24 ANNUAL REPORT 



horticulture, as by the hick of the cultivation of farm horticul- 

 ture, among the farmers ot the state. Most of the farmers ap- 

 pear to be sadly deficient in this grand practice which conduces 

 in a very great degree to the health, economy and general hap- 

 piness of the cultivators of the soil. 



There is evidently too great a tendency among our farmers 

 generally to specialize their efforts on the wheat crop. I believe 

 heartily in the necessity for a closer cultivation of less land in a 

 better way than is now practiced, and that to a mixed husbandry 

 the farmers of Minnesota must look for success. It would be 

 foolish for me to suggest that every farmer in the state go into 

 commercial horticulture, nor would I have it so; but I would 

 have every farmer, whether he cultivated few acres or many, 

 have a first class, productive garden; and by care and foresight 

 this can be had in any section of the state. 



The absence of the garden is often due to a lack of informa- 

 tion as to the best methods of procedure, and not knowing how, 

 or when to start. But we may attribute the lack of gardens, 

 principally, to a deficiency in information regarding their use- 

 fulness, profit and importance, and to a maximum and exagger- 

 ated knowledge of the care, worry and disappointment counebted 

 therewith. 



And right here I want to speak a good word for the institute 

 work, in which your state is a pioneer. I have had an oppor- 

 tunity of seeing the work in practice, and I believe it is the best 

 work ever undertaken by any state to educate her farmers; and 

 while I do not set up for a prophet, I want to prophesy that in the 

 near future this work will be greatly increased, and as the farm- 

 ers become better acquainted with its benefits to them, they will 

 demand and have more of these institutes, and enlarged appro- 

 priations will be made for their support. These institutes ofifer 

 the very best means of reaching the people, and impressing upon 

 them the necessity of giving more attention to horticulture, and 

 for disseminating throughout the state information on horticul- 

 tural topics. I am a thorough believer in the institutes for the 

 farmers, and in the farm school recently established at this sta- 

 tion for the farmers' sons. 



I am glad of this opportunity of expressing my views as to the 

 relation which I hope the horticultural department of the ex- 

 periment station will sustain to your Society. I want to make 

 the horticultural department the best department of the station 

 and a representative department; to get close down to the work 



