ANNUAL WINTER MEETING. 103 



The time had nearly approached for adjournment when Mr. 

 William Somerville of Viola asked permission of the president 

 to make a few remarks, which was granted. Mr. Somerville 

 then thanked the society for the favor they had shown him, 

 in the following words: 



"Ladies and qentlemen: I have a few words that I would like to say to 

 you at this time, and I don't care about having that young man there 

 with a pencil write them down. (Laughter.) I feel that I ought to make 

 known to you that I appreciate the favor conferred upon me awhile ago 

 in voting me to a life member of this society. I remember well when a 

 few of us organized the horticultural society of the state of Minnesota, 

 in Rochester, many years ago. My friend Harris here calls me his oldest 

 son, but I think there is some improvement in the stock. (Applause and 

 laughter.) I have been laboring, doing what I could in my humble way 

 to try and encourage fruit growing in Minnesota, especially for the last 

 few years, and I have been out on a mission for the third winter now. I 

 have talked in forty-seven counties in the state of Minnesota. We have 

 had large crowds to listen to us at every place to which we have gone, 

 and I don't think there has been any ocassion upon which the matter of 

 fruit growing has not been made almost the leading feature of the insti- 

 tute. (Applause.) I am not doing this for the money that is in it, I want 

 you to understand. Were it not that I see over the state of Minnesota 

 the situation of nine-tenths of the farmers, I would be seated at home 

 near the stove this evening, but when I look around over the state and 

 see the farmers, how they are situated and the manner in which they live, 

 it rouses all the ambition I have, and I feel that for the good of them- 

 selves and their families and for the good of the community they live in, 

 that they should feed their chil'dren and keep them at home. (Applause. ) 

 I want them to feed them better. They give them enough to eat, it is true. 

 They have coffee and bread and pork, and bread, coffee and pork. (Laughter.) 

 That is the food that many farmer's children get in the state of Minne- 

 sota. It is no wonder that the young men of this state are all trying to 

 get to the cities. We must make our homes more attractive. We must 

 give them better living and more privileges, so they can associate with 

 their friends and have a social time together, if we are going to keep the 

 young men of the state of Minnesota on the farms. 



Well, I go round and try to tell them what to do, in the very best way 

 that I can, and how to raise small fruits, how to take care of them, how 

 to plant them and how to cultivate them in order to get the best results. 

 They pay a great deal of attention to me, and I am happy to say that my 

 friend Cook has said to me that I have been the cause of the selling 

 of over a million strawberry plants in the last year, and that is a good 

 many, (Applause.) I do not recommend any person in particular, but 

 I tell them to go to worthy men to get their plants, to go where they 

 can buy the cheapest, and above all, to buy of men who are responsible; 

 but sometimes they get badly deceived in their plants. They get them 

 from different places and from parties who are irresponsible. I have 

 recommended them to different nurseries in the state, told them to send 

 there, and they would be treated right. 



