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LATE OF EXCELSIOR, MINN.
[For biography, ete., see page 20.|
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APR 9-
Trees, Fruits and Flowers
OF
MINNESOTA.
e dé §
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a =
EMBRACING THE TRANSACTIONS OF THE es pis
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
FROM DECEMBER 1, 1899 To DECEMBER 1, 1900,
INCLUDING THE
TWELVE NUMBERS OF ‘‘THE MINNESOTA HORTICULTURIST’’
FOR 1900.
EDITED BY THE SECRETARY,
A. W. LATHAM,
OFFICE AND LIBRARY, 207 KasoTa BLOCK,
MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
Official Stenographer, A. G. Lonc, Excelsior, Minn.
4D) Dame, O, Og 0 ai
* MINNEAPOLIS:
HARRISON & SMITH CO.
1900.
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. JANUARY, Igoo. No. 1.
OFFICERS.
1900.
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
PRESIDENT.
Dee DEMME RGASH 22277 .4 Sd ke ta eek OY Hutchinson
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
PW. KIMBALL, First ‘Congressional Dist:.......... Austin
S. D. RICHARDSON, Second ‘‘ ‘¢ ...Winnebago City
Mrs. A. A. KENNEDY, Third ‘ Lia se canbe ite’st a yatcass)
VINCENT BAILEY, Fourth as o.ot. Anthony Park
Cov..).<. STEVENS, Fifth: —‘* ee ais Minneapolis
MRS. JENNIE STAGER, Sixth ‘‘ ae tes Sauk Rapids
D. T. WHEATON, Seventh we PE a! Sen SMe ae Morris
SECRETARY (AND LIBRARIAN ex-officio).
6 NONI ES Seg er Pe Minneapolis, Minn.
Office and Library, 207 Kasota Block.
TREASURER.
SSN MMRDA eh Peete elt Meh ly oe a ew ee vs Excelsior
EXECUTIVE BOARD.
(The president and secretary are members ¢2-officio. )
Weman Merton, (Chairman), 1 year............ Minneapolis
gL RUSTON BREE ee oe ee ree La Crescent
Re EWG VCALS oo ces co 55'S es so ere ssi ous a Faribault
NEE RO VICATG feos fe Sy oe ne Ge aioe oo 08 Montevideo
Pee gol rR EEN OS VATS... 2s. Se x's es st. Anthony Park
i NEIGH, vo) VEATS 0% 6.0 rae ees oo we ote mie Albert Lea
ASSISTANT LIBRARIAN.
E, A. CUZNER, Essex and 27th Ave. S. E........ Minneapolis
(The Assistant Librarian has charge of the surplus reports of the society,
which are stored at Pillsbury Hall, State University. )
(iS)
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
SUPERINTENDENTS OF TRIAL STATIONS.
1900;
Pror. S. B. GREEN, (State Exp’mt Station) St. Anthony Park
HSS. DART ES, “- aaa ge nets t Ooi eee Owatonna
DEAVAIN. CODE. .c20-25 sess & chit, a eee eee Windom
Cras: We- SAMPSON; (etapes je. ee a ee Eureka
O. M. Lorn, (plums and small fruits)........ Minnesota City
He We yMaAN.- (apples |e. so: eee oes) ere Excelsior
eS ARR IG. | 60 2 he uepeee Cres See ae ee La Crescent
EARS MOVER. 26... Sete ou ares se eee eee oe Montevideo
Wrst PEMINIE(OTAGER 123. 2 Sehie ee eee oe we Sauk Rapids
WILLIAM: SOMERVEULE. 3. =. n.c ca). pees eee eet < oe Viola
GS. PRRES / 525 eos tens See ee eee Pleasant Mounds
STANDING COMMITTEES FOR 1900.
FRUIT LIST.
Clarence: Wedge: gic. Sowa ere nate eee ae! Albert Lea
Uae Al reyes oc Sane oS refi raheem tone esas Faribault
Prot. Geb. Green -..0 Sete Bass = see = St. Anthony Park
SEEDLING FRUITS.
POS EER eae ae Ene wel enas Rothe La Crescent
ORNAMENTAL LIST.
