80 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



of begonias, geraniums, pinks, etc. , no rare flowers at all, and 

 yet that meeting was a great success. We paid our premiums 

 just as we agreed to, and we had money in the treasury, and 

 the next year we had better success. Friend Elliot has been 

 here all the time; he has the same color in his hair I have; he 

 was then with us. We had then in our treasury seven hundred 

 dollars, and I do not suppose we have had that amount in the 

 treasury since. We afterwards joined in the fair project with 

 Col. King and our seven hundred dollars were swallowed up 

 and we have not seen it since. 



I have now in my possession a list of the ladies who served 

 on those committees, and the work they commenced then, you 

 see the results of here to-day. 



I have been quite a traveler since then. I never fail to visit 

 anything like a flower or fruit show, and I never come home to 

 Minneapolis but what I am more proud of our city than ever, 

 and as I said, we are going on until we reach Massachusetts. 

 They have had their floral and horticultural exhibitions for the 

 last fifty years, and when we reach them our young state will 

 have reason enough to feel proud. 



Now, gentlemen, you have been doing a work that is of more 

 importance to the state of Minnesota than any of you realize 

 yourselves . You not only educate people in their aesthetic 

 tastes, but you are bringing here dollars by reason of these 

 fruits and flowers, and the flower trade of Minneapolis to-day 

 is much larger than any of you realize . If I had had any idea 

 that I was to be called upon to say a word when I came in here, 

 I would have taken pains to get some statistics . My friend 

 here just tells me that one firm alone sold fifty thousand dol- 

 lars worth of flowers last year . Just think of it . I do not 

 suppose that all the flowers and shrubs we had in our exhibit, 

 and we had everything we could find in Minneapolis worth hav- 

 ing, I do not suppose the whole arrangement we had there- 

 was worth a thousand dollars. Now think of it; one concern 

 alone sold over fifty thousand dollars worth in one year. 



Now as far as fruit is concerned, we are laboring under some- 

 disadvantages with some of our fruit . I have almost become 

 discouraged myself, but I suppose it is because I have not 

 had anything to do with them for the last ten years, but 

 your small fruits you grow are finer than are grown any 

 where else in the world. I go to California every year; they 

 do not begin to have any such grapes in California as you have- 

 here, or within a few miles from here . A gentleman who- 



