STATE HORTICULTURA.L SOCIETY. 109 



It is most important to put them where they will stand the drought. 



Mr. Smith. Mr. Kellogg has mentioned the kind of treatment that 

 will always prove effectual. After you have taken them up in the 

 spring, give them a thorough mulching; that will retain the moisture 

 through the summer drought. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. President, it strikes me that we have brought out 

 about all we can until we get some papers on that subject, and I sug- 

 gest we move on to some other part of the program, or else we will 

 not get through. 



REPORTS FROM LOCAL SOCIETIES. 



The following report by J. E. Northrup, Secretary of the Henne- 

 pin County Horticultural Society, was then read. 



HENNEPIN COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY AND MARKET 

 GARDENERS ASSOCIATION. 



To the Secretary of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. 



The year of 1885 has witnessed a great development in the interests which form 

 the aim of our Society. The membership has largely increased, the meetings have 

 been well attended, the discussions animated, and the facts elicited therefrom, 

 have been of benefit not only to the members of the Society, but through the reports 

 of the newspapers giving the discussions in full, it is reasonable to suppose, that 

 hundreds of farmers, and others interested in horticultural pursuits throughout the 

 Northwest, have been benefited by its work. All this should serve to encourage 

 each member of the Society to active and willing participation in its work; having 

 in mind the fact, although it is not always encouraged as it should be, the work is 

 no less effective in its results, or grand in itp maturity. 



The Society now numbers in membership seventy-six, in other words, has nearly 

 doubled within the year just di'awn to a close. At the fair held in Brackett's hall, 

 Sept. 23 and 24, there were seventeen exhibitors of grapes, fourteen of apples, 

 twenty-eight of vegetables, fourteen of potatoes, four of canned fruits and vegetables 

 A special premium of $50. was offered by Mr. Henry F. Brown for the best display 

 of fruits, the same being awarded to Mr. A. W. Latham of Excelsior. The special 

 premium of $25, offered by Mr. Gale for display of vegetables, was awarded to Mr. 

 Wm. Lyons and Mr. H. F. Basse, first and second, respectively. In addition to these 

 premiums of $185 were awarded by the Society to exhibitors. 



It is a matter extremely to be regretted, that I have to record the fact, that at 

 the close of the fair, it was found that the receipts and the money in the hands of 

 the treasurer of the Society were insuflicient to cover the liability for premiums. 

 This was owing to the fact that the Society was unable to obtain from the State, 

 the money on which it had partially depended for the payment of its premiums. 

 This was especially disappointing in view of the fact that, the Society had become 

 i ncorporated under the name of the Hennepin County Horticultural Society and 



