President, that the Minnesota State Horticultural Society and its
auxiliary societies through its secretary present the following
resolution to the next legislature of the state for adoption at that
time: Resolved, that, whereas the State of Minnesota has adopted a state
flower which, on account of its being a native of the woods and bogs, is
not generally known or recognized and, whereas, the State of Minnesota
in 1893 adopted by legislative vote a state flag, which emblem is not
generally known to the residents of the state, and believing that
familiarity with the state flower and the state flag will do good and
create loyalty to the state and Union, be it resolved, that we, the
Minnesota State Horticultural Society and auxiliary societies, do hereby
petition and pray the state legislature of Minnesota to have printed an
attractive picture of the state flower and the state flag, properly
framed, and present a copy of it to each public school of the state with
the request that it be placed upon the walls of the school room, also
that it be furnished free of cost to such other public buildings as may
be deemed advisable.
I trust, Madam President, that this resolution will not only be seconded
but it will meet with the unanimous approval of the society.
Mr. Hawkins: I second the motion.
Mrs. Gould: I do not know that we could vote with the Horticultural
Society. This is not a meeting of that society but simply a meeting of
the Flower Society. Will some one enlighten me?
Miss White: Madam President, if we could not vote as a society, could we
not vote to recommend this resolution to the Horticultural Society?
A Member: Yes, or to the two societies to be taken up at their business
meeting, perhaps.
Miss White: Recommend it be passed by the parent society.
A Member: Madam President, why should it not be the flag itself and not
a picture of the flag?
Mrs. Gould: Will you make that motion?
Miss White: I move that the resolution as presented by Mr. Smith be
endorsed by this Garden Flower Society and referred to the parent
society for their adoption. I will offer that as a substitute.
A Member: I second the motion.
Motion was carried.
Mrs. Gould: Our next subject is "The Pergola, Its Use and Misuse, Its
Convenience and Expense," by Charles H. Ramsdell, of Minneapolis. (See
index.)
Mrs. Gould: Our next paper is "Hardy Perennials," by Miss Grace E.
Kimball, of Waltham. (See index.)
Mrs. Gould: This spring our president, Mrs. Ruff, offered prizes for the
best papers on planting for color effect. The judges after reading these
papers carefully selected three. Miss Starr is first, Mrs. Tillotson
second and Mrs. Boyington third. These papers will now be read, Miss
Starr giving the first one. (See index.)
Mrs. Gould: Mrs. Tillotson will follow with her paper. (See index.)
Mrs. Gould: Mrs. Wyman will read Mrs. Boyington's paper. Mrs. Boyington
was unable to be with us today. (See index.)
Mrs. Gould: Mrs. Countryman will read a paper written by Mr. Swanson on
the judging of flowers. (See index.)
Mrs. Gould: Our meeting will close with Professor Washburn's talk on
"Bird Conservation," which will be given with slides and music.
Professor Washburn gives lantern talk.
December 9, 1915, Morning Session.
Half hour question and answer exercise on "Truck Crop and Garden
Insects," led by Professor Wm. Moore. (See index.)
The President: The committee on fruit list has been working very hard
trying to determine why we have particular varieties on the list and the
changes, if any, that should be made. Mr. J. P. Andrews, the chairman of
the committee, is the man who has been doing most of this work, and we
will be glad to hear from him at this time. He is quite radical and in
favor of many changes as you will note when he reads his report.
Mr. Andrews: There are very few changes, and you know it has been the
policy of this society rather to be conservative and not jump at
anything until we know what it is. (Reads new fruit list.)
Mr. Andrews: I move its adoption.
Motion was seconded and carried unanimously.
Mr. Andrews: I would like to call attention to the fact that a great
many criticize that we do not change the list from time to time. I have
thought that for a long time. Two or three years ago there was a little
move towards making it so we could change it. We are putting up some
nice, big premiums for late winter apples and early winter apples, and
there are undoubtedly some seedlings that would be all right to put upon
the list if we knew more about them. It seems to me it is foolish to pay
those premiums and then drop it right there. We do not know any more
about whether they are hardy or not than if they had been grown in
Missouri. They may have grown well through some protection or favorable
location, but when you commence grafting from a seedling it does not
give satisfaction as a grafted tree and in different localities of the
country.
