'42 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



"Should the thoughtful farmer wander 

 To our unfrequented region, 

 He may love us for our beauty, 

 He may learn from us the secret 

 Making bright the lonely places— 

 Thus we render good for evil." 



As he ceased again a silence 

 Over all the fair assembly 

 Brooded, and the darkness gather'd. 

 Then again the bells were pealing, 

 But no minor wail of sadness 

 Linger'd in their sweet-toned chiming. 

 And the sound of sylvan voices 

 Mingled in harmonious accents 

 With the ringing of the "blue-bells," 

 Sounding far away and fainter 

 "Good for evil, good for evil.'* 



Toast: •'Research, — By it we will introduce much that will 

 be valuable to our state." Response by John S. Harris, La Cres- 

 cent. 



Ladies and gentlemen: — 1 am not in the habit of making any apologies, 

 but I cannot do justice to the subject to-day on account of sickness. 



When man was created he was created to knowledge, and God made a 

 garden and placed him in it and commanded him to keep it and to enjoy 

 the fruits thereof. But man lost his position and God turned him off. 

 I think he was locked out, and he went out into the cold, wide world. 

 While he was there in Eden he had tasted all manner of beautiful 

 fruits, he had all manner of beautiful flowers; and their influence has per- 

 vaded him all through the ages. But he grew from bad to worse; and 

 finally he was driven from Eden and from the face of the earth, except 

 Noah and his family; but in them the institution of horticulture was 

 preserved. 



Getting further along, we find that the Babylonians had fair hanging 

 gardens. But the people had made research in order to have those gar- 

 dens, the record of which, though brief, has been handed down to us. 



During the dark ages there seems to have been a falling off in horti- 

 culture. Coming down to about four hundred years since, we find the 

 principles had been kept alive, and probably in no past age of the world 

 has there been as great an advance as within the last one hundred years. 



Research has been the great element of this recent advance. Research 

 has brought us scores of new fruits. The first instance of research upon 

 record is in the good Book. It is of those who were sent into the land of 

 Canaan and who brought back the grapes. I have no doubt they had 

 more influence than all other things the spies told. 



There is an opening to us for research. We have tried what are called 

 native American fruits and introduced them into the state, and have 

 very generally made failures of apples. We have been more successful 

 with small fruits, but we have not been as successful as we desire. A few 

 years ago, two men, Prof. C. L. Budd and Charles Gibb, made a journey 



