496 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



already thought of it, to have it passed at your next legisla- 

 ture if possible, a grading act by which we can grade and 

 pack our fruit, and when we put it on the market we will know 

 that we have fruit that is A No. 1. If we have a bushel of 

 Jonathan or Grimes or Wealthy with a standard mark on it, 

 we will know what it is, and that the standard bushel is worth 

 the money. The trouble with us is we can't tell beforehand 

 what kind of fruit we get in a package, and we buy it and 

 then we are not satisfied. 



I have been interested in what we have heard about the 

 children. We can teach our children in school to put up a 

 carton containing six or twelve apples just as good as any- 

 body else can. It should be so that when you go to the gro- 

 cery, or order from the grocery, a carton of six good apples 

 to place upon your table and you get them, they are fit to eat. 

 After they are in cold storage a while they are not fit to eat. 

 The storage of apples is a commercial proposition, and the 

 apples are not fit to eat. We pick them too early, they never 

 get into good condition, the storage men insist on having them 

 so they will keep. 



I have been talking altogether too long but I simply came 

 up here so you could see what I looked like. 



The President: We have but two minutes left and I am 

 going to give Professor Waldron one-half of those two minutes. 



Prof. Waldron: That is more time than I want. What I 

 have to say to this audience will be said some time during the 

 remaining part of the afternoon, and I think everything I have 

 to say will be incorporated in the few remarks I have to make. 

 It affords me great pleasure indeed to come down here and meet 

 with you people. You have passed the half century mark, and 

 I have passed the quarter century mark as an honorary mem- 

 ber of this society. Twenty-five years ago this December, at the 

 motion of Professor Green, I was made a life honorary mem- 

 ber of the society. I considered it then one of the greatest 

 things that had come to me, but I didn't realize then how much 

 it would mean in my life, and I will try and express it later on. 



The President: I understand Mr. E. M. Reeves, of Wav- 

 erley, Iowa, is here. (Not present.) Is Mr. Whiting, of Yank- 

 ton, South Dakota, here? Just a word from you, Mr. Whiting. 



Mr. Whiting: For the little I have to say it is hardly 

 necessary for me to come forward. As one of the other speakers 

 said, I will give you a chance to look at me, but you won't 

 see very much. I will say, however, that it has been a great 

 pleasure to me to meet with you here in Minnesota. I came to 

 Minnesota when I was a little boy twelve years old, and at that 

 time it was not considered a fruit country. They did grow a 

 few Siberian crabs, but it was said that apples could not be 

 grown in Minnesota. So you can see it is really a great pleas- 

 ure to me to meet men here who have made fruit growing a 

 success in Minnesota. It is really an honor to be associated with 



