STATE HOBTICUL.TURAL SOCIETY. 41 9 



under obligations to the Society for the action taken and for this 

 mark of confidence, and if there should be no practical result 

 from the action taken he was still under obligations to the So- 

 ciety which he should not soon forget. 



Mr. J. M.- Smith. Mr. President, I have been with you be- 

 fore — some years since — and I want to say that I never attended 

 a meeting of the Society with so good an impression of its power 

 and of its value to the pu*blic, not only to the people of Minne- 

 sota, but to the people of our own state, as I shall carry with me 

 when I take the night train this evening. The work you have 

 done here — a part of it — has put me in a position that I can go 

 home and know that I can root out one swindling establishment 

 that has been selling trees in my county. I have known that 

 the people were being robbed but I didn't know the entire facts 

 of the matter as I know them no w. The action that you have taken 

 here .in regard to these matters has put me in a position so that 

 I can go home and act; I propose to do so and reform that matter 

 so far as our county is concerned, and to do it at once, or have 

 the men taken care of — that is all there is of it. 



I think Mr. Hoxie and myself will both feel that we have 

 gained information that will enable us to assist in placing our 

 horticultural work in Wisconsin on a better basis than ever it 

 has been before. It has been an annoyance to me ever since I 

 have been president of our society to think that we could not 

 get hold of these men that were robbing our people, especially 

 when I see car loads of stock coming in and know of its selling 

 at three or four times its value, and its value little or nothing 

 sometimes. I think this movement will end in something that 

 will put our horticultural work on a firm b.isis — putting it on a 

 straight, square, honest business basis; so that men who wish to 

 engage in the business will meet with some encouragement in 

 conducting a business in that manner. 



I want to thank the Society for their courtesies and kindness 

 to myself and to repeat the invitation extended by Mr. Hoxie to 

 attend the meeting of our society: we shall be glad to meet just 

 as many as see fit to come; we may not be able to teach you but 

 we will guarantee to have a good time. 



President Elliott said he ought perhaps to say a word in clos- 

 ing this meeting. He had always tried to do that which he 

 thought to be for the best interests of the Society and of the pub- 

 lic at large. He was gratified with the harmony which had al- 

 ways prevailed. If there was anything that had arisen at this 



