—— 1 
peor, 
at Ait 
Sie 
*) 
THE MINNESOTA 
HORTICULTURIST. 
VOL. 26. SEPTEMBER, 1808. No. 9. 
HORTICULTURISTS AND GOOD ROADS. 
A. B. CHOATE, MINNEAPOLIS. 
(Address before the Horticultural Society at last annual meeting.) 
I feel almost like apologizing for interrupting your program 
in which you are so deeply interested, and also because being 
a lawyer and acity man you may feel like I did when I was a 
boy in the southern part of the state; I used to think it was 
kind of presumptious for a city man to come into the country 
and tell us farmers how we should vote. I have never done 
that myself; I have never gone into the country to make politi- 
cal speeches. This is a subject that is a hobby of mine, and 
while it may not be a hobby of yours, still you ought to be in- 
terested in it. I have not only been a farmer, but I was a 
nurseryman, and for two years I represented a nursery firm. 
I did not buy anything outside of the state. My experience 
may be illustrated by a little story that I once heard. A man 
was on the witness stand being badgered on cross-examination 
by alawyer. He had heard that the witness’ father had been 
in jail, and he wanted to bring that out to disgrace the witness, 
and he asked him if it was true. The witness objected to 
answering the question, and appealed to the judge. The judge 
told him he must answer the question. He said his father 
started out a very honorable man, but he had had bad luck, 
had lost his crop, finally lost his farm, got discouraged, became 
a tramp, and thought he would take enough to get out of the 
country with and start a new life, but the sheriff caught him 
and put him in jail. The lawyer asked, ‘‘ Where is he now?” 
‘The witness did not want to tell, and appealed to the judge. 
The judge said he must answer the question. He hesitated a 
long time, and then he said at first his father had been a farmer 
