168 



MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



We must compete more and 

 more with the six-cent a 

 day labor of India and the 

 very cheap labor of those 

 other countries where it 

 does not cost as much to 

 live and to maintain 

 churches and schools and 

 all that goes with our type 

 of civilization, as it does 

 here in America. 



And while we are making 

 progress in farm manage- 

 ment, in the development of 

 farm machinery, in an un- 

 derstanding of the rotation 

 of crops in a scientific way, 

 in the use of fertilizers eco- 

 nomically, we must also 

 have, if we are to win this 

 battle, the very best plant 

 materials that scientific 

 plant breeding can give us. 

 We cannot afford to follow 

 a hit or miss policy hoping 

 to stumble upon the im- 

 proved varieties of plants 

 that are needed. On the 

 contrary, we must go at it 

 in the same scientific way 

 in which Germany and the 

 other countries have gone 

 at the matter of preparing 

 for this terrible conflict 

 which is going on in Eu- 

 rope. We have another 

 kind of conflict on. We must 

 win. To win we must pre- 

 pare for it by systematical- 

 ly planning to put into our 

 hands and into the hands 

 of our children the very 



