it had been ar- 

 ranged to do this at the meeting of the board January 19th. Messrs. 

 Smith and Latham put in appearance at the Ryan at the set time, 

 the former provided with a neat appeal to catch the ear of the 

 board, and the latter with the equally eloquent plans. But, alas, 

 the board was " non est," and repeated inquiries at the office and 

 trips to people in the neighborhood who were supposed to know 

 something about it, failed to reveal their whereabouts any further 

 than that they had been in parlor (?). To parlor (?) we repaired 

 with other disappointed ones to find evidence of the "had beens" 

 and wait. Had we been endowed with X ray visual organs we 

 should have seen that the board were even then deliberating in an 

 adjoining room, some of them, at least,wondering what had become 

 of our committee. 



And so, as the shadows deepened into the darkness of an early 

 winter's night, we sadly turned homeward at the close of a wasted 

 day. But we shall try again, and if the board should again be 

 frozen out of one room into another, may it be our good fortune 

 to have them remember to notify the clerk. 



This seems much funnier now than it did at the time it was hap- 

 pening. 



Meeting of Southern Minnesota Horticultural Society. — 

 An inspiration took me to the annual meeting of this society, which 

 was held in Albert Lea, January 20th and 2l8t. It took a good many 

 others also, I am sure, for I found there several of the old war 

 horses of both the Minnesota and Iowa societies, for the place of 

 meeting, as you know, is very near the state line. The names of 

 Gaylord, Mitchell, Secor, Harris, Dartt and Cook are a sufficient 

 guarantee of a good time, not counting the officers of the society 

 and many local enthusiasts. Mr. Clarence Wedge, secretary of the 

 society, had prepared a two day's program, neatly set off in green 

 and red, rich enough for a meeting of the central society; and so we 

 gathered at the feast. 



The last number of the "Canadian Horticulturist" embellishes a 

 description of the late meeting of this association at Kingston with 

 many views of the town and its people. This is a good precedent which 

 it would be a pleasure to follow in the case of a town so much favored 

 by nature and improved by man as this thrifty little city of south 

 Minnesota, and especially the residence portion on the winding 

 shores of the picturesque lake bordering its northern edge. Hort- 

 iculture in its most ornamental and pleasing aspects has had much 

 to do with the development of this attractive district. 



The morning train of January 20th brought me into Albert Lea 

 and to the meeting at two p. m., in time to hear a short but practical 

 paper by Geo. H. Prescott, of Albert Lea, on " Irrigating in a Small 

 Way." His experience in his vegetable and fruit garden with water 



