llows:

"Expected until yesterday that I would get to Rochester convention but
am bitterly disappointed in being unable to do so owing to fatal illness
of chairman of our state commission, whose called meetings and pendent
duties have fallen upon me. Senator Penney is in midst of strenuous
primary campaign closing Monday and can not leave and Mr. Beck is in
hospital recovering from operation. So your Saginaw trio, positively
with you in spirit and good wishes, is held here this time absolutely
and all regret the situation beyond measure. I expressed to you
yesterday, prepaid, the Washington walnuts, fine young trees only
eighteen months old, and will replace them next spring if necessary.
Penney and Beck join me in sincerely desiring the success of your
convention and extending kind regards to you and those present, all of
whom we hope to meet another year.

WM. S. LINTON.

The trees we are going to plant tomorrow morning, if these seedlings get
here, are grown from nuts furnished Mr. Linton by the superintendent of
Mount Vernon. Last year we planted some in one of the parks at
Lancaster.

I will ask Mr. Vollertsen to read his paper now.

MR. CONRAD VOLLERTSEN: Ladies and gentlemen: My paper this morning will
necessarily be very short as the subject assigned to me is one of which
I so far have not had any practical experience and therefore am unable
to say much about.

According to our program I have been assigned to make a few remarks on
"The Blight-proof Propagated Filbert," a subject I think rather hard to
discuss as we have so far no positive proof that blight, if it at all
exists on the improved filbert, will not eventually appear on varieties
we are now growing. I therefore believe the subject, "Blight-proof
Propagated Filbert," should have been worded somewhat differently, as we
have no assurance when blight may appear, nor any guarantee against its
appearance. It may fall on our plants over night or at any time. That we
can not prevent nor control.

In the nursery of improved European filberts which we have maintained
for ten years, blight is so far not known and has never made its
appearance. We know of other filbert plants, several varieties, all of
German origin, in this, our home city, from thirty to forty years old,
never affected by blight, bearing nuts today. But all this will not
guarantee the improved propagated filbert to be blight-proof. We
certainly do not claim our propagated improved fi