92 ANNUAL REPORT 



This Society should be represented by one or more delegates. 

 We need to sustain our friendly relations and fellowship with 

 the organization that has done so much in educational horticul- 

 tural art, not only in this country, but is quoted as authority all 

 over the world. 



NECROLOGY. 



Chas. Hoag, one of the original charter members of this So- 

 ciety, died Feb. 2, 1888, in the eightieth year of his age. A full 

 and appropriate account of his honorable services as an agricul- 

 turist, horticulturist and respected citizen, is given in our last 

 report, on page 113. 



Eobert Hale, secretary and treasurer of the Minneapolis board 

 of trade, an honored and useful member of this Society, has also 

 died during the past year. As an amateur horticulturist he was 

 fulfilling the divine law of doing his duty faithfully and well; 

 his memory will always be held dear to the members of this So- 

 ciety, remembering him for his many genial, sterling good qual- 

 ities as a citizen and horticulturist. Fuller reference will be 

 given to his life and death by the obituary committee. 



FOREST TREE CULTURE. 



There is a very erroneous impression among young people, and 

 many old ones, that governments ought to do all the planting in 

 forest culture; they thinking that mens' lives are too short for 

 such work; also that the planting of trees, even if successful in 

 growth, is a very uncertain investment to the planter. Life is 

 very uncertain, as statistics inform us; not more so than a great 

 many other things that we do. All prospective operations have 

 clustering around them many uncertainties; but really, in what 

 can a young man invest a few dollars that will give him so much 

 real enjoyment in his old age, as the planting of a goodly num- 

 ber of useful and ornamental trees and shrubs'? In your youth 

 plant trees; in middle age plant trees; in old age plant trees, 

 that they jnay spread their ample shade over your head when 

 silvered with old age. 



Intelligent, useful men are trying to solve the problem of re- 

 forestation of our continent. The work may not be done in this 

 generation, but it will surely exercise the most thoughtful intel- 

 lects of this land until it is accomplished. This great scheme has 



