12 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ent pledge himself to secure ten memberships; and if these ten new 

 members could in turn get five more subscribers to our monthly- 

 report, what an impetus it would give our society! 



Please fix this last suggestion in your minds, remembering how 

 easily you can benefit your own society and mankind in general. 



SECRETARY'S ANNUAL REPORT, 1895. 



A. W. LATHAM, MINNEAPOLIS. 



Mr. President and fellow members of the Minnesota State Horti- 

 cultural Society: 



The annual report which I bring to you at tfiis time is the record 

 of a year of important events in the history of our society. During 

 the previous year an experiment had been undertaken in connection 

 with the publication of our reports as to the success of which there 

 was some doubt, but the change proved to have been well received 

 by you and was adapted apparently to the fuller accomplishment of 

 our laudable purposes. The natural sequence of this successful 

 experiment was the formation of a plan to assure its permanence. 

 DLegislation. — To bring this about, it was necessary that an appeal 

 should be inade to the state legislature, which, fortunately for our 

 purpose, was in session last winter. A bill was accordingly prepared 

 by your executive board, which in due time became a law. The sub- 

 stance of this bill you already know, as it was published in one of 

 the earlier magazines for the year. When introduced, it provided 

 not only for the publication of our magazine by the state but also 

 for an annual appropriation of $1,500, an increased income being- 

 deemed necessary on account of the increased expense of maintain- 

 ing an office and librar}^ which were absolutely needed in the pub- 

 lication of our magazine and in the cultivation of the wider field of 

 tisefulness that the society had determined to occup3\ In this form 

 the bill passed the house with only two negative votes, and at least 

 one of these was because the voter did not understand the purpose 

 of the law. This almost unanimous approval of the house was very 

 gratifying to us. When the bill reached the senate finance coinmit- 

 tee, they insisted on dividing it and putting the additional appro- 

 priation into the general appropriation bill, where it now stands, 

 although it provides for an annual appropriation of the amount 

 asked for without further legislation. 



The printing bill, now shorn of its monetary feature, passed the 

 senate without an opposing vote. In my personal contact with the 

 various members of the two houses — my frequent presence there 

 being necessary during the progress of affairs — I heard only the 

 kindest words of the work of our societj'' and a universal desire to 

 assist it in any way that we might ask. 



In securing the passage of this legislation the members of the so- 

 ciety were requested to interview their senators and representatives 

 and invite their assistance. A very large number of our fraternity 

 heartily responded to this request and so notified me. In this con- 

 nection special mention is due to some of the members of the legis- 



