STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 171 



shrubs carry with them and perpetuate, not alone the characteristics, but 

 the constitutional strength or weakness of their parents. Thus trees of 

 every variety growu from seed brought from California, are too deli- 

 cate to bear the climate of the Eastern states in the same parallel of 

 latitude, while the seeds of the same varieties growu on the eastern 

 slope of the Rocky Mountains produce trees which are perfectly 

 hardy. 



In order to a proper knowledge, therefore, of what to plant, it is 

 essential to know not alone the limits to which the general distribu- 

 tion of its species is confined, but the exact physical conditions of the 

 particular locality from which the individual tree or seed was brought, 

 and it is largely owing to the utter neglect of this necessity that so 

 small a proportion of the trees that are planted ever attain such a de- 

 gree of luxuriance and beauty as to excite admiration, or even attract 

 especial notice. 



In regard to shrubs for ornamental planting, I should feel that it 

 was presumptions in so new a comer to Minnesota as I am to offer ad- 

 vice as to selection of foreign varieties best adapted to tho soil and 

 climate, but I feel no hesitation in urging the liberal use of the rich 

 store of native shrubbery with which the woods and swamps are 

 filled. 



I have wished ever since I h ve been here that 1 were so situated 

 that I could make a collection merely for my own gratification of the 

 beautiful wild shrubs of Minnesota, many of which I never saw till I 

 came here. They could be easily grown from seed, and any nursery- 

 man might supply himself, and render a more valuable service by in- 

 troducing them to purchasers, than by confining himself to the lists 

 which are sent to him from abroad. 



I am very glad to learn from Prof. E. D. Porter, superintentendenfc 

 of the agricultural college of the University of Minnesota, that this 

 subject has already engaged his attention, and he has begun the col- 

 lection of native trees with a view of making an arboretum in which 

 all the trees, shrubs and flowers of this region may be represented. 

 The grounds of the experimental farm certainly offer the most appro- 

 priate place for such a collection, and it will form one of the most 

 instructive and interesting features of the institution. 



Mr. Berry has drawn liberally from these native sources for plant- 

 i ng on our parks, and many of the most attractive groupes of shrub- 

 bery are composed entirely of shrubs transplanted from the woods in 

 the immediate vicinity of this city. That which covers the little 

 island in central park and the adjacent shores on each side the bridge 



