398 ANlfUAL REPORT 



The necessity for this work is urgent, and the benefits resulting 

 therefrom will be universal. And when to this general and public 

 work is added the evergreen shelter belts which every farmershould erect 

 about his home and barns; and the rows of elms, maples and walnuts 

 which should line our highways and avenues, we shall have completed 

 the transformation of a snowy wilderness into the happy garden spot 

 of the earth. 



Albert Lea, March 1, 1888. 



The following paper by Robert Hale, secretary and treasurer of the 

 Minneapolis Board of Trade, was then read : 



GARDENING AND FLOWERS 

 By Robert Hale, Minneapolis. 



Mr. President, Ladies atid Gentle^nen of the State Horticultural Society: 



When invited by your President to prepare and read a paper upon 

 some branch of horticulture, I was not a little astonished, as I never 

 laid claim to a sufficient amount of knowledge of any branch of this 

 complex science to prepare a paper that would be either interesting or 

 instructive to an audience of practical horticulturists; but having a 

 great love for all pertaining to the science, and in early life some 

 practical experience in agriculture, and in the past few years in culti- 

 vating a town or city garden, I consented. 



It will hardly be expected at this time, when there are so many able 

 publications, and books treating the subject, by some of the most 

 learned men and women of this age, who have treated all branches of 

 agriculture and horticulture with eminent ability, that anything very 

 new or original can be produced by an amateur. 



I have read many of the works and found great pleasure in them, 

 as well as cultivating my garden. What may therefore be expected 

 can hardly be more than the thoughts and views of many others, 

 commingled with some of my own personal experience. 



The subject to be considered by this paper is that branch of horti- 

 culture relating to gardening, and the moral influence of flowers and 

 the cultivation of them. The subject will be briefly treated under 

 four (4) heads. 



