STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 349 



REPORT OF DELEGATE TO THE MISSISSIPPI 

 VALLEY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. President and members of the Minnesota State Horticultural 

 Society : 



Through your kindness I was made a delegate to the meeting of 

 the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society held at Kansas City, 

 Missouri, With me the trip was one of pleasure, honor and use- 

 fulness combined, for which I shall ever feel under obligations to 

 our own State society, that I have ever taken such an active inter- 

 est in. 



Between here and Kansas City lie hundreds of miles of rich and 

 beautiful country, checkered with railroads in all directions, with 

 hundreds of flourishing villages and towns, with fine school houses 

 and churches, which express more than words the morals and enter- 

 prise of the inhabitants. 



Missouri is the handsomest country I ever passed over; abun- 

 dance of good timber and water, and good soil; a climate that 

 grows corn, sweet potatoes, apples, pears, cherries, peaches and 

 grapes in great abundance. In the middle of the winter no snow 

 on the ground; sheep, cattle and horses getting their living on blue 

 grass or feeding in the stock fields; hogs fat from following the 

 cattle or eating what was left in the corn fields. A live true-blue 

 yankee in time would become indolent and lazy in a climate like 

 this. 



Kansas City is a live place, greatly favored by railroads and by 

 steamboat navigation. Situated in Jackson county, Missouri, at 

 the junction of the Kansas and Missouri rivers, she has a large trade 

 in hogs, sheep and cattle, also in apples. 



The members of the society were well entertained at the hotels 

 at $2 per day. Twenty four states were represented at the meeting. 

 It was the most intelligent gathering 1 ever attended. The papers 

 and discussions were all first class. A paper was read by ex-Gov- 

 ernor Robert G. Furnas, of Nebraska, giving a description and 

 estimate of the timber west of the Rocky Mountains, which was 

 listened to with much interest. 



A very important paper from Prof J. L. Budd, of Ames, Iowa, 

 was read : "The Fruits and Climate of Northeastern Europe," which 

 showed conclusively that from that section of country we can get 

 good varieties of cherries, plums, pears, and apples that will stand 

 in this country. 



