f i) MN ert) A, 
, he ‘ ’ i AL) 
216 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. PEN) 
be, 
I remember how, many years ago, when the Wealthy apple was first 
advertised, I sent to the owner for a few scions, and he wrote me it 
was the best and hardiest apple Minnesota ever had. The Wealthy 
has held its own well, but we have hundreds of others that promise 
well, and we are going to have just as good apples as they raise 
anywhere in this world. The apples of Minnesota are better than 
those raised anywhere else, and the grapes are better than any 
other grapes in the country. Just look at our Delaware grapes 
—they are better than any others raised in the world. 
Everything that we have looked forward to and hoped that it 
would come to pass in the distant future, we now see is right upon ~ 
us. The first thing we hearin the east is that the winters are too 
cold and too long. Why, who ever heard of suffering much from 
cold winters? Those who suffer from cold are those who live in 
N:-w England, and shiver when you talk to them about the ice 
palace; and I tell them it was sixteen below, and if we had no ther- 
m)meter we should not imagine it was ten above. We have about 
twenty days each winter of cold weather, and those are the ones 
they remember, and those are the ones that give Minnesota her 
reputation for cold weather, but on the whole they are much more 
delightful than the winters in any other place. I never froze any 
part of my person ina Minnesota winter. I never suffered so much 
with the cold as I did in Louisiana and Florida, and the coldest 
time I ever had was in April when [ suffered very much. The snow 
was melting, and I rode across the prairie in a sort of a hack; the 
sides were covered, but the ends were open, and I was going towards 
the northwest, and the wind sucked through that hack like water 
through the tail of a mill. The first half of the journey I was afraid 
I should die before I got to my destination, and the last half I was 
afraid I should not die before [ got there. (Laughter). You cannot 
tell anything about it by looking at the thermometer. A man feels 
the best when he feels the best, and he feels the bestin Minnesota 
in the wintertime. Tien it is we feel like jumping over the moon; 
then it is the blood goes tingling through our veins; then it is we 
are alive with health from the crowns of our heads fo the soles of 
our feet. Take it altogether we have reason to thank God and take 
courage that our lines have fallen in such pleasant places, and 
everything is coming out according to the hope and faith we have 
long cherished. (Applause), 
TIN CAN IRRIGATION IN GARDENS.—Owing to the scalding of the 
plants or the baking of the ground, surface application of water 
during the hot, dry season is.often injurious rather than beneficial. 
By thoroughly saturating the subsoil, leaving the dry surface to 
act as a mulch, the plants gets the full benefit of all water applied, 
without harm. This can be done by taking old tin cans and perfor- 
ating their sides near the bottom in a number of places, setting one 
in the ground a few inches from the hill to be watered. Fill with 
water, and the roots of the plants will do the rest. 
