COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION. 305 



mens, and even when making up an assortment do not put in anything that is 

 positively inferior or below the average. 



The fair closed on the 30th da\- of October. The commission 

 having donated the structure and its contents to this society and 

 appropriated .|1.30 to pa3' the expense of removing- it to the state fair 

 grounds, the structure was taken down in sections and shipped 

 home on the 6th of November. I returned to Minnesota the same 

 night, glad enough to breath again the wholesoine air of the great 

 North Star state. The structure has been rebuilt in the agricultural 

 buildings at the state fair grounds and will remain, -w-ith its equip- 

 ment, including the motor, furniture, etc., a permanent possession of 

 our societj". 



This, in brief, is the record of our exhibit at the World's Fair. 

 There are manj' things 3'et which should be said in regard to it, or 

 more especfelly in regard to those who aided it by their encourag- 

 ing words and acts. Six months is a long time to maintain a fruit 

 exhibit, and it is hardly possible that there should not be some 

 friction in the working of a machine so hastilj" planned as the 

 g-reatest of world's fairs. Any little unpleasantness attendant upon 

 this work has left no permanent impression, but, instead, there are 

 only pleasant recollections of the uniformly kind and appreciative 

 words of the officers and members of this societj*. the superintendent 

 of the state exhibit, Xr.L.P.Hunt, and the Minnesota Board of World's 

 Fair Managers. It is a pleasure to me to record that, in no instance 

 have I heard or read of an uncomplimentary or unappreciative 

 word in connection with, this exhibit. Many of these kindlj' word^ 

 are on paper and have come to me, directlj- or indirectly. I do not 

 feel at libertj' to reproduce these expressions here, as in the inain 

 the3^ are of too personal a nature, but I may, with pardonable pride, 

 make two or three quotations: Mr. J. S. Harris, our oldest member, 

 writes to a third part}' under date of June 19, in a letter which I am 

 sure he does not know is in my possession, as follows: "I was well 

 pleased with our Minnesota exhibit of fruit, and I think that it attracts 

 its full share of attention. Everj' Minnesotian is proud of it." Our 

 friend. Secretary J. O. Barrett, says: "It is due to truth to say that 

 the Minnesota exhibit bears the palm in construction, order and 

 neatness, and is well relieved by a tasty arrangement of vines and 

 flowers.'' Prof. L. H. Bailey, of New York Experiment Station, says: 

 "I am greatly pleased with the display- made by Minnesota." 



Special mention should of right be made of the valuable assist- 

 ance rendered bj- President J. M. Underwood. Besides the large 

 amount he furnished, under the name of the Jewell Nursery Co., 

 during the months of June and July he sent flowers in great variety, 

 two or three times a week, in sufficient quantities to adorn the 

 exhibit. Mr. Gould, also, sent in May some very beautiful hj'brid 

 perpetual roses from the onlj- greenhouse of the kind, so far as I 

 know, in the state. Flowers were also contributed by Mrs. W. L. 

 Parker, of Farmington, and the late Mr. Joshua Allj-n, of Red Wing. 



The resume of our awards is as follows: 



(1). On apples, crop of 189'2. 



