106 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Buy your trees of honest men and head them low. After your orchard 
begins to fruit, trust in clover, hogs and ashes. A. W. SIAS. 
LETTER FROM TRUMAN M. SMITM. 
SAN DIEGO, CAL., January 7, 1892. 
A. W. Latham, Excelsior, Minnesota: 
DEAR Sirk: Your kind and much appreciated letter inviting me to be 
present at your twenty-fifth annual meeting, from the 19-22 inst., came 
duly to hand. I would be more than glad to be present and meet once 
more not only the old friends and fellow workers in building up the State 
Horticultural Society, but the pioneers and friends and pillars of the great 
state of Minnesota. For thirty-six full years I was a resident of Minnesota, 
‘and it was there in the prime of my life that I worked with a will for the 
advancement of my adopted and beloved state. I still hold an interest 
there, my children all being there, and I can most sincerely assure you 
that I still have a live interest in the welfare of Minnesota and in the 
Horticultural Society. 
Nothing would gratify me more than to meet my old associates, and the 
members of the Horticultural Society. But I suppose that while I am 
forgotton by most, I am remembered by some, especially among the older 
members. I have read accounts of your transactions with much interest, 
and now have nearly all the copies of your reports from the commence- 
ment of their publication. 
I would suggest as topics for discussion, ‘‘Irrigation of Fruits.” I think 
you would receive great benefit from good systems of irrigation, so they 
could be applied when necessary. ‘‘The Importance of Interesting the 
Young of both Sexes,” is another topic worth discussing. 
Now it may interest some old members to hear from me and to know 
that I am still working away at horticulture, still trying to grow fruit, 
flowers, etc. I am determined not to rust out if I wear out. I would be 
so glad to meet you all, but circumstances beyond my control make it im- 
possible at this time. I hope at some future time to meet you at your ~ 
summer meeting, if I live and succeed, as I hope, in getting water for irri- 
gation. I have lost this year fully $1,000 for want of sufficient water. 
Water is king here, and I hope to have plenty after this. I have 15,%5 acres 
in the city 2+ miles from the court house and postoffice, and about the 
same distance from National City. 
I am now growing 700 orange trees, some of which are twenty feet high, 
165 lemons, some very large and full of lemons, guavas, pomegranates, figs, 
apples, apricots, peaches, nectarines, plums, limes, grapes, mulberries, 
and other fruits, besides flowers. To-day I have finished putting ina little 
over three acres of wheat, for play. While we can raise almost every kind. 
of fruit grown in temperate and semi-tropical countries, we have to work 
for it even here, for we must irrigate and spray for scale. Eternal vigil- 
ence is the price of fine fruit everywhere. 
This winter, December 7, 8, 24, 25 and 29, we not only had frost but ice 
was formed, the thermometer being down to 28 degrees, or four below 
freezing. It of course injured all tender flowers and young tender shoots 
of oranges, lemons, linves, etc. In some low places fruit was frozen on - 
the trees. I have marketed my fruit myself and oversee all, and it has 
