422 SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY. 



for its success. For many years Mr. Elliot might properly be 

 counted among the most useful of those who carried such a re- 

 sponsibility for this society. I remember that in one of the 

 stressful times of its history, one of our prominent members in 

 a passion of disapproval called him the czar of the horticultural 

 society, but in the same breath he characterized his rule as a 

 benevolent despotism. In no one that I have known was the 

 horticultural instinct or passion more clearly developed, and in 

 no one was it more purely a labor of love. How appropriate that 

 he should have breathed his last earthly air out in the early 

 morning dew of his cherished garden. A more lovable character 

 filled with good works and kindly offices has not been counted 

 among us. I do not commonly approve of funeral orations. 

 They are but seldom appropriate or even truthful, but the tender 

 appreciative words spoken when we gathered to pay our parting 

 tribute to this good and true man are among the choicest things 

 that I have heard or read. 



No record of the heroic in Minnesota history would be com- 

 plete without a mention of the originator of the Wealthy apple. 

 The life of Peter Gideon in our state was one long struggle to 

 establish apple growing in a new and inhospitable climate. 

 Those who have not lived through the early days of this industry 

 in Minnesota can hardly appreciate the courage that it took to 

 continue experiments of this kind in the face of the universal 

 doubt and disfavor of the public. I imagine that it may be easier 

 for an inventor to carry on his work in the midst of discouraging 

 surroundings. He may at least keep his troubles to himself, and 

 he may commonly have a greater certainty of a successful out- 

 come. But an orchardist has to wait so long for results, and his 

 failures are always fully exposed to the derision of his neighbors. 

 In an old scrap book of mine I find a clipping from one of his 

 contributions to the St. Paul Press made in July, 1872, in which 

 he says "I am happy to again announce to the public that the 

 prospect is brightening, especially in the profusion of varieties 

 of the apple that bid fair to succeed here." He then gives a 

 "List of old esteemed varieties that stand here in succession of 

 ripening." Among them I note many such kinds as the Northern 

 Spy, Newton Pippin, Seek-no-further, and but two among them 

 all that any one would now think of planting. Those having 

 some knowledge of the varieties of apples in the north can easily 

 guess the state of things in such an orchard within a few years. 