We want to know whether the new seedlings are hardy enough for this
climate, not that they are simply of good quality to eat and perhaps
will keep. We find that out here, but we do not find out anything about
the hardiness.
I think we ought to require a person who has produced a good seedling
and gotten a good premium for it to send some of its scions to the
superintendent of the Fruit-Breeding Farm for testing and let him send
it out to points north of here, between here and the northern part of
the state, to see how much hardiness it has. Hardiness is the quality we
want more than anything else. We have gotten along so far with the
Hibernal, and we ought not to be so particular about quality as about
hardiness. They ought to be required to give Mr. Haralson a few of the
scions or buds so that he could try them there at the fruit-breeding
farm and send them out to more northern locations under number, so that
the originator will be just as well protected, and it will add so much
to the value of the new seedling that he ought to be anxious to do it
instead of holding it back as is now done.
I move you that we have some arrangement whereby those drawing the
premiums for the first and second qualities, keeping qualities and
eating qualities, etc., shall be obliged to give to Mr. Haralson
something to work on, either scions or buds of those varieties, so that
they can be tested in that way and we know what they are, otherwise it
leaves it for any one to introduce a new variety just about on the same
ground that some other varieties have been introduced in the state, made
a nice, large thing for the man that introduced them to the public and
sold them but afterwards proved a great disappointment to almost every
man who ever planted them. I move that we make such an arrangement, and
we recommend that the state fair do the same.
Mr. Horton: I second the motion.
The President: It is moved and seconded that some arrangement be made
requiring people who enter seedling apples for prizes at the
horticultural meeting and the state fair to furnish scions or buds of
such varieties to the central station to Superintendent Charles Haralson
that he may determine whether the trees are hardy and suitable for this
climate or not.
Mr. Andrews: We need this provision so that Superintendent Haralson
could visit those trees and see what they looked like.
Mr. Latham: I move that this matter be referred to the executive board
to develop a workable plan to secure the purposes which Mr. Andrews has
in view.
The President: Do you accept that as a substitute?
Mr. Andrews: I would if it wasn't for this one thing. It was left that
way a year or two ago, and it hasn't amounted to a thing. I do not care
if it is left to the executive committee if Mr. Latham will vouch for
its being put through.
Mr. Latham: Don't you remember as the result of that action we prepared
forms to be used by those who examined the seedlings and decided what
seedlings should be further tested and all that sort of thing. We have
those forms for use if the committee wants to use them.
Mr. Andrews: Those ought to be so as to hold the premium money back
until we get some material to test.
Mr. Latham: I will say a few words. It is not such a simple matter as it
seems. Here come perhaps fifty people who have grown seedlings. We tell
them we are very desirous that all the seedlings in the state that have
promise of merit be shown. In the division of the premium money they do
not get more than four or five dollars apiece, the best of them do not
get more than eight or ten dollars. Then here comes a resolution which
says, "Before you draw this money you have to furnish scions to the
state fruit-breeding farm with the privilege of sending out to other
stations in the state for testing." The average man who owns a seedling
that is really a good thing begins to think about it, and we will not
get what we want. If a man has a seedling that is better than the
Duchess and Wealthy and has hardiness as well there are lots of buyers
around here that have their eyes open. There has been a half a dozen I
know of picked up in the last few years really first class, fine and
hardy. Those trees are being tested out. It would be a splendid thing if
we could get a really good seedling, as Mr. Andrews says, but a
resolution of this kind will not result in doing what we want to do.
I would like to have it referred to the executive board so they can work
out a practical plan. Mr. Andrews is a member of the board. I renew my
motion.
Motion is seconded.
The President: The original motion as given by Mr. Andrews is that those
people offering seedlings for prizes, before they receive premiums--
Mr. Andrews: The first or second premiums, I said, because that would
shut out all of the others.
