STATE HORTIOULTUKAL SOCIETY, 229 



lakes, rivers and brooks, stocked with the best of fish, all bid 

 defiance to grim want, and with only such an amount of skillful 

 labor bestowed upon them as is necessary for the perfect physical 

 development of our natures, the earth yields u^) her treasures, 

 and we have bread enough, and to spare. When horticulture 

 is fully develoj)ed; when we have fruit enough, all of our own 

 raising; — the luscious apples, melting pears, and grajjesthat hold 

 the wine in the clusters — when every farm has its orchard of 

 fruits, and well kept gardens of flowers and vegetables, its lawns 

 and shade trees; when our country school houses shall stand 

 upon ample grounds and be surrounded with trees and shrub- 

 bery to break the chilling blasts of winter and impart cooling 

 shade in summer, and grassy lawns and beautiful flowers greet 

 our children upon their play-grounds and shed a fragrance about 

 their lives; when the broad prairies are dotted over with groves 

 and forests, and stately trees adorn our highways, to afford com- 

 fort and shelter to the weary traveler, and bid defiance to the 

 tornado and cyclone, then shall Minnesota be the best and most 

 desirable spot for a home that the sun ever shone upon. All 

 these things must be supplied and brought about through the 

 agency of horticultural societies, 



'Now the question I ask is : When shall it be done ? Very 

 soon or far away in the future, after we and other generations 

 have jjassed away to our rest? Now is the time to enter upon 

 the solution of these questions, and I would that I were able to 

 stir up your minds to enter upon them with such zeal that our 

 horticulture might quickly overtake and keep pace with our 

 progress in all other arts and avocations. The 1". rst important 

 factors in the work are education and organization. Secure the 

 latter, and we will find the first following close in its tracks. We 

 need a live horticultural society in every county, if not in every 

 town, in the State, that shall meet every month and devote an 

 afternoon or evening to the consideration of these subjects. You 

 have a society here. Permit me to ask: What have you done, 

 and what are you doing? If you have done what you could and 

 should, you stand as a beacon light to show others the way to 

 success. You and every farmer in Olmsted County, and every 

 householder with one rod of ground, and every citizen who is 

 interested in the future growth of this city and the development 

 and prosperity of the county, and the hai^piness of this and 

 future generations, ought to cherish your organization and throw 

 into the Olmsted County Horticultural Society your combined 



