146 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, SEVENTH CONG. DIST. 
_J. O. BARRETT, BROWN’S VALLEY. 
Mr. President: I am not prepared with any paper atall. So far as 
my observation extends,I shall have to report quite unfavorably on 
all points. Probably,there was no part of the state where the drouth 
affected the mass of the people so lamentably as in my locality in 
Brown’s Valley, in Traverse county, on the borders of the state just 
across from the northeast corner of south Dakota. You can form 
some idea of the condition of things so far as it applies to small 
fruits by the crop of wheat which we had, and on which we mainly 
depend. The average in my locality and in my vicinity, within a 
radius of fifteen or twenty miles, was but four bushels to the acre, 
and other crops yielded correspondingly. We had a very meagre 
crop of potatoes. But we live it through, for we are plucky and are 
determined to never say die. The crop of currants, I think, was 
reasonably fair, and so were goosberries. I cannot learn ot any suc- 
cess worthy of mention in respect to strawberries. In fact, our 
people have become quite weaned from the experiment of trying to 
raise strawberries, for the reason, I believe, that proper preparation 
is not made by means of windbreaks and other necessary protection 
and proper cultivation of the soil. In coming here to this place I 
had a conversation with one of the residents of our county. [am 
familiar with his environments; he has protected his small fruits, 
and I am informed that he has made quite a success. Heisa good 
farmer. Our raspberries are below par as to a crop. As to black- 
berries, I might say with safety, a total failure; as in other parts of 
the state, the ripening time is in the hottest part of the season— 
and you know something about the drouth—consequently, it was 
an absolute failure. I donot thinkthere is any faith in trying to 
raise blackberries in that locality. In giving this rather sorry 
picture in regard to our attempts at raising small fruits, I wish to 
say that notwithstanding this state of things, our people are prog- 
ressing by very slow steps. Our people take their failures as a 
means of learning the necessity of planting trees for protection 
against the terrible winds that sweep over us from the southwest. 
We have to fight every inch over and over again before we can 
waken the people toa right sense of what is necessary to be done, 
and it would be safe to say in conclusion that there is “A divinity 
which shapes our ends, rough hew them as we will.” (Applause.) 
EXPERIENCE WITH FRUIT IN SOUTHWESTERN 
MINNESOTA. 
MARTIN PENNING, SLEEPY EYE. 
(Extracts From a Letter.) 
I will write you a report of some of my work and misfortunes in 
horticulture for nearly thirty years in Brown county. In 1865, after 
the great war, in which I had my share, I left Ozaukee county, Wis- 
consin, and come to Brown county,Minnesota, and have resided here 
ever since. WhenI came to this state, 1 was bound to raise fruit. 