The President:--before receiving the first or second premiums, that they
be required or that they will agree to furnish scions or buds for
experimental purposes, these scions or buds to be sent to the central
station to Mr. Haralson for the purpose of testing them out as to
hardiness, under number. Now, the amendment made by Mr. Latham is to the
effect that this matter be referred to the executive committee. We will
first put the amendment that it be referred to the executive committee
to work out a practical plan.
Mr. Heustis: And report next year.
The President: That they work out a practical plan and put it in
operation. Was it your idea that we report next year or that the plan be
put in operation?
Mr. Latham: No objection to reporting next year. If they can work out a
plan they can also put it in practical operation.
Mr. Andrews: I do not think that I am after this now, gentlemen, any
more than every one of you ought to be after it. We ought to know more
about the hardiness of these trees. This list has stood almost
identically the same list for eight or nine years, pretty nearly the
same, and we are not getting ahead at all. We do not know any more about
the hardiness of these trees we have been putting out than we did
before.
The amendment was carried.
The President: This matter will therefore be referred to the executive
board. The next in order is the annual report of the executive board,
Mr. J. M. Underwood, of Lake City, chairman. Mr. Underwood is sojourning
in the sunny south. He has sent a report, however, to Secretary Latham,
and Mr. Latham has requested me to read it. This was written at St.
Augustine, Florida. (See index.)
The President: Any one wish to make any comments on this report? If not,
we will pass to the report of the secretary, Mr. Latham.
Mr. Latham: Do you wish to have the report read or have it published
later? It will be published anyway.
Mr. Miller: Let it be considered as read and approved and filed for
publication. (See index.)
Motion is seconded and carried.
The President: We will now have the report of George W. Strand,
treasurer. (See index.)
The President: What will you do with the report of the treasurer? You
have heard the reading of it.
Upon motion the report was adopted and filed.
The President: The next order of business would be the paper by
Professor J. C. Whitten but Mr. Whitten is not present, I am sorry to
say, and I am now going to call on Mr. O. M. Heustis as he is present to
tell us about his "Dwarf Apple Trees." (See index.)
The President: We are very much indebted to the doctor for his
interesting talk. Is Professor Mackintosh in the room? I was going to
ask him to read a paper on "Successful Cold Storage Plant for Apples,"
sent in by Mr. Hanson. I am sorry that Mr. Hanson is not able to be
present, he is ill at home.
Professor Mackintosh not being present, paper was read by Mr. Clarence
Wedge.
The President: Mr. Wedge will have a word for us at this time. He has a
suggestion to make.
Mr. Wedge: Ladies and gentlemen, fellow members: Once a year our society
has been in the habit of bestowing the highest honor within its gift
upon some of the members that have honored the society for so many years
with their services and have made themselves in that way so valuable to
the public that we feel that they deserve the highest recognition which
we are able to give them as a society. It becomes my great pleasure at
this time, standing in the place of my friend, Mr. Underwood, who is
absent, to propose the following names to you which have been
recommended by the executive board for this honor. There are five of
them, the names are: John Bisbee, of Madelia; Charles Haralson, our
superintendent at Excelsior; Mr. F. W. Kimball, of Waltham; Mr. John R.
Cummins, of Minneapolis, and Mr. S. H. Drum, of Owatonna.
Mr. Bisbee has undertaken and is carrying on one of the largest
experiments in seedling apples in the Northwest. He seems to be a very
quiet member among us, but he is one of the working members who are
doing the things that the society most needs.
I do not need to tell you anything about the work of Charles Haralson,
the superintendent of our fruit-breeding farm at Zumbra Heights. His
work has approved itself to us all so much that I think he really
deserves the statement that was made by one of our older members that he
has outdone Burbank. He certainly has for this part of the country.
Mr. F. W. Kimball, a very dear personal friend of mine, has been
carrying on experiments in orcharding for the past twenty-five years
about, in the neighborhood of Austin, Minnesota, and has now removed to
Waltham. His experiments there in top-working have been among the most
useful and among the largest that have been undertaken in any part of
the state. He perhaps deserve the same reputation in our state that our
friend, Mr. Philips, has in Wisconsin. I do not want to say this to
disparage anybody else, but he has certainly made a very large and very
valuable addition to our knowledge of the value of top-working.
