STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 449 



FRUIT growi:n^g in the n^orthwest. 



[A paper read at the meeting of the American Horticultural Society, at 

 Cleveland, Ohio, September 7th to 11th, inclusive, prepared by J. S. Harris, 

 ■ of La Crescent, Minnesota.] 



Mr. President and Gentlemen of the American Horticultural Society: 

 The duties devolving upon me as a member of the State Board 

 of Agriculture of Minnesota, and the fatigue I feel from the 

 laborious work attendant upon our fair just closed, lead me to 

 regret that I have promised a paper for this occasion, and will 

 deprive me of the pleasure of meeting with you. 



I can not give you a carefully prepared paper upon the sub- 

 ject your secretary has assigned to me. The Northwest has 

 gradually receded before the march of civilization until it is 

 now known as the region embraced in the states of "Wisconsin, 

 Minnesota, Northern Iowa, Dakota, and Montana; but it is still 

 an empire in extent, the fairest land the sun shines upon, and 

 there is no other section of this great country that to-day offers 

 such unsurpassed inducements to the farmer, mechanic, mer- 

 chant, professional man, and all others seeking new homes, to 

 come and settle within her borders. The climate is stimulating, 

 and well calculated to bring men and animals to their greatest 

 state of perfection; the waters are as pure and as abundant as in 

 any inhabited country upon the globe; the soil is unequaled in 

 variety, fertility and natural adaptation to the growing, in its 

 greatest perfection, almost every fruit, vegetable and cereal re- 

 quired for the sustenance of civilized man, and it possesses a 

 purity of atmosphere that promotes health and vigor to man and 

 the products of the soil. Within its borders are found forests 

 of valuable timber, vast prairies ready for the plow of the hus- 

 bandman, and deposits of the richest minerals. These peculiar 

 advantages have bi'onght within its borders a pioneer people 

 composed of the most intelligent and x)rogressive from every 

 land, and the development of its resources is marvelous. A his- 

 tory of its horticulture, which is trying to keep pace with other 

 industries, would read like a romance; would tell of struggles 

 and trials, failures and triumphs, of men who had nerve and 

 hope enough to enable them to plant trees in oj)position to pub- 

 lic opinion and in the face of the difficulties attendant upon the 

 settlement of a new country, and in the face of almost certain 

 disaster. Fortunately a few of these early pioneers, scattered 

 here and there, were of a class who persisted in planting trees, 



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