58 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Referring to the Farmers' Institute work and the instruction 

 there given, I wish to congratulate the friends of pomology 

 and general horticulture upon the advance steps that have been 

 taken in this line of teaching within the past year. Heretofore 

 the friends of horticulture have not been altogether satisfied 

 with the time allotted to them for this subject or the methods 

 sometimes used in presenting it to those attending our insti- 

 tutes. If the often expressed desires of the people are any in- 

 dication of what is needed and demanded, we are on the thres- 

 hold of an advance movement in all kinds of horti- 

 cultural industries. The people all over our state 

 are growing more attentive to this useful hand-maiden 

 of agriculture, and if the proper means can be taken in 

 presenting the healthful pleasure and pecuniary gain to be de- 

 rived from enlisting in this useful occupation, the benefits 

 to our state will be widespread and far-reaching. With the 

 means at our disposal in the past, the efforts of the officers of 

 this society to secure some one with just the right qualifications 

 to teach the art of horticulture to the rural population of our 

 state in a faithful, straightforward manner has been nearly 

 futile. The difficulty has been to secure an instructor pos- 

 sessed of untarnished reputation, with distinguishing qualities 

 of character, skill in address, with persuasive expression of 

 thought and honesty of purpose, combined with years of suc- 

 cessful experience derived from practical observation in the 

 continuous occupation of agriculture and horticulture. I am 

 pleased to inform you that we have at last been able to secure 

 the services of a man possessing many if not all of these quali- 

 fications, in the person of William Somerville of Eyota, Olm- 

 sted county, who has been secured by our worthy superinten- 

 dent of institute work, to fill the position of horticultural lec- 

 turer and instructor. Also in this connection, I wish to state 

 that we have at last found a feasible plan for distributing in an 

 economical manner the accumulation of back numbers of 

 our horticultural reports, by placing them with our horticultu- 

 ral lecturer who will distribute to those who will read, appreci- 

 ate and be benefited by their teachings. The few thousand 

 copies we now have for disposal, will, we hope, plant a little 

 horticultural leaven here and there that may bear fruit in due 

 season. The time was, and not long ago, when the ordinary, 

 unobserving agriculturalist thought he had no use for science 

 or the scientific man, in the cultivation of trees, fruits, flowers 

 or vegetables, but we are glad to say that day has passed. 



