Trees, Fruits and Flowers of Minnesota, 1916 | Page 3

convenient room assigned for its use. It was excellently managed by Mr. N.H. Reeves, President of the Minneapolis Market Gardeners' Association.
As to the flower exhibit under the fine management of W.H. Bofferding, it was so much better than we anticipated that it is hard to find words suitably to express our thought in regard to it. Besides the splendid collections of plants and the large display of cut flowers from the state, there was shown from several eastern parties rare flowers, many of them new productions, which had a great deal to do with the beautiful appearance of the balcony, where all of these flowers were shown.
[Illustration: Sketch showing arrangement of hall and adjacent rooms, &c., used at 1915 Annual Meeting, in West Hotel, Minneapolis.]
Mention ought to be made of the monument erected in the center of the lobby on the ground floor of the West Hotel, a structure ten feet high, containing at its base some dozen or fifteen single layer boxes of choice apples and on its sides something like twenty bushels of apples put on in varying shades of red and green with a handsome ornamental plant crowning the whole. The seal of the society decorated with national colors appears upon the front. The picture taken of this monument is shown as a frontispiece of this number. It is incomplete in that the photographer cut off both ends of it, which is unfortunate in results obtained. Nevertheless it helped materially to advertise the meeting and was a distinct ornament in the lobby.
As to subjects in which there was a special interest on our program, the only one to which I will here refer is that of "marketing," which received particular attention from a considerable number of those on the program or taking impromptu parts at the meeting. The Ladies' Federation assisted us splendidly on the Woman's Auxiliary program, one number, that by Mrs. Jennison, being beautifully illustrated by lantern slides.
Delegates from abroad as usual and visitors were with us in considerable number. Prof. F. W. Brodrick came from Winnipeg, representing the Manitoba Society; Prof. N. E. Hansen, as usual, represented the South Dakota Society; Mr. Earl Ferris, of Hampton, Ia., the Northeastern Iowa Society; and Mr. A. N. Greaves, from Sturgeon Bay, Wis., the Wisconsin Society. We were especially favored in having with us also on this occasion Mr. N. A. Rasmusson, president of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, and Secretary Frederick Cranefield of the same society. If all the members of that society are as wide awake as these three the Minnesota Society will have to look to its laurels.
I must not fail to mention Mr. B. G. Street, from Hebron, Ill., who was present throughout the meeting, an earnest brother, and gave us a practical talk on "marketing." Our friend, Chas. F. Gardner, of Osage, Iowa, managed to get here Friday morning after the close of the meeting of the Iowa Horticultural Society, which he had been attending, and so spent the last day of the meeting with us. Welcome, Brother Gardner! The meeting would certainly have been incomplete without the presence of those old veterans and long time attendants at our annual gatherings, Geo. J. Kellogg and A. J. Philips, both from the Wisconsin Society. We need you, dear brothers, and hope you may long foregather with us.
As to that war horse of horticulture, C. S. Harrison, of York, Nebr., what would our meeting be without the fireworks in language which he has provided now for many of these annual occasions. The wonderful life and sparkle of his message survives with us from year to year, and we look forward eagerly to his annual coming.
There were three contestants who spoke from the platform in competition for the prizes offered from the Gideon Memorial Fund as follows:
First Prize--G. A. Nelson, University Farm School, St. Paul. Second--A. W. Aamodt, University Farm School, St. Paul. Third--P. L. Keene, University Farm School, St. Paul.
Their addresses were all of a practical character and will appear in our monthly.
Prof. Richard Wellington conducted a fruit judging contest, in connection with which there was a large interest, and prizes were awarded as follows:
D. C. Webster, La Crescent, First $5.00 P. L. Keene, University Farm, St. Paul, Second 3.00 Marshall Hurtig, St. Paul, Third 2.00
At the annual election the old officers whose terms had expired were all re-elected without opposition, and later the secretary was re-elected by the executive board for the coming year, so that no change whatever was made in the management of the society. J. M. Underwood, being absent in the south, was nevertheless re-elected by the board as its chairman for the coming year.
A pleasant event of this gathering was the presentation of a handsome gold watch and chain to the secretary, a memento in connection with the termination of