F. ? Ngveree et ee eae Ses Sykes Block, Minneapolis
Tet Gay ere erie es 3 tn tige so was es te ee Montevideo
Fred Nussbatimes: <2: oS. Seca das eee St. Paul
NOMENCLATURE AND CATALOGUE.
gS hee reg Se pa tee ee Gera es La Crescent
Prot. Sts GRE SEs be od yee kon tee ee St. Anthony Park
Prot: “Neti ease
... . = Ditus Day, Farmington ..... Birst’. < Scare, repeat eee 50
PECEIESS At pete cect ee ce Second 5 i325. ie See 25
Wttervacis fel ate toe eis es EPSt sf ee: Soi i ee 50
JASMIS UIT ob A ge) so ist ts pease Jnoe HatirisHla Crescentasaice. TEHITG 3) 63a ee ees 2.00
McMahon White. ...... 4 Pana Crete si bo} eaeeana en ey Bes cae th 2 As .50
WOlEARIVEr-2 a Sc eteneecns Bitst, 3-324, | sve 50
Ostrekofigon. opie gis eh cies fs First. s e%s7 tee eee 50
GideonsNoy Oy pane wie elton oe BS oq endsnbecye PM 2 Sho ic 50
ESATITINP nts sey ae ape see he ss 5 i ap SP SITSE % A nee See 50
Gilbetty eae cot tea tswhecten ce oe First... (0 occ: ss, pee 50
Minmnesotalis |. = o..n- Soa “ snes) BA OCCONG. -. Ac7.,7 bere .25
Okabenay. 25s, 6 seavee ee Eo, Peterson; Waconia...) co) sEItStc. sneeencecmoe caine 50
Blushed Calville. ...... a «hoe SRIrst: Ses ONS eee 50
Mranscendent, «cue: ener: Gust Johnson, Excelsior. .... Burst) .) ius Sos ee .50
DIMI By Gls 5 Oa ec Jade Howard yoetatim ond ae eS eCONG jar. lence meine 20
Wealthy i-aibecmen orem ouone se See REESE cy som cre esti ence are .50
ong held). rs. cles verte e He Foote PI SECOnAS tn. Wir caae ee .25
AWARD OF PREMIUMS. 9
Article. Exhibitor. Premium. Amount.
SLOSS Poy or Sok oye swans, “ee ere jo Ac eHoward siammond. 5)... SeCOnd . 45 + «ss 25
Rome Ss Proline ks. 2 5 se Stee RLESE! ote, eset eun) coy i 50
Lowland Raspberry ..... “ S@CONGM iar theta, aos ae 25
RSATITIND eather wr site. ee She) fom e'ts 2 sep ete SECONGUS. GG cen b were aye .25
SARC GlASSie).) 5 celts os) alkene wn Ea ima MELE SC obicyrs, nie x ok eo caus .50
ROTEL rei oe avis we Cebicntem + Gracy MIDS nets actu ik ciits 50
OANSE TIO WC ee ads est 2) Js 6) (oo) cs SECONUE neecuiay situate 25
ININTITIESOES Teele hie) ts, io is. =r 48) 1 eS Ste Wem OHLULT Stites ow ek) sien tes ee .50
ELV SIO Drom ca. mel sien coi 5) shhh. lal te ‘s Bien oie LSC redo they on Suen ones .50
iat SWC hel oe Soon Sides laws ss Seite AWE CODON aura coc, sata et .25
Pride of Minneapolis. .... “ Etat bth CCONGE oem mcik cca Mei .25
PeOWELSW Es eres) spent: Tete os as hile WatteeESAESE ens, 5. bic uk oe .50
SWeEetRUSSEL. . cmercts = = » < Ee Ae eT OCCONG een. cc thee Aue .25
Hevea SP TOMMC. = o.te jo + 6 bh Sn rE OCCOUG ua cee nets 25
Prideot Minneapolis... .. Lhos: Redpath; Long Rake .... First: ..:...< 0. :; 50
Collection, 10 Varieties . . Jewell Nursery Co., Lake City. . .First.......... 6.00
ROMINIS PrOlincs sf & oh. - Srey OCCONGM 4, 55./5, as 2 ee. 25
ISATIIONSG: cle oetaus se 6) ees et Sy pee DECOM. os. > eee) se 5
PRIETO nce rs. Trae cle oh ayhcrik EULStee eet ee srsalea te .50
EFHOE DES eet. sa teeiuenss, ers a MSP phtstr. tice bo thd .50
Lowland Raspberry. .... ee Ses Tote IE SCs cars) ee ey eee) enh. eis .50
PATONG he. nc, sera! «ss. = CNG eePRAEStinss 4 cere Ss shure .50
edcHr etn eRe re ts) eee ee See a? GATS cae Ae RRS he oe .50
WHOMPRIVEL th ret © eile soit tes a eEaTStye pe: Such ck Me, note 50
IVLIPEG EEE Ed mes AO CER RE es Se oe DCCOUGY, » See ee OC COMG 6 os. creer es 25
