STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 9i 



the Dakota members, there were present two delegates from the 

 Iowa society and three from the Minnesota. 



A timely and appropriate address of welcome was made by 

 E. J. Wells, of Sioux Falls. He said that he fully realized that 

 Dakota was a land possessing a deep rich soil, ready for the 

 husbandman's plow, well adapted to the production of cereals 

 and vegetables, but it also abounded with broad, level, wind- 

 swept prairies, affording a boundless field for the horticulturist's 

 art. What the future would be was yet unknown. All eyes are 

 turned towards this meeting, and a silent prayer went up from 

 every heart that success might follow their deliberations. The 

 future comfort and happiness of the people of Dakota depended 

 very much upon the success or failure of this meeting; upon the 

 work started now and carried on through coming years. They 

 were known to be earnest, observing and practical. It was the 

 mission of horticulture to plant forests and groves, windbreaks 

 and hedges, orchards and gardens, without w^hich Dakota homes 

 would be desolate indeed. He therefore extended to them and 

 their friends from neighboring states, who had come up to join 

 in their deliberations, a cordial welcome. 



Continuing, he said: "The pathway of humanity since the 

 dawn of creation has been one of destruction. Your meeting 

 to-day is not for destruction but for creation. In olden times 

 man was placed in agarden planted by the hand of God; a garden 

 of most beautiful trees and refreshing fruits. For a misdemeanor 

 he was banished from this delightful garden, and with a per- 

 verted nature his descendants have gone forth and with a lavish 

 hand have almost denuded the fairest lands of trees and 

 nearly annihilated from the earth many races of the noblest 

 animnls. You, gentlemen, have come to a land whei'e there is 

 nothing to destroy God's great pasture kept for ages for the 

 bison, elk and deer. The savage, who subsisted by the chase, 

 has retired before civilized man and the murderous hunter has 

 depleted the numbers of the animals next to extermination, and 

 you are called upon to transform these great pastures into a 

 condition that shall fit them for the abode for progressive 

 civilized man. Your work is to creata and subdue; to create 

 forests, plant orchards and gardens, and subdue the soil that 

 it be in a fit condition to produce bread for millions of the 

 inhabitants of other lands and make life tolerable for us while 

 doing it. You are to develop and improve the native products 

 of the soil; to introduce and acclimatize the choicest fruit and 



