52 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Vice President Wedge: The next thing on the program 
is the president’s address. 
Secretary Latham: It has not been received yet, but in all 
probability will be here to-morrow. 
Vice President Wedge: The.next thing to be considered 
is the secretary's report. 
The secretary’s report was then read by the secretary, A. 
W. Latham. | 
SECRETARY’S REPORT. 
Mr. President, and fellow members of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society,— 
I have the honor to present you with my maiden effort as the editor of 
a book, viz., the nineteenth annual report of the deliberations of your body. 
It contains imperfections of which I am and you also by this time are 
aware, but itis theresult of an honest effort to put a large amountof valu- 
able horticultural matter in such shape that the reader may get the most 
of such kind of material as he is in search of, with the least amount of 
labor. An innovation which it presents is a grouping under general top- 
ics of the papers and discussions so that, as nearly as possible, all the 
matter relating to any topic is to be found in one place. thus doing away 
with the necessity of examining an entire volume in search of scattered 
references to one subject. 
The report has been reduced in size somewhat by printing the discussions 
and general deliberations only in long primer, and putting the essays and 
papers which make up a Jarge part of the book in brevier. This curtail- 
ment was the result of an arrangement with the officer in charge of the 
public printing by which the saving to the state, on account of the de- 
crease in size, was expended in binding in cloth an extra thousand copies. 
Of the issues of 1891 only 1,500 were paper covered, the remaining 2,000 — 
being cloth bound, some in blue or brown, but mostly in black. 
As to the character of the material contained in the report, it compares 
well with that of previous numbers, and ranks fairly with reports sent 
out by sister societies. Of the 3,500 copies printed, the 1,500 with paper 
covers were early placed in the hands of members of the society and 
others willing to be responsible for their distribution. 
As far as can be learned, these have all been put to good use. About 
three-fourths of the cloth bound copies have also been distributed to or 
through our members, old and new. to members of the legislature, and 
others as required by law. Large numbers of the surplus issues of 
previous years have also been distributed. The value of these reports to 
the public, depends largely upon their early distribution among those 
who will make practical use of them, and this I have earnestly enneay 
ored to accomplish. 
QUARTER CENTENNIAL. 
This year rounds out the quarter century since the founding of the so- 
ciety. While the progress of horticulture in the state has not heen a 
record of continuous success, this cannot be said of the society itself. 
From the beginning earnest and intelligent workers have labored to- 
gether faithfully and cheerfully in building up the interests of the so- 
ciety. Few organizations can boast of so many years of self-denying 