SLAG OTs ene, sy os sts eee ay a Se aOR HIT St ete Ue RO, ae ee .50
Sama te, a) oe Lee ees Bite eR EES byte ores ORES GOS overs 50
Hert Saecew sn Mt oS ete ay foes, = oe Ae edie ry ca) a) bo] Canes eee eee metre .50
MLA Drid FE" On “ola sPite or sxe He erg HUES KH, aso eee eats .50
Serials oe one eee ot a See Star bruce eee erie .50
CABANAS Snes Net. eos ome At She ters SECCONG. Bris i Shee Fees .25
ChiISiMmaSs fo4F SPS fs Sie, oes S e BE eT EAT SUP, veer te. a eee .50
Rollins Pippin: ic... =. . ve Sravigae PEVLESEP seat yo hak to raaece tf opie .50
Blushed Calyille. .... ; ue Ree MHS CCOLNGS: wet. at ore omen .25
@Charlamott-J..0 0) ° 2 cies seve a + Raa OECOUNGE IS. sy cMeiven Seas .25
RIEC Ie tats, ose rtel ae teh aoe ee Jo wMacis wizayCrescent) 2) by ea SECONUs. > vast seer laid 25
IRENE AVIS kcrs. co ees. 6 east ic es Ye ee BeCONGK A: fhe. Oe. .25
eardimge: Mires oes .2. he Pieawdowatds Mammond a, .second.). “Sea... o. 25
ATT Aces ATH wa. Se ER Hun Pond, Bloomington... = . Hirst. 6. sec. Shays
DAT CIV e retest ots sue ee Wirljsbarker\Barmington:: ol 7oFirst 2020. 5). sos ss .50
FOREN CEocacivs |S ich Vaden an s UTS. 2) cy cP eyeat cp temeon 50
hatlamoil ot: -5 tacts ee oa -15
Golden Russet . .) goede use tf . First Ns 75
BeNy DAVIS: vee ol civents fe eae oe BEERS ES) cowie tthe 75
TERI OY 6 6G toh oro o O08 a Be Go tole GSA og Buc > & 50
Ostrekofhes oo os Yee J..S. Harris; a Crescent= 23. 2). inst, i. an age reece 15
Hameuse. 5 oc 's, Sans oe 2 | Ditus Day, Barmington 1... - FatSt hs sce ta var et Oe ee 75
Malini ayes isa shee aes, cette ed . oS Bitst hs ned ae 75
WVealihiys ist toem wa eat em omer ‘thos: Redpath -Lons ake =] 5). second)... .) suse 50
Seeding wi.a us, «chic cs some SFA. Allingos EIOMEr = gan is fc First. s<.cs) «aeons 3.00
Peckor Wealthy... 9. «.. Jewell Nursery Co., Lake City. . .Second......... 2.00
PREeCTIGSS 1-1) flea een eee Thos: Redpath, ong ake 9.) ,eitst) V2 wie ae 75
MiisitveSota ass cieieee corcuneh coe tte Secondii. ote. - fee 50
CLARENCE WEDGE, Judge.
GRAPES.
INGER AT SG 3 6G 488) oe Gust Johnson, Excelsior. .... Second aie. es. pee -50
Welaw eee nay lone airen =f ous i Seconds, < 0.5. 5) pees 50
Talal mio SiG Saco coc es Second). i.aieno eee 50
Ducwess ee Seas och fale se First). oter se ee 75
Pocklingtonees. i. acne cen = First: 2 0! 3 o.ccs te emoes 75
TON» chuwcses, eke saline smears s Bins << oc eee ee 75
Moore’s Diamond ...... py o ue te ELESL lS cee ons 75
GCI A oe Some o Go o1G H.I,. Crane, Excelsior. ..... Second .\.)-o eee eee .50
ROSEMISINONO i. “che, sis) ciusees ie wis First: 2. stich 75
Delaware cs 7s sy )ten ete % Hirst: fe. (o Sefet See 15
CONCOLGT sateen kee £ First) 4).c-3. bas on teres -Td
Bumelanvo <..2) see eee - Birst |. <3 i32508> eee -75
Moore’siBanly'(-) 0-0. sue ein “ HIFSE 2 i insca ee ee 15
Collection: i.0%) cst acn see “ sis ay EITSENS pees cone ee ee 3.00
INCEST ENUN 2 ea Ga Oe Ow © JoRe Cummins, Hdenvbrainie ee Murste sen c-iaemne 75
Goncordae SF fy tc es ae Second 4 635 3s aca 50
Wiley) 2 oes) AN orice hie mred ame rs rst s o.oo evqerte. etree ee 75
WWOLdEN Seine) ocean Py Furst 405. weg ey oases 75
ROPEDS INO. 2s on case Sarees te ue irsts 5. tee coe here ee 75
Brehtons. crn cie eae temone o Birst. > ce = o%.2 6 fee 75
J. S. Harris, Judge
FLOWERS.
