Muyyesora Stare HorricurruraL Sociery. 145 
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The soil and climate of Southern Minnesota are very favorable to the growth 
of fruit of all kinds, and more attention should be given to horticultural interests. 
_ But the people are at last becoming better informed upon the importance of these 
_ matters, and learning, too, that their material prosperity largely depends upon 
the extent in which they engage in horticultural pursuits. Even this year we 
should have had a large quantity of fruit for local consumption, but for the 
unfavorable season. Still, several hundred bushels of delicious berries and bar- 
rels of choice apples were marketed by our fruit growers. At the end of another 
year we hope and expect to make a still more favorable report. 
Hastily and very respectfully, yours, 
Ss. D. HILLMAN, 
Sec’y Olmsted Co. Hort. Soc. 
Annual Meeting. 
The sixth annual meeting of the Olmsted County Horticultural Society was 
held in the office of the Record and Union, on Saturday afternoon, March 18th, 
1879. There was not a large attendance, but the proceedings were of an inter- 
esting character, especially to horticulturists, and we devote considerable space 
to a report of the discussions on fruit growing. 
The meeting was called to order by the President, A. W. Sias, who stated the 
object of the meeting. ‘The first business transacted was the election of officers 
for the ensuing year, resulting as follows: 
President—A. W. Sias, post office Rochester. 
Vice President—W m. Somerville, Viola Center. 
Treasurer—M. J. Hoag, Rochester. 
Secretary—S. D. Hillman, Rochester. 
The question for discussion was then taken up, to wit: ‘‘ Foreign versus 
native fruits.”’ 
Mr. J. Bamber, of Rochester town, opened the discussion. He said he came 
to listen rather than to make any remarks. He had experimented with fruit in 
Minnesota, and had watched with a good deal of anxiety the progress made by 
others. He set thirty-six trees in 1855, and lost them all by the end of the second 
year. He next set thirty-eight more trees, bought from a Rochester, N. Y., 
nursery, with similar results; and his experiments were mostly failures, except 
with the Duchess and Transcendent. He thought our main dependence for fruit 
here must be upon native seedlings, whether raised from standard apples or 
hybridized from standards. There were some kinds of Canada fruits that might 
perhaps do well in this climate. 
Mr. William Somerville said he would agree with Mr. Bamber, that our main 
dependence for fruit was in our Minnesota seedlings, but he did not think Canada 
varieties were well adapted to this soil and climate. In Canada the early frosts 
destroy the leaves and cause the wood to ripen for winter; while here the leaves 
were liable to remain on the trees, causing the sap to continue to flow until late 
in the season. It was necessary to raise varieties that would ripen early, and a 
few such kinds, like the Duchess, for instance, might be obtained from Russia. 
But that country afforded only summer and fall varieties, while the great need 
was to supply good standard winter varieties. Trees should be propagated from 
native stock which had been thoroughly acclimated. If this course were to be 
adopted he had no doubt the time would soon come when Minnesota would 
