50 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



greater the source of supply and ability to produce, the larger 

 will be the output. To the young man choosing a life of use- 

 fullness, I bring this thought: It is not so much what will be 

 your line of action, as the manner in which you go about it. There 

 are three things that govern all men more or less, — what to do; 

 when to do the right thing, and how to accomplish the greatest 

 results. Neglected opportunities never reach results. So the 

 man or woman, boy or girl, who has the greatest amount of 

 perception, backed by careful, painstaking thoughtfulness, 

 will be capable of originating and producing greater efficiency 

 than the ignorant and thoughtless. Skill and dexterity can 

 only come to those who have labored long and faithfully as 

 specialists in some particular line of work. 



To be an expert in horticulture, requires prudent, practical 

 experience, accompanied by some genius or intuitive power for 

 grasping the every day possibilities of our life work. 



However much you think you know about your business, 

 there will always be something new to learn. Let us remem- 

 ber that there are none of us too old to learn something every 

 day, and that we should seek to have a store of knowledge laid 

 up from which to draw at pleasure. 



The rapidly increased development of the fruit industries of 

 our state gives us great encouragement, and is a constant 

 source of surprise to all our investigators. Only a few years 

 since, it was thought, and by many predicted, that no fruits of 

 value could be grown here; but even now we have single 

 counties that have produced thirty to forty thousand bushels 

 of apples the past year. The unintelligent inquiries of the 

 novice and unskilled in fruit-growing shows no more surpris 

 ing ignorance of the fact than similar questions coming from 

 some of those at the head of large corporations, who are sup- 

 posed to keep abreast of the times in knowledge of the produc- 

 tive resources of our state. Not long since I received a line 

 from the secretary of a large corporation, who would be sup- 

 posed to know about the various productions grown here, ask 

 ing, "Do apples ripen north of St. Paul?" and this after the 

 magnificent exhibition of fruits shown at the State Fair of 1890. 

 This is one instance showing how little interest there is mani- 

 fested by a large share of our people regarding their most use- 

 ful health -producing product! Of the larger fruits, we cannot 

 boast of as great success as we ought, north of the middle line 

 of the state; but all over the north, east, west and south, we 



