440 SEMI-CENTENNIAL ANNIVERSARY. 



The Minnesota Society and the Northwest. 



PROF. C. B. WALDRON, AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE, N. D. 



When the three goddesses of our plant world were choosing 

 their several dominions, Flora and Pomona sought out the soft 

 and gentle climes where mild winds were and copious showers 

 that brought forth flower and fruit in generous abundance. To 

 the Goddess Ceres, she of sturdier, hardier mold, was left the 

 regions where Boreas comes with white storm wings, sweeping 

 before him in his ruthless flight the fair, frail flowers and all 

 the gardens hung with fruits. And the men of the north wor- 

 shipped and served Ceres, and the great plains became vast 

 fields of grain where summer after summer the harvester went 

 forth to gather the myriads of golden bushels that were to fill 

 the granaries and feed the multitudes of men in all the earth. 



But there were those among the men who were not content 

 merely with fields that were green, then gold and last but bar- 

 ren stubble. They served Ceres well with honest toil, but in 

 their hearts they paid homage to Pomona and her fair sister 

 Flora. Could they by their zeal and faithfulness induce those 

 divinities to bestow their gracious gifts, ever so sparingly, in 

 a harsh and rigorous clime? 



There was hope, for even before man came there were sum- 

 mer flowers that lived their brief season through, passing the 

 winter in dormant root or bulb or seed, nestled close to the pro- 

 tecting bosom of mother earth, while here and there at the edge 

 of the forest or along the coulees and sheltering slopes a hardy 

 plum tree reared its defiant head, and brave, wild strawberries 

 made friends with the chirping cricket and the brooding spar- 

 row among the protecting grasses. 



And because of the promise implied in the presence of a few 

 wild fruits here and there, and because of the hope that prompted 

 men to try and try again after many failures and discourage- 

 ments, in first this garden and then that, a few apple and plum 

 trees were found growing, tended by loving, faithful hands, while 

 lilies and iris and peonies gave their touch of warmth and color 

 to many a settler's home. 



In most cases the apple trees were short lived, and almost 

 before they bore their first fruits they had yielded to the winter's 

 rigors. But some of these bore fruit, and the seed was carefully 

 planted in the hope that out of the succeeding generations might 



