Prospects for the Horticultural Building. — The building committee 

 was in session on Friday last, the date of the great storm, in the afternoon 

 with the Finance Committee of the Senate and in the evening with the 

 Appropriations Committee of the House. There were present at this meet- 

 ing, representing the society, Pres. Cashman, Messrs. S. B. Crosby, of *St. 

 Paul; E. A. Smith, of Lake City; Ed. Yanish, of St. Paul; John P. Andrews, 

 of Faribault; Dean A. F. Woods, of University Farm, and the secretary. 

 Every member of the committee present had some part in this appeal for 

 the Horticultural Building, and from the character of the reception which 

 was accorded us we are hopeful that our request will be granted and the 

 building constructed the coming year. The need of such a building for 

 the general uses of other societies beside our own is evidently fully recog- 

 nized, and we feel sure eventually our request will be granted. 



A Valuable Seedling Orchard. — John Bisbee, of Madelia, has a 

 seedling apple orchard of a number of acres. I do not know how many 

 nor how many trees it contains, but I understood him to say when he was in 

 the office a few days since, showing me a number of long keeping varieties 

 of apples which originated in his orchard, that he had seven hundred trees 

 that ought to have borne last year, something over a hundred that did bear. 

 One seedling, very much like the Baldwin in appearance, of which however 

 he does not consider it a seedling, of medium size and dark red color, very 

 firm and solid in the middle of March, having been kept in an outside cellar, 

 is evidently an apple of considerable value. He reports that the apples 

 never blow off from the tree. As to quality it is sub-acid and by no means 

 a bad eating apple, certainly a good variety to build from, and we under- 

 stand Mr. Bisbee is saving seed from this as from others of his valuable 

 seedlings — and the fact that he is now seventy-eight years has no bearing 

 whatever on his continuance in his work in growing seedlings, which he will 

 undoubtedly continue to do as long as he stays with us. We are promised 

 a full exhibit of seedlings from his orchard at our next annual meeting and 

 anticipate it will be a splendid collection. 



Passing of L. R. Moyer. — With great regret we note the passing of 

 our dear friend and fellow-member, Lycurgus R. Moyer, which occurred 

 March 14, following a very short illness from pneumonia. Few men have 

 been held in higher esteem for their service to the public than Mr. Moyer. 

 At the time of his death he was president of the village council and actively 

 interested in every subject of importance to the welfare of the community in 

 which he lived. He had operated a trial station for a great many years 

 at his home in Montevideo, and the reports of his experiment work there 

 have appeared regularly in our periodical, the last one which he will make 

 for us being published in this number. Like all of his reports it contains 

 matter of very much interest and deserves careful reading on the part of 

 every one of our members. 



Mr. Moyer's name appears first on our membership roll in the year 

 1889, and he has been a member continually since that date. The card 

 index of the services of our membership kept in this office shows that 

 few members have contributed as much to the work of this society as he. 

 The matters of special interest of which he has written are largely about 

 some phase of ornamental horticulture, and his place in our society in that 

 field ranks first all these years without question. In this phase of our 

 work he will be especially missed. In the year 1895 Mr. Moyer was elected 

 a member of the Executive Board of the society, a place which he filled 

 with singular fidelity for seventeen years. We hope to publish a suit- 

 able biographical sketch of this much endeared member, who has now 

 passed on to his reward. 



il92) 