Mr. John R. Cummins, of Minneapolis, whom we have with us this morning,
is one who has been a very persistent experimenter in all lines. I
remember particularly going to his place some ten or fifteen years ago
and going over the remarkable collection of ornamental trees and plants
that he was growing, many of which I did not think it was possible to
grow at Albert Lea, and there he was succeeding with them and
developing them at a point 100 miles north of us. We certainly owe him
a deal of credit for his perseverance and his enterprise. We are glad
that he is with us today.
Mr. S. H. Drum, of Owatonna, is one who has also been one of our most
faithful members, whose experiments have been in fruits, and he has
brought great encouragement to us in the southern part of Minnesota. He
has now moved to Owatonna and, not being content with the best, he has
started out with a new plantation with two kinds of fruit, and I think
he is topping the market with the very best.
Mr. President, I move that these names be added to the list of honorary
life members of the Minnesota Horticultural Society.
There are several seconds to the motion.
The President: A very fitting tribute, I am sure. Are there any remarks?
The name of Mr. Cummins calls my attention to the fact that about twelve
years ago he presented this society with the gavel that I hold in my
hand. This gavel is made of black walnut grown by Mr. Cummins on his own
place. I do not suppose that he made the gavel himself, but it is made
of material raised on his own farm, and when this gavel comes down good
and hard I want you to think of Mr. Cummins. Are you ready for the
question, that those gentlemen suggested be made honorary life members?
Motion is carried unanimously.
The President: I am now going to call on the young men from the
University Farm who are contestants for the Gideon Memorial Fund. (See
index.)
Contestants thereupon read their essays.
The President: I will now ask the judges to retire and decide which of
these young men is entitled to this prize money. For the benefit of some
of the newer members who may not understand the situation I will say
that some years ago a number of the members of this society believed
that we should commemorate the good work done by Peter M. Gideon. A sum
of money was raised to be known as the Gideon Memorial Fund. It was
decided that that money be placed at interest and that the interest
derived therefrom be offered as prizes to young men attending our
agricultural school or college. They were to deliver addresses at the
meetings of the Minnesota Horticultural Society, and the young men
preparing the best papers and making the best talks would be awarded
this prize money, the accrued interest from this fund. So we have
annually three young men from the agricultural college that present
papers or make addresses on subjects that are of importance to this
society. This is a memorial for Peter M. Gideon, who has done such
splendid work for the fruit raisers of the Northwest.
While we are waiting for the report of the judges I will ask Mr. Ludlow
to come forward and tell us about a letter that he received from Peter
M. Gideon, November 2, 1885, and which was accompanied by Mr. Gideon's
last catalog.
Judges announce their decision. (Applause.)
_Premiums Awarded to Gideon Memorial Contestants_:
1. The Plum Curculio--Edward A. Nelson.
2. Standardizing the Potato--A. W. Aamodt.
3. Marketing Fruit at Mankato--P. L. Keene.
The President: I am now going to call on some of the delegates to this
meeting. Mr. George H. Whiting, representing the South Dakota
Horticultural Society, we will ask him to come forward and say a word.
Mr. Whiting: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: I do not know why Mr.
Cashman should ask me to come forward. I have not very much to say and
could have said it back there just as well. Perhaps you will wish I had
stayed back there.
I will say it is a pleasure to me to be with the Minnesota
horticulturists again. I have met with you quite a number of years but
not in the capacity of delegate. I did not expect to be a delegate this
time, thought I would leave the place for some younger man, but there
seemed to be no other present, and so I had to accept. I rather felt as
though I was not competent or did not care to take the responsibility of
making a report. I am getting old and a little tired, and I do not like
to do so much of that kind of work as I used to. However, I presume I
will have to do the best I can and let it go at that.
I will say you have a wonderful society here. It is a wonder to me
sometimes how you keep up the interest, how to keep up so much interest
in this work. There is no other state in the Union that has such a good,
live society. I attended a great many of the state societies last year.
