Rioven years old and read fe me from a paper that 
: wanger & Barry had adopted a new method of grafting, 
called root-grafting, and his.son John was out in the orchard 
the next morning putting the new method into practice, and 
ey made fine grafts and made a good growth. Probably I was 
the first man west of New York to graft by that method. I 
‘ peame to Minnesota and I saw there was a great opportunity. 
_ I made up my mind that instead of seeking political honors 1 
4 Pould follow something that would be of more benefit to myself 
and my fellow men. I believed we had the soil and climate 
that would make the best home on earth for civilized man, and 
_ from that time to the present I have put in what little energy I 
_ had to bring this thing about. 
If have done any good 1 am gladof it. Ido feel from what 
Pins been said and done the last few minutes that perhaps I 
_ have done some good. I was present at the birth of this so- 
ciety, and I regret very much that one man could not have 
) - lived long enough to have his picture in that group. That is Col. 
1. A. Robertson of St. Paul; lam sorry he is not in that picture. 
¢ - Another man I would like to seein the picture is Mr. Somer- 
: - ville. They were present at the birth of this society. We 
were some of the leading figures in the organization of the 
f State Horticultural Society. I had some correspondence with 
_ slapped me on the shoulder and asked, ‘‘ Where is Mr. Harris?” 
_Itold him 1 was the man. He asked me, ‘‘ What do you say to 
organizing a fruit growers association?” I told him I had been 
_ thinking of the same thing for two or three years, and we im- 
mediately set ourselves to work, and we held a meeting on the 
fourth day of October. We managed by a good deal of talk 
and persuasion to get twelve of us fellows together, and you 
can see today that the seed that was sown then has grown. It 
oh as not only grown in influence and membership, but above all 
4 other things it has been the means of beautifying thousands of 
homes all through the state, it has made our state one of the 
‘most famous throughout the union; and the satisfaction of 
bi being present at the birth of an organization which has accom- 
xy plishea what this one has and is known and spoken of through- 
out the country as this one is, is glory and reward enough for 
one man. I have hoped to live and be with you to see one 
to ther of my ideas carried out. I have always had an anxiety 
to > see the State Horticultural Society have ahomeof itsown. I 
ant to see it have a hall sufficiently large to accommodate the 
Col. Robertson, but had never seen him. He came in one day, | 
