56 WESTERN HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



made for printing* the back reports of the Society, so that the 

 first printed volume contained the reports of the first six 

 years. 



The membership slowly increased, and the interest con- 

 tinuing-, in 1881, eight years after the first public publication, 

 the legislature made an appropriation of $1,000 annually for 

 the support of the Society, besides increasing- the printing- 

 fund to $750 per annum. At this time the roll showed fifty- 

 nine annual members and four life members. The next ten 

 years of the Society was marked by steady growth, until in 

 1891 the membership had increased quite materially, then 

 numbering 1 195 annual members and 39 life members. Since 

 then the interest in the work of our Association has steadily 

 developed and the number of those who labor with us in- 

 creased, until at the last annual meeting- the secretary was 

 able to report a membership of over 700, of whom only 55 

 were life members, making- the Minnesota organization the 

 larg-est of its kind in the United States, although not the 

 largest in America, as your sister province, Ontario, can 

 boast an organization, working on a plan similar to ours, I 

 believe, of about 2,000. 



The method in which the report of our Society has been 

 published the last three years has had much to do with the 

 growth of this work. During this period our report has been 

 sent out in monthly sections, and at the end of the year these 

 have been bound, with the journal of the Society, list of 

 members, etc., together making the annual report of the 

 Association, a volume of something over 500 pages. We 

 have found this method of sending out our reports in many 

 ways a great advantage, the effects of 'which have been felt 

 very widely throughout the State. The interest in our work 

 has communicated itself to the general press, and especially 

 to the agricultural press of the State, and through the 

 farmer's institutes as a co-worker, we have been able to reach 

 in a general way a very large number of the planters of the 

 Northwest. In this term Northwest might be included our 

 own State of Minnesota, the two Dakotas and your province, 



