SECRETARY'S CORNER. 



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 Secretary's Office Hours. — During the months of July and August 

 the secretary's regular office days will be Mondays, Wednesdays and Fri- 

 days, although he is likely to be in the office on other days as well. Except 

 for a period of two weeks, beginning July 4th, the office will be open every 

 day, both forenoon and afternoon, except Saturday afternoon. Although 

 you may not find the secretary in, you will always find the assistant there, 

 and matters connected with the work of the society will receive the usual 

 attention. 



Horticultural Periodicals for Free Distribution. — A considerable 

 number of periodicals representing the various branches of horticulture in 

 this country are received in this office. Most of them are of a size and 

 character that it does not seem worth while to bind them up for permanent 

 preservation, but we hate to throw them in the waste basket as we would 

 have to do if our friends do not take them away. When in the city and 

 needing good reading on fruit-growing, vegetable gardening, flower culture, 

 etc., please call at this office and take away an assortment of these period- 

 icals. You will find something to interest you in every branch of horti- 

 culture. 



Minnesota Apple Crop. — Reports that have come into this office from 

 various localities in the state, and especially from the southern one-third of 

 the state, where most of the profitable apple growing is being done, indicate 

 that there will be a fair crop of apples, though not quite as many as we 

 anticipated considering that so many of the trees were not productive last 

 year. An effort to predict the apple crop now is largely in the nature of a 

 guess, but we venture to put it somewhere between sixty and seventy per 

 cent of a full yield. There has been some winter-killing of trees, even 

 Wealthys about Lake Minnetonka and in some other localities have suffered 

 somewhat, but the extent of the injury is after all comparatively unimport- 

 ant. 



Are Your Hybrid Plum Trees Fruiting? — A number of varieties of 

 hybrid plum trees originated at the State Fruit-Breeding Farm have 

 now been in the hands of our members for two or three years, and under 

 favorable conditions many of them are likely to be fruiting this year. We 

 should be very glad if members who have such trees bearing this season 

 would report on the hardiness and success of the trees and the quality of the 

 fruit. Occasionally perhaps some member may wish to send by parcel post 

 a few specimens. In all cases, please give the number of the tree by 

 which it is designated by the Fruit-Breeding Farm, which number accom- 

 panied the tree when delivered to you. 



Loring's Plum Prize. — Several years ago Charles M. Loring, of Min- 

 neapolis, placed in the hands of the society $100 to be awarded to the 

 originator of a plum worthy of such a prize. At intervals since then, plums 

 have been sent in to this office by contestants for this prize, but none seem 

 to be sufficiently valuable to receive it. We call your special attention to 

 this that it may not be overlooked, as any season such a plum may appear 

 amongst the thousands of plum seedlings that are being grown by members 

 of this society and others. Application for this prize should be accom- 

 panied by a description of the tree, and specimens of the plum should be sent 

 to this office. Plums must be gathered before they are fully ripe as to 

 insure their transportation in a condition to be passed upon. 



The Society Library. — This is a very valuable element of the prop- 

 erties of the society which are open to its membership. It not only includes 

 hundreds of books of practical value in all branches of horticulture, to say 

 nothing of the much greater number of reports of similar societies, of which 

 we have a very complete file — but besides this we have a large proportion of 

 the bulletins issued by the experiment stations of the country, covering all 

 subjects directly and indirectly relating to any branch of horticulture. 

 These bulletins are filed in cases, and as we have a card index of them, 

 classified by subjects, they are readily accessible, so that any subject that 

 one desires to study, whatever there is bearing upon it in our file can be 

 found at once. The society library and its accessories are not used as much 

 as they should be. 



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