I had the pleasure of attending the Missouri State Society. I can say
that you discount them and then some. An old state like Missouri and a
fruit state, you might say, it is supposed to be in the fruit belt, and
still you fellows up north here have all the vim and the snap and
determination to do things that those fellows do not do at all. It is
more in the man, I think sometimes, than it is in the location.
It used to be said that Minnesota was not a fruit state, you could not
grow apples in Minnesota. Well, I believe Mr. Gideon said that if he
could not grow apples in Minnesota he would not live there, something to
that effect, and he did not intend to leave the state either. Now, you
all know what success he made, and you that follow have a great deal to
be thankful for the work he did, and you are hoping--and I presume you
will be successful--to obtain an apple that is even better than the
Wealthy.
I am glad that you take so much interest in this matter of new
seedlings. It will surely develop something some day, there is no
question about it. Of course, you cannot tell when, and you cannot tell
who will be the lucky man to get the thousand dollars, but undoubtedly
there is more at stake than the thousand dollars; that is a very small
item.
I think I will not take up your time. It is getting on, and I have not
thought of making any talk, have nothing prepared and nothing in my
head. I thank you for your attention. (Applause.)
The President: I am going to call on our good friend, Professor Hansen,
secretary of the South Dakota Horticultural Society, who has done so
much for us.
Mr. Wedge: Mr. Hansen is not here. I just want to say a word that might
interest some of the younger members of the society in regard to our
friend who has just left the floor, Mr. Whiting, of Yankton. He is the
original Dakota nurseryman, who went out in the days of the pioneers
before I think there was any such thing as South Dakota, and he has
stayed on the job ever since. That is not so wonderful, for others, lots
of people, have stayed on the job, but he has made money out of the
business and got rich. I think he deserves some very special praise.
(Applause.)
The President: Is Professor Waldron in the room? Here he comes. He is
the leading light of North Dakota and a gentleman who has been with us
before. (Applause.)
Mr. Waldron: These people will think North Dakota is a dark place if
this is a leading light. What is the occasion of this?
The President: Tell us your troubles.
Mr. Waldron: When we had a good wheat crop we did not have any troubles.
We forget our other troubles whenever we can get something like 100
million bushels of wheat. Our horticultural troubles have been quite
numerous. We had a frost every year, including July. We started in on
the ninth day of June with a frost that killed everything in sight
except a few cottonwood trees and things like that, but all of our
tomatoes, which were in blossom by the way at that time because we had a
favorable spring, and plums and apples went the same way. I think a few
of the late blooming plums managed to survive. The frost in July did not
hurt very much but the frost in August certainly finished us.
Mr. Latham: The reporter is taking all that.
Mr. Waldron: Our reputation is so good, we can own up to calamity once
in a while. Of course, if our reputation was not better than others we
would have to keep it dark, but inasmuch as nature favors us so
continuously we can own up when we get bumped. The August frost put our
corn out of business, so we are around with long fingers trying to steal
seed corn.
However, a great many of the people of the state are looking forward to
the matter of planting trees as never before, and our farmers and
citizens are taking more interest in general tree planting and
beautifying the homes than in previous years. I had this term a large
class of students in landscape gardening. They will go out to the places
where they live and encourage the planting of trees and landscape
gardening there. In this matter of general ornamentation the frosts or
other calamities have not discouraged us. I think there were more trees
grown and more ornamental work done this year than in any two previous
years because the men have the money and are willing to spend it. I was
out on a farm last week where a man insisted on buying a thousand
evergreen trees. The nurseryman tried to sell him only five hundred, but
he would not have it that way. He wanted a thousand. He said he had the
money and was going to pay for them; so he planted the thousand trees.
We do not recommend such rashness on the part of our farmers, but it
shows when a farmer insists on having a thousand trees he is taking the
beautifying of his grounds seriously. This is perhaps an extreme case,
but we have others working along the same line.
I certainly enjoy the privilege of being with you people here again as I
have for the last quarter of a century, twenty-five years ago, when I
was made an honorary member of this society, and I do not know of any
prouder moment in my whole career than when you saw fit to honor me in
that manner. I certainly would never forgive myself for the balance of
the year if I failed to attend these meetings. (Applause.)