44 ANNUAL REPORT. 



familiar place, these halls sacredly dedicated to the study of scien- 

 tific and practical agriculture and horticulture, and for such a 

 meeting no more fitting place could have been selected. We have 

 come on the invitation of the Regents and Professors of the State 

 University and the citizens of this great and hospitable city, Min- 

 neapolis, the pride and joy of the Northwest. There is a fragrance 

 and heartiness in the greetings we receive that assures us of 

 a cordial welcome. All auspices are favorable and point to a plea- 

 sant meeting, and a profitable one for the cause of horticulture. 

 We have gained a year in experience since the last annual meeting; 

 and I trust that the deliberations and work of this meeting 

 will prove to the people of our state and the outside world that the 

 experiences of the year have increased our wisdom and fitted us to 

 enter anew upon the work before us with a better 

 understanding of the work and the methods of doing 

 it. The year has exhibited some phases that tend to impress upon 

 our minds that in some respects it has been a remarkable one. Be- 

 ginning with the burning of the Newhall house at Millwaukee. 

 upon the 9th of January, fires, collisions and train wrecks, earth- 

 quakes, explosions, and tornadoes, &c., followed each other in 

 quick succession and with such fearful and unparalleled destruction 

 to life and property as to strike dismay to the stoutest hearts. 

 While the late and early frosts and unpropitious weather at times 

 caused us to almost fear that the promise of "seed time and har- 

 vest" might fail us. A beneficent providence has had a care over 

 us during all the year, and brought us into the beginning of the 

 new year, and blessings rest upon us and upon all tne institu- 

 tions and people of this great state. The harvests have been good, 

 and we have bread enough and to spare. In nearly every portion 

 of our country the fruit crop has been a little below the average, 

 and the apple crop was the poorest that has been known for seve- 

 ral years, and the causes for the failure will afford topics for in- 

 vestigation and discussion in the various horticultural meetings of 

 the present winter. In Minnesota, or in some portions of it, the 

 crop of apples was fair, and comparatively much better than 

 in other Northern States, which shows clearly that there are other 

 causes for failure in fruits than the severe cold of winter. 

 We open this meeting with abundant reasons for congratulation 

 upon the growth and prosperity of our society, and the increased 

 confidence it is gaining upon the minds of the people and 

 the fraternal relations existing with adjoining State Societies. The 

 noted events of the year having a bearing upon our work, and in 



