Vol. 44 JANUARY, 1916 No. 1




President's Greeting, Annual Meeting, 1915.

THOS. E. CASHMAN, PRESIDENT.


This is the forty-ninth annual meeting of the Minnesota State
Horticultural Society. Nearly half a century has elapsed since that
little band of pioneers met in Rochester and organized that they might
work out a problem that had proven too difficult for any of them to
handle single handed and alone. Those men were all anxious to raise at
least sufficient fruit for themselves and families. They had tried and
failed. They were not willing to give up. They knew they could
accomplish more by interchanging ideas, and, furthermore, if they were
able to learn anything by experience they wanted to pass it on to their
neighbors.

Those men built better than they knew. The foundation was properly laid,
and the structure, while not finished, is an imposing one. A great many
people believe that this structure has been completed, that we have
reached our possibilities in fruit raising. This is only half true. We
are still building on this splendid foundation erected by those few
enthusiasts.

None of those men are left to enjoy the benefits of their labor. The
present generation and the generations to come are and will be the