William Danforth, Sr., was born in West Boscawen, N. H., (now Webster) May 2, 1823. There he remained during his youth, attending school at the neighboring academies. At the age of twenty he commenced railroad work, and during the greater part of his life after this time followed the profession of civil engineer.

In September, 1862, he enlisted in Co. K, 16th Regiment of Vermont Volunteer Infantry, and was discharged with that regiment in August, 1863, serving but eleven months, first as lieutenant, then as captain, and having the experience of Gettysburg as a memory.

He came to Minnesota in July, 1869, being employed by the M. & St P. Ry. Co. on surveys and construction between St. Paul and La Crosse, and continuing in their employ with the exception of a few months on the N. P. Ry. till 1873. From 1880 to 1883 he again worked for the C. M. & St. P. Co.

He served Goodhue county for some years as surveyor, and was also city engineer of Red Wing about eleven years. From 1888 until the time of his death he was Chief Engineer of the D. R. W. & S. R. R.

In 1873 he purchased a place of about sixty acres near Red Wing. Although his duties as engineer took him away from home much of the time during these years, yet he always took a great interest in improving his land, and the cultivation of small fruits was his especial pleasure. He was a very enthusiastic member of the State

Horticultural Society, and none but the most imperative reasons ever keep him away from the meetings, as he felt that they were most instructive and helpful.

His death occurred very suddenly of apoplexy, a slight shock of which he had experienced two years previous.

Mr. Danforth married on April 30, 1857, Miss Lucia A. Nichols. She survives, as do also two children, William, who is at present county surveyor, and Lucia, who is connected with Carleton College, at Northfield.

Mr. Danforth first became connected with this society in 1886, and thereafter his name appeared continuously upon the rolls, and his face soon became a familiar one at our meetings, which he rarely missed. During these years the society has had no stauncher friend than he, nor one who stood more ready to serve its interests at whatever personal loss. Of the spirit of disinterestedness so prevalent in our association and which is the secret of its growth and influence, he partook in a very large degree. Quiet, unostentatious, genial, a man of strict integrity, he had a host of friends in and out of our society, who will most sincerely mourn his death.

SEC'Y.

DEATH OF JOHN LITTLE, GRANTON, ONTARIO. The decease of a noted Canadian horticulturist is announced. Mr. John Little passed away at his home in Granton, Ontario, Canada, on the 17th of November, 1897, aged 82 years. Mr. Little was born in Belfast, Ireland, in 1815, came to Canada about 1843, and engaged in farming. During the last twenty-five years he had been deeply interested in the growing of strawberries, having originated many new seedlings and tested nearly all the new varieties that have come out during the last quarter of a century. The Woolverton and Saunders are among the best of his seedlings so far introduced. He leaves an untarnished reputation for candor and integrity, was greatly esteemed and will be held in honor by all horticulturists of America.

J. S. H.

Trial Stations, Dec., 1897.

CENTRAL STATION, ST. ANTHONY PARK.

PROF. S. B. green, supt.

The School of Agriculture and Experiment Station, although forming different departments of the State University,are so closely identified in the minds of the people, that the course of one cannot be considered complete without some allusion to the other. So I shall preface this report with a brief reference to the condition of the School of Agriculture.

The appropriations made by the legislature at its last session have resulted in the building of a good central plant for heating and electric lighting and of a finely appointed girl's dormitory. This has made it practicable for the girls to be admitted to the School of Agriculture on a footing with the boys and does away with the necessity for such a school for girls as we have maintained for several years past during the late spring and early summer months. This together with the increased attendance of boys has resulted in a larger attendance than we have ever known before at one time and an increase in the School of Agriculture of a number of students during January, 1897, over those attending during January in 1896. This increase in attendance has had to be cared for in classrooms which were already crowded, so that now in some of them the students and instructors are placed at a great inconvenience. Along horticultural lines this has been especially noticeable, so much so, in fact, that a large number of students have necessarily been refused admission to the classes in horticulture. In greenhouse laboratory work, this has resulted in the sifting out of all lower class students who have wanted to attend.

Greenhouse Laboratory Work is a line of instructien which although new, has shown itself popular and beneficial during the past three years it has been in practice. The lessons given consist of the testing of seeds to determine their impurities and germinating powers; root grafting, where grafts are started into growth in the greenhouse, so the students can see the method by which the stock and graft unite; budding roses in the greenhouse; the propagation of greenhouse plants by seed and soft cuttings; and the general care and management of house plants, including potting, watering, temperatures, insects and diseases. In this connection a few of the fundamental principals which lead to the development of cultivated plants are taught and some practical work given in the pollination of plants, using for this purpose Chinese primroses,

petunias and tobacco. This work seems to fit especially well into the course in the School of Agriculture.

Bulletins Issued. The Division of Horticulture has issued two bulletins during the past year, though they really belong to 1896. Bulletin No. 49, on the "Rate of Increase on the Cut-over Timber Lands of Minnesota," is a study of the conditions of our forest lands and the rate of increase on them. The work is merely preliminary, but it has taken up the subject at sufficient length to show that if the fires were kept out of the pine lands of this state the growth on them would soon renew itself. Bulletin No. 52, on “Variety Tests of Potatoes in 1896 and Potato Implements," contains many illustrations and descriptions of special potato machinery. Increase in Equipment. Several hundred photographs have been taken in the Division of Horticulture during the past year, and the collection now numbers about seven hundred. The division now has about five hundred lantern slides for use in connection with lectures on horticulture.

A new system card index for all our orchards and fruit plantations has been started, for, owing to confusion in the nomenclature of our newer varieties of fruits, including those of Russian origin, it was found unsatisfactory to depend entirely upon the name of the fruit under which it was received. In the orchard one number is given to each tree-place, and in the index one numbered card for each tree. In this way it is an easy matter to keep a description of each tree on a card by itself. This I regard as a great improvement on our former system of keeping records. All fruits of the state are also being catalogued on the card index plan, and it is my intention to so arrange them that the variety can be readily detected by its season and color.

Mr. J. S. Harris has kindly donated to the Division of Horticulture a set of fifteen volumes of the Rural New Yorker, which have been bound and placed in the division. A new wagon, set of bobsleds and street watering cart have also been added to the eqipment.

The season of 1897 was here characterized by plenty of rain, so that only once or twice during the entire season was it necessary to use our irrigating plant, and our crops were generally very good. The late spring frosts which did so much damage in other parts of the state did not hurt us very much, although our strawberries would probably have been injured by them had we not covered them with mulch from between the rows on the nights when the frests occurred.

The trees in what has been known as the Russian orchard and in the new orchard are doing well. About seventy varieties of apples have been fruited during the past season, and considering the fact that our location and soil are poorly adapted to the growing of apples the results have been very satisfactory. All varieties of plums produced very heavily, so much so that we picked off more than half the fruit on the Desota soon after it set. The new varieties of plums of special interest which have fruited the past year are the Aitkin, Manitoba No. 1 and Surprise.