STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. , 205 



SECRETARY'S ANNUAL REPORT. 



Mr. President and Fellow Members : > 



I have the honor for the third time to present herewith my annual 

 report. We are to be congratulated upon the most auspicious cir- 

 cumstances under which we meet as a Society on this our twenty -first 

 anniversary. Some of the earnest band of workers in the horticul- 

 tural field, v^ho helped to do foundation work in Minnesota, are with 

 us still to-day. That unanimity of purpose, as well as harmony of 

 action, which in a marked degree have characterized all the Society's 

 transactions in the past, are yet preserved; and notwithstanding ob- 

 stacles that may perhaps have been encountered heretofore, there is 

 abundant cause for satisfaction at the progress made. 



Permit me here to add with that illustrious pomologist, the late Mar- 

 shall P. Wilder, in his unique address before the American Pomological 

 Society at Boston, in 1881, when he said: "Happy, most happy am I 

 to join hands with some who aided in the establishment of our insti- 

 tution; who rocked the cradle of its infancy and still survive to re- 

 joice in its progress and usefulness." 



In looking back upon the record made in twenty years or more in 

 horticultural work and progress in our North Star State, we find a 

 wondrous field for study and reflection. Some most important les- 

 sons have been taught us in the past, from which we should glean 

 wisdom for the future and seek to profit from the same in days to 

 come. 



COMMERCIAL HORTICULTURE. 



It has been said, " It is no royal road that leads on to fortune;" 

 and that is true, at least on horticultural grounds. In growing fruit 

 there must be neither lack of perseverance, watchfulness nor care; and 

 one must be prepared to overcome most serious obstacles, and only 

 hope to be successful on legitimate lines, no matter how much zeal or 

 skill may be expended when once the object sought to be attained is 

 known to be impracticable and vain. It is unreasonable, for in- 

 stance, to expect that Minnesota should compete successfully in rais- 

 ing fruit with California, that "horticultural paradise," as it is often 

 called, at least in a commercial way. That state claims greater adapt- 



