Mower County transcript., 1900-02-14

AUS1
within Us, We will give out to the
pu i;lic the m >st reliable information
that we can obtain. bearing upon all
lines Of advancement in the field of
horticulture, from questions OF soil
and site to marketing aud consump-
tio1-from' aAlpha. to Omega of. the
horticultural text book. As instruc.
tors to the public I trust We shall
never prove recreant to that trust.
Although We may often err, as in the
nature OF things we are sure to do, let
even our errors be honest ones, and
let US manfully acknowledge them
when clearly shown to be such. Let
no lady or gentleman present with US
through this meeting, consider them
selves strangers to US. AS we are all
here TO learn. do. not be delicate or
dif1ideLt about asking questions on
any horticultural or kindred topic
you may wish Information about. II
we do not know it all, at least we will
help you willingly, freely, to the ex.
tent OF our ability, aud this l think as
I look over our assembly and see the
mem bers present is not limited to
very narrow bounds.
In connection with our sister sOcie.
ties we collect vast amount OF
information, but we do not succeed
10 disseminating it as I wish we might
The value to be derived from consult
ing the p&g1s OF our reports, by our
people at large, is not as fully appre.
ciated as it should be-. II they would
only make use OF the information
there stored up, the. oily toDgued fel-
low with the fancy picture-book ard
the latest..fad could not number 50
many victims as he is at present
creditedIwith. AS regards our reports,
l feel justified in saying that il Uncle
Samuel would set aside the cost, to
him, Of Minnesota's S share in his free
seed distribution, which aggregates
about $4,000 year, and invest it in
our horrlc ultural reports at the actual
cost to the state OF the printing, and
the reports thus obtained be judi
ciously distributed, the benefit to our
people would be incomparably greater
than it now is, for can personally
testify to the worthlessness Of much
OF that seed, and am persuaded that
the reports would fulfil NJ uch higher
mission in Minnesota, although prob
ably judged from the greatly elevated
point efsviewS Of the plitician. am
grossly in error, wandering hopelessly
and helplessly in the palpable mists-
OF the valley, unable to see cause and
effect, as they so clearly see from their
more elevated point OF view. The re-
ports Of mem bers will present to you
general conditions during the season
OF fruit, plants, shrubs, and trees
throughout the boundaries of our So
ciety, much better than can do, so 1
will not refer to them except in gen.
eral way. In 1858 our trees were so
weakened by nearly fruitless efforts to
mature the over-abundaut crop hang
ing upon their boughs, that they
failed to set many fruit buds, and of
these many were killed by the very
severe cold in February, Here and
there, however, young trees in pro-
tected locations bore partial crops,
and at the Mower county tair I had
the pleasure Of displaying tine fruit
exhibit, although it took large por-
tion Of the county's crop to make it.
Grapes I believe were the finest ever
grown in the county. Plums bloomed
freely, but the frost. killed a large
portion Of the buds. Insect enemies
and fungus diseases seriously injured
the balance OF the crop. Last year
you made provision for the distribu.
tion Of seeding apple trees to the
mem bers OF our Society and it proved
to be very acceptabl Die and satisfactory,
and l would recommend it's continu-
ance another year. Last fall and
through the winter thus far, I have
had the question asked me many times
If you were going to set farmers
home orchard what varieties would
you plant? l would suggest that this
Society would recommend a list for
general planting in our territory, say
twenty.four trees, i. e., apple trees,
ten. crabs and hybrids, eight, and OF
plums six. The proceedings of the
auxiliary societies show them to be
active and progressive. They are to
be congratulated on the good work
they are doing for horticulture IN our
state. Now the Society is in condi-
tion financially to lift something Of
the burden from the secretary's shoul-