HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 51 



the skunk is a friend to the gardener. It digs into the ground 

 and destroys worms and grubs that are difficult to reach with 

 poison. He protects them at his place, and whenever he meets 

 one in the evening, he always turns out for it and lets it keep 

 the path. 



A paper on "Seedling Apples" was read by E. H. S. Dartt. 

 During the discussion it was said that in Eussia, a very cold 

 country, where the thermometer frequently shows sixty degrees 

 below zero, there are plenty of very good apples raised. These 

 apples come from seeds planted there, and it is from seedlings 

 grown from seeds of apples that grow here that we expect hardy 

 apple trees. 



Planting apple seeds should be encouraged. 



A communication from F. W. Louden, the originator of the 

 Jessie strawberry, was read. 



A committee consisting of J. O. Barrett, Browns Valley; J. 

 S. Harris, La Crescent; E. H. S. Dartt, Owatonna, and A. W. 

 Sias, Rochester, was appointed to petition the legislature for an 

 appropriation of $1,000 to aid four district horticultural societies, 

 to be known as the Northern, the Southern, the Eastern and the 

 Western Minnesota Horticultural Societies. 



Respectfully submitted, 



H. W. Stedman, 



Secretary. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. President, I was at the meeting at Rochester, 

 and it was a very successful one in every way bub one, and that 

 was the attendance. There was material enough, and talent 

 enough to interest an audience of 1,000 people, including five hun- 

 dred of the citizens of Olmsted county. Some of the papers were 

 remarkably good, and I hope the committee may find room for 

 their publication in our next volume of transactions. One paper 

 by a Mankato lady, speaks well for the ladies of Minnesota. 



Now, I am of the opinion that a district society will not hurt 

 the State Society; that we ought to help all the local societies 

 that can be started in the state. We ought not only to have 

 four district societies, but a hundred county and town societies 

 in the state. In that way the people will be educated up, and 

 will be anxious to take degrees, just as we do in our secret soci- 

 eties; we will commence at the bottom of the ladder and go right 

 up. In fact, at that meeting, I was reported as saying that we 



