Before that time our society allowed $50.00 a year for station fees for quite a little while, then before that $25.00 a year. Last year we appeared before the legislature and tried to get some help to keep up that work and informed them that our money was getting short and that unless it was done we could not carry on that work. The legislature hardly winked an eye at our request. No money was appropriated, and of all the things that I ever hated to help do last week was to discontinue the Charles City station. For fear that some one might think we had gone back on Mr. Patten and that the work he has done will be lost to the world, I will say there is nothing of that kind. There is not a member of our society but would do anything in the world for Mr. Patten, to help him. It is just simply a fact that the money of our society is so nearly exhausted we had hardly enough to pay for the expenses of our meeting last week. We had a splendid meeting and never had such an exhibit of apples before. Perhaps we may have had as many apples on exhibit but not so many perfect ones. On the first opportunity we have we are going to see that Mr. Patten does not suffer. I would say that they are in pretty good shape to take care of Mr. Patten down there for a year or two, and we will not lose the valuable work he has done.
As the meeting is drawing to a close I want to say in closing that if there is anything that does me good it is to come up here and look into your faces once a year, and I wish that I could see more of you. There is a kind of bond of brotherhood and a feeling that when I am here I am among friends and I have found that to be the case for almost twenty years. Thank you. (Applause.)
The President: I have just discovered a question here that should be answered, if there is anyone here that can do so. "In my locality the basswood and box elders are infested with a scale-like substance that looks like cotton. Most of the trees of the varieties named are infested. What is it and is there a remedy?"
Mr. Kellogg: That is no doubt the cottonwood bug that infects the soft maple. They come and work for about three years and then some insect comes in and cleans them out.
The President: What is the remedy, Mr. Kellogg?
Mr. Kellogg: You can use any spray for this bug. On forest trees it is out of reach, but arsenical spray will get them if you can reach them.
Mr. Warner: Cotton maple scale. Professor Waldron recommends to spray with crude oil when the trees are dormant. We find it best to cut it back. The cottony appearance does not show until the second year and then the scale has really done its injury. The time to cut it, you will find a lot of small scales on the young twigs, and if they are cut off and a new growth forced you get rid of it.
The President: I understand Prof. Broderick of the College of Winnipeg has been here. If he is here I wish he would come forward and give us a word. I understand he is the delegate from Winnipeg. (Applause.)
Mr. Broderick: Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen: Before going away, I would like, as a member of the Manitoba society to express to you my great pleasure at being here and taking part in your excellent meeting. I had planned for a number of years to come down but circumstances have been such that I have been unable to be here. I might say that we in Manitoba, about 400 miles north of here, are interested in horticulture as well as you people in Minnesota. We have a fraternal interest in the work you are doing. A number of our members, I might say, are members of your society, and we are getting your excellent publication and following the work you are doing. Our problems up there are very similar to yours, and we feel that you can give us greater information than we can obtain from any other source. We appreciate the excellent work you are doing, and it has been of great interest to me to see the wide range of subjects you are covering. I was particularly interested this morning in the session of the plant breeders, as that is a line of work that we feel up in Manitoba has some possibilities for us. In a horticultural line we are confined very largely to the hardy varieties. We are working on improving the hardiness of our varieties, and the fruit growing as it is carried on with us very largely in a small way by the farmers and others interested through our province. We feel, however, that there are possibilities, and we are only too glad to get any information from you as to the work and progress that is being made in the matter of hardy fruits. We have been endeavoring to improve our native plums. I have had the station there at Winnipeg, and in connection with one of our nurserymen, Mr. Buchanan, we have been selecting hardy plums for a number of years, and we hope from that stock in crossing with the Japanese plums, as Professor Hansen suggested this morning, to prove that there are possibilities even as far north as Manitoba. I have heard Mr. Buchanan say on several occasions that he thought the possibilities of plum growing were fairly good in Manitoba. In small fruits we have possibilities. The currants and raspberries grow very well. We have not done so much in strawberries, but I know there are a number of growers in parts of the province that are making some very successful experiments in strawberries, and we hope in a few years to produce strawberries of a fairly good quality.
The President: How is your wild strawberry?