STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 209 



The fruit crop in this section was generally good. 



There seems to be quite a ditference of opinion as to the cause 

 of this general destruction of trees. Some believe it is not the 

 severe cold of winter that kills, but the sudden changes towards 

 spring. Others think the condition of the soil as to moisture at 

 the setting in of winter has an important bearing — abundance 

 of moisture being a favorable condition. But all agree that har- 

 dier trees are a necessity, and that to obtain long keepers of the 

 best quality extensive experiments must be carried on, and in 

 view of this fact they voted to ask for an annual appropriation 

 of $2,500 in addition to the 11,000 they now receive, believing 

 that a state rich enough to build a $2,000,000 capitol can well 

 afford to devote this small sum to promote so important and re- 

 liable a branch of industry. 



The president's address was brim full of good, practical sugges- 

 tions, and the lectures and essays were admirable productions in 

 the English language, affording scarcely a reminder that the au- 

 thors knew a little Latin and desired to make the most of it. 



It occurs to me that in sending delegates to adjoining states 

 more favorably located than our own, our greatest benefits must 

 accrue from adopting such of their methods as are superior to 

 our own and avoiding such as retard. 



In my last report I mentioned Iowa's plan of districting the 

 state and electing a director from each district. My observa- 

 tions at this meeting confirm me in the opinion that with the 

 combining of the reports of two or three of twelve districts in 

 one to save repetition, as recommended by their president in his 

 address, we may adopt this plan with great advantage to the 

 whole State, and we might be relieved from the charge of being 

 too local, and of being under the control of one of those little 

 rings that frequently cluster around state capitols. 



The program seemed remarkably full, requiring the constant 

 effort of their able and energetic president to put things through 

 on time. Fruit lists were revised by committees, and when 

 reported it was announced that there was no time for discussion. 

 If it is a fact that fruit-men, like others, have their whims, hobbies 

 and errors, and that these are likely to crop out in their essays, 

 it would seem that time should be secured to discuss all papers 

 to the end that nothing shall go on record with the seeming ap- 

 proval of the society that is not in accordance with the views of 

 the majority. On important questions where there is a radical 

 difference of opinion, a recorded vote, showing the number on 

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