414 SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY. 



He will surely be spoken of by others. I wish to note here that 

 he held the office of presidency longer than any other person, in 

 all eight years. Later he went to San Diego, California, and as 

 a market gardener he labored zealously with his own hands, 

 past the age of eighty being on the market every morning. At 

 this advanced age he returned to visit his old friends in the Twin 

 Cities, and I had the pleasure of meeting him at the State Fair 

 in the fall of 1909. Coming on him unexpectedly I knew him and 

 called him by name at a glance, though we had not met for 

 twenty years. Within a few weeks after this he unexpectedly 

 passed away. He was a grand and a noble worker in our society 

 who in its pioneer days labored zealously for its advantage. 



In 1875, Chas. Y. Lacy, then the Professor of Agriculture 

 in the State University, embodying in himself, I recall, all the 

 faculty of the Agricultural College, was elected secretary of the 

 society, a position which he held the five years in which he con- 

 tinued with the University. He now at the age of 66 years 

 resides at Long Beach, Cal. The first printing appropriation, as 

 noted in our records, became available this year, $500. The 

 membership roll shows sixty-one members. 



In 1876 the society, now ten years of age, met at Winona. 

 In the records of this year first mention is made of the library, 

 although there was almost nothing in the library in 1881 when 

 I became secretary. 



In 1877 the meeting was held in Owatonna, and in 1878 iu 

 Rochester. I remember very well being at the Owatonna meeting 

 with Mr. Elliot, though details of the meeting have passed 

 from me. 



In 1879 the meeting was held in Minneapolis, also in 1880 

 and 1881, occupying the City Hall, a building located in what 

 is now Gateway Park. In 1880 U. S. Hollister, a seedsman, as 

 I recall, in St. Paul, was elected secretary, holding the oifice two 

 and one-half years, when he resigned and went west. I met 

 him a good many years after at the St. Louis Exposition, a suc- 

 cessful business man; we know nothing now as to his where- 

 abouts. During these two years, 1879 and 1880, Mr. Jas T. 

 Grimes, an honored citizen of Minneapolis, now gone home, 

 occupied the chair as president. 



In 1882 the meeting in Minneapolis was held in the Board 

 of Trade rooms. I do not seem to recall any circumstances in 

 regard to this. Upon the retirement of Mr. Hollister as secre- 

 tary, in the middle of 1882, Mr. Oliver Gibbs, then residing at 



