STATE HORTICTJLTUKAL SOCIETY. 47 



for US the publication of our transactions, the purchase and working 

 of the experimental farm of which the venerable Peter M. Gideon 

 is Superintendent, and an annual appropriation to help us in the 

 prosecution of our work. First among these I name Col. D. A. 

 Kobertson, of St. Paul. No man in the State better deserves the 

 highest honors, we are able to confer upon him. He stands first 

 in point of faith and energy in the early attempts to introduce 

 fruit culture into this state. In the winter of 1865 and 1866 he 

 sent out circulars lor information and opened a correspondence 

 with the leading men of the state who had made attempts at fruit- 

 growing, and he contributed to the Pioneer Press two lengthy and 

 able articles which appeared in the issue of March 1st and 

 March 14th 1866. Those articles were of inestimable value 

 to the state, and proved a forerunner of the organization of this 

 Society, which occurred in the October following, and of which 

 he was very properly elected the first President. Next I 

 would name L. M. Ford, formerly a prominent florist and nursery- 

 man at Groveland, near St. Paul. In 1860 he, with Col. J. 

 H. Stevens, edited "The Farmer and Gardener of St. Paul," and 

 afterward for many years he filled the position of Agricultural edi- 

 tor to the Pioneer Press. Although he was not one of the original 

 twelve who organized the Society, he became identified with 

 us in the early years of our existence and rendered the society valu- 

 able and efficient aid. On January 23d, 1874, he was elected to the 

 office of secretary, and held it for one year, discharging the duties 

 without compensation and paying most of the office expenses, only 

 a small part of which was ever returned to him. His labors have 

 been labors of love, never prompted by the "almighty dollar," and 

 now in our day of prosperity it is meet that we should show some 

 recognition of his services. Next I will name Truman M. Smith of 

 St. Paul an earnest, hard-working, self-denying, liberal-minded 

 horticulturist. He became a member of this Society in 1868; has 

 always been an efficient worker, and for many years discharged 

 the duties of President with honor to himself and profit to the 

 Society, and he has done very much to encourage and advance 

 fruit culture in the state by the magnificent displays of fruit he 

 has at various times made before this society and at the State 

 Fairs, the American Pomological Society, and at the centennial 

 exhibition at Philadelphia, for all of which he received no compen- 

 sation except only in the satisfaction of having aided in the de- 

 velopment of the horticulture and welfare of the state. Next J. T. 

 Grimes, of Minneapolis, who became a member in 1868, has con- 



