STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 25 



GROWING SMALL FRUITS. 



The secretary announced that the exhibit of strawberries will 

 be much larger at the morning session, and suggested that grow- 

 ers make a statement of important discoveries made in straw- 

 berry culture during the past year. 



Col. D. A. Robertson, of St. Paul, being called on, referred to 

 the growing interest in horticultural pursuits, giving special 

 credit to the services of Nicholas Longworth, of Cincinnati, in 

 producing a spirit of rivalry in horticultural work. The race 

 from which we have a descent began horticultural work in their 

 gardens, and the production of fruit-bearing vines — the grape 

 especially — had been made a success in Ohio and Indiana after 

 repeated failures. The successful introduction of grapes and 

 small fruits from seedlings still remains a theme of the utmost 

 consequence to the entire horticultural interest of Minnesota. 

 This great work, however, must not be done by practical men, 

 but by amateurs who have the time, wealth and disposition to 

 indulge in experiments for the benefit of others. 



Mr. A. W. Sias, of Rochester, mentioned the sale of one hun- 

 dred dollars worth of seedling apple trees to an Olmsted county 

 man about ten years ago; four years ago these trees bore fruit 

 as large as the Baldwin, and equally bright in color and palata- 

 ble in flavor; he has grafted from the new seedling, and on the 

 twigs day before yesterday were found blossoms. 



Col. Robertson thought the blossoms on these infantile shoots 

 should be taken off, because there was danger of precocity in the 

 limbs of trees, as well as elsewhere; plants must be adapted to 

 climate and other conditions, and our fruit trees can be made 

 successful only by careful selections from the seedlings. 



Secretary Cibbs announced that the reports of the last meet- 

 ing of the society were now ready for distribution and could be 

 obtained by calling on him in the morning. 



Among the list of those making entries for premiums, during 

 the day, were the following: 



Strawberries — T. M. Smith, Oliver Gibbs, Jr., Frank Aber- 

 nathy, P. M. Gideon, M. J. Hoag, A. W. Sias, W. H. Brimhall, 

 J. T. Grimes, Wyman Elliot, Geo. S. Woolsey, F. G. Gould; 

 thirty-seven entries. 



Plants and Flowers — Mrs. Truman M. Smith, J. T. Grimes, 

 Mendenhall Greenhouse; eleven entries. 



