STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 89 



secretary, Mr. Gibbs, writes he now has and is puttiug up — Jan- 

 uary 12th, in I^ew Orleans, over two hundred bushels of Minnesota 

 apples, and that he has as fine specimens as any shown from any 

 state, but not as many varieties. We now have single orchards 

 that have produced over 1,000 bushels of aj^ples per year the last 

 four years; and vineyards that have produced from two to four 

 tons of grapes for ten years or more' in succession. We have 

 farms that have raised hundreds of bushels of strawberries, rasp- 

 berries, etc. Who can say that we can not and do not grow fruit 

 here in Minnesota, and that this society has done nothing to- 

 wards the development of fruit growing? 



We have but just commenced our labors; we want more and 

 hardier and better fruits of all kinds, and with the aid of the 

 State experimental fruit farm and the experimeutal farm at the 

 State university and our own experimental stations, we hope in 

 time that Minnesota will be able to raise more fruit and cheaper, 

 so that every man, woman and child in our State can have a full 

 supply and plenty to ship to other less favored localities, and 

 that every school house and farm will have its shade and orna- 

 mental trees and flower beds; in other words, that Minnesota 

 will be a State worth living in, and w^e as a society hope to help 

 to bring this about. But it will take time, for it has taken a 

 long time to bring our fruits to their present standard; but by the 

 aid of kindred societies and cross fertilization and other modes, 

 we hope and expect to advance farther in the future than in the 

 past. 



We have asked for and received State aid to a small extent and 

 we have used it for the benefit of the whole State. Our meetings 

 and information gained therein are not of the star chamber sort, 

 for all are cordially invited to come and partake and to assist us 

 in our great work. Very few can understand or imagine the 

 difficulties and discouragements that the pioneers in horticulture 

 had to contend with here in our cold and dry climate, and without 

 any knowledge of what varieties would succeed, and what obstacles 

 we have to meet and conquer, and what there is yet for us to do 

 before we meet with that full and final success we yet hope to attain. 

 But I sadly regret that one of our best and most valuable native 

 fruits has been neglected and not as plenty now as it was fifteen to 

 twenty-five years ago, when in its wild and natural state, without 

 cultivation there was plenty for our own use here in Minnesota 

 and thousands of bushels to ship to other markets; I allude to the 

 cranberry which is now shipped here from New Jersey and other 

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