68 ANNUAL REPORT. ‘ 
REPORT OF COMMITTEE. 
y 
Your committee to whom was referred the report of the awardii , 
mittee of the horticultural department of the State Fair, made by W. H. 
Kelley and Wm. Cannon, would report that they have examin Said re- 
port, and would recommend that it receive the premium offered by the 
State Agricultural Society; but as since our appointment there has been 
a standing committee appointed by this meeting to examine all documents 
with reference to publication, therefore this supercedes any action on our 
part with reference to that matter. * < 
: L. M. Forp, | 
F. G. CARTER. 
The report was received and the Secretary instructed to 
notify the State Agricultural Society of the report made by . 
the committee, and the action of the State Horticultural So- 
ciety upon the same. 
Resolved, on motion of L. M. Ford, that J. C. Fleischer be 
requested to hand in his essay on the “ Cultivation of Roses” 
for publication. 
Mr. Harris moved that Wm. Cannon be requested to hand 
in his essay on “Green houses, and Management by Amateurs.” 
Carried. 
Truman M. Smith moved to take up small fruits, and espe- 
cially new varieties. 
Mr. Harris inquired if any one knew anything of the Desota 
plum. He had understood that some trees had been sold in 
Minneapolis. A Mr. Hale, of Lansing, Iowa, is exhibiting 
bottled fruit of it and selling trees in Southern Minnesota. 
Says the trees commence fruiting at from two to three years 
old. ; 
Col. Stevens said that he purchased ten trees of the 
Desota plum two years since; they were two years old and 
about three feet high ; they bore last year, and he had about 
a peck of the finest native plums he ever saw. The trees 
were hardy with him. The fruit is larger and better than the 
Harrison plums. 
Mr. Ford wished to know about the Minor plums. 
Mr. Myers, of St. Peter, had trees seven years old ; fruit very 
nice. Commenced to bear at six years old, and ripened with 
him. 
Mr. Moulton said that he had had them since 1867. They 
had commenced bearing small green plums. Thought if the 
season was twice as long they might have got ripe. He thought 
they were small and inferior to most of our wild plums. 
Mr. Carter said the Minor plum was very large, but thought 
he had some wild ones as good. 
Mr. Smith had purchahed some from a nurseryman, but 
they were dead when received, and therefore he could not say 
they were not good. Same with Wild Goose. 
