User:Peteforsyth/Oregon State Horticultural Society

The Oregon State Horticultural Society was organized in Portland January 13, 1889, with a long list of active members from all over the State. J. R. Cardwell, president, E. W. Allen, secretary.

For many years quarterly horticultural meetings were held by invitation from the different towns of the State, with marked interest and beneﬁcial results to the horticulture of the State, ﬁnancially, fraternally, and socially.

The local interest and generosity of resident horticulturists in the display of fruits, ﬂowers, decorated halls, music, excursions through the country, well-ordered ovations, the defraying of all expenses of visiting members and the society, was a notable feature of these gatherings. Able papers were read and discussed, the best social feeling prevailed, and everybody went away feeling better and wiser.

The Oregon State Horticultural Society is now a permanent prosperous state institution, active in the work of horticulture. Biennial meetings are held, the annual meeting January 13 in Portland, and one summer meeting out, as designated by the executive committee on invitation of outside localities. The next summer meeting to be held in Salem, July 6 and 7.

The society has had two presidents in the eighteen years of its existence. The Honorable E. L. Smith of Hood River, and Dr. J. R. Cardwell of Portland. Prof. E. R. Lake, botanist and horticulturist of the Agricultural College of Corvallis has been the very efﬁcient secretary and treasurer for the last twelve years.

The State Board of Horticulture is a creation of the legislature of 1889, approved by the Governor February 25, 1889. The measure was entitled "An act to create a state board of horticulture, and appropriate money therefor." This has proved an opportune and very efﬁcient board, an educational aid in the inspection and eradication of insect and fungi pests. Thirty-ﬁve hundred dollars per annum was appropriated to maintain this board.

The following ofﬁcers and members were appointed by the Governor: J. R. Cardwell, president, Portland, com- missioner for the State at large; James A. Varney, The Dalles, inspector of fruit pests, commissioner for the fourth district; R. S. Wallace, treasurer, Salem, commissioner for the second district; Henry E. Dosch, Hillsdale, commissioner for the ﬁrst district; J. D. Whitman, Medford, commissioner for the third district; James Hendershott, Cove, commissioner for the ﬁfth district; E. W. Allen, secretary, Portland.

District boundaries—First district: Multnomah, Clackamas, Yamhill, Washington, Columbia, Clatsop, and Tillamook Counties. Second district: Marion, Polk, Benton, Linn, and Lane Counties. Third district: Douglas, Jackson, Josephine, Coos, Curry, and Lake Counties. Fourth district: Morrow, Wasco, Gilliam, Crook, and Sherman Counties. Fifth district: Baker, Wallowa, Malheur, Harney, and Grant Counties.

The biennial reports of this board have been well received at home and abroad, and are now an acknowledged authority in the horticultural literature of the State. These reports were awarded at the Pan-American Exposition, Buffalo, N. 'Y., a gold medal; at the Trans-Mississippi Exposition, Omaha, in 1898, a gold medal; at the Interstate and West India Exposition at Charleston, S. 0., 1902, a gold medal; at the International Exposition, held at Osaka, Japan, in 1903, a gold medal. Are now used as text-books at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Sapporo Nokkaido, Japan, and in the horticultural studies at the Agricultural College, Stuttgart, Germany.

The present oﬂicers and members of the board are: W. K. Newell, president; James H. Reed, treasurer; Geo. H. Lamberson, secretary, Portland. W. K. Nowell, Gaston, commissioner for the State at large; James H. Reed, Milwaukie, commissioner for the ﬁrst district; Chas. A. Park, Salem, commissioner for the second district; A. H. Carson, Grants Pass, commissioner for the third district; R. H. Weber, The Dalles, commissioner for the fourth district; Judd Geer, Cove, commissioner for the ﬁfth district.