264 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



garden and orchard drops in the harness, we are quick enough to 

 recall what he did. We give him a big- funeral, pronounce eulogies, 

 and write glowing obituaries, but a little more appreciation of his 

 work while he is on earth would often brace him up and make him 

 feel that he had not lived in vain, 



" We owe them all a debt we can not repay. Let us say so in the 

 best words of appreciation and honor we can command while they 

 are yet with us, and as we eat our strawberries and cream now, and 

 munch our apples and drink our cider in the long evenings of the 

 coming winter, let us remember what we owe to the fathers of fruit 

 growing in the Northwest!" 



COL. J. H. STEVENS. 



Paying a high compliment to the pioneers of horticulture, Presi- 

 dent Underwood called upon Col. J. H. Stevens, who, notwithstand- 

 ing his affliction of the past year, rose to say that he could hardly 

 be expected to say anything, but as the secretary had told him he 

 would be called on he had prepared a few words which he asked the 

 secretary to read, as follows : 



"The infirmities of age, with the serious illness for the past j^ear, 

 makes it an effort for me to speak. I am admonished that the days 

 of my usefulness as an active member of your society are past. It 

 is hard for ixie to realize it. I am so fond of the work. I enjoyed it 

 so much. It was such a pleasure to participate in your delibera- 

 tions. 



"Only think what a noble work you have accomplished! Your lab- 

 ors have been so successful. Y'ou had to contend against the heat 

 of summer and the frost of winter; you had to contend against pub- 

 lic opinion, almost against nature; but you perservered. Repeated 

 failures caused you to redouble your efforts. If defeated once, 

 twice or thrice, you experimented again and again. At first the 

 crab, then the pyrus malus; the plum, the cherry, the small fruits; at 

 last the grape, with countless varieties of flowers, climbing roses> 

 shrubbery and shade trees. Without your efforts Minnesota would 

 have to be contented with the wild cranberry of the marsh and the 

 wild fruit of the forest. 



"I have but a word more to say; in the interest of humanity, as 

 well as the orchard, garden and farmer, be sure to save the birds. 

 Finally, may you flourish and grow, and may yoar efforts be appre- 

 ciated by the people, the whole people of the state, and especially 

 by the legislature." 



C. L. SMITH. 



"Some Little Things in Horticulture," was responded to in a prac- 

 tical talk by Mr. C. L. Smith. "Both in my work and in observation 

 I have been impressed with the idea that failure nearly alwa5'S 

 comes from the neglect of some little thing, and the most marked 

 success has come from the doing of what seemed but ver}' small 

 things, though in the final result they were large things. To illus- 

 trate, I will call attention to one of my own mistakes this spring. I 

 think others perhaps have made the same mistake. I had a new 