Collection of Plants. .... E. Nagel & Co., Minneapolis. . . First ......... 5.00
CUE VROSES.. Kouls) clvev ey. oO ie cp aM OROLESE Sey Sicenc ae) 6 Fao 2.00
CotiCarnations:: 2 2 ese eS Jee Gages Hageoe Sc 2.00
LablesBouqiiety., 4) .0. cess © 5, Mivstia Spe Sse 2.00
Mrs. l.. E. P. SPRAGUE, Judge
HONEY.
CompbibionGyn cet eee. H. Ll. F. Witte, Minneapolis. . . First. ......:.- 5.00
Extracted Honey. «5. . <.. e Sincere kIrSt. ccc. eos alo owememns 3,00
Extracted Honey... -) -- F. Moeser, St. Louis Park. ...Secomd......... 2.00
Contbitloney 5-202 - os . Second. . 3.00
KRUGENE SECOR, Judge.
ae
PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL ADDRESS. at
PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL ADDRESS.
W. W. PENDERGAST, HUTCHINSON.
This morning is the time for the president’s annual address. I came
without any prepared address, as I thought the program would be so crowded
there would be no time whatever, and so I told several members. They an-
swered that there would be a committee appointed on the president’s ad-
dress, and there must be something to report on. They said it was my duty;
they said they would call in the militia, and that made me feel a little afraid.
If it is my duty so to do, I will try to say a few words that may be productive
of some good.
I take this hour because there are so many to come on at this time that
should be here, but who are absent. We also have a little difficulty in open-
ing the meeting and getting started in the morning, and I will put that in as
a part of my address, that we must be a little more prompt in beginning; we
are too apt to begin late and then hang on at the other end. We do not want
to be like Davy Crockett’s dog. He said: “He is a good dog and has a
great many good points. He will run well and bark well and hold on well
until it comes to the very place where I want him to hold on the longest
and get the hardest grip, then he will let go and turn around and bark at
me.” (Laughter.) We are not quite like that; we do not start off quite as
promptly as we should in the morning, but we have good staying qualities.
During this past year I have had opportunity to become more intimately
acquainted with the members of this great and growing organization than
ever before, and I am more and more impressed by the utter self-abnegation
of most of the people who belong to this society. We are disinterested, we
simply want to make this state and the whole Northwest a more desirable
place in which to live, and we are doing right, my friends, in not under-
taking to do too much at a time. You all remember the story of Jack the
Giant Killer, how when the old giant, Bloody Man, got hold of him and told
him he was going to spit him and roast him and have him for supper unless
Jack did everything the giant did, Jack began to tremble; he was now in the
giant’s power. The giant, among other things, got him to go out in his grove
and set him to pulling up trees, or thought he had set him to do it. He took
hold of one himself and pulled it up by the roots and threw it away, and then
he took another. After awhile he began to look around for Jack, and cast-
ing his eyes to one of the nearest trees he found him tying the tops together.
He called to him and said, ‘Come down here and go to pulling up the trees,
or I shall have you for supper, sure as the world.” “Wait a minute,” said
Jack, “till I get the tops tied together.” ‘“‘Why are you tying the tops to-
gether?” asked the giant. Said Jack, “When I begin to pull I am going to
pull an acre at a time.” A great many people make a mistake in that they
are going to pull an acre at a time. The best way is to take one thing at
a time and work at that until we have accomplished the desired result, and
that is just what we have been doing all these years. I say we, because I am
glad to count myself among the number, although I cannot go back as far
as some of these graybeards I see before me, but I have tried to contribute
a little part toward the grand result that is sure to follow. One thing at a
time. Let others take an acre at a time, but let us take one thing at a time,
and let us attend strictly to our knitting. We will try to make the North-
west the home of the apple or the pear, or of small fruits which we know we
can grow and make at home right here in our midst, and by their help add
to the enjoyment of every man, woman and child in the entire state. And let
12 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
us not get on the side track! Let us not turn either to the right or to the
left, but let us pursue the even tenor of our way till we can see that all these
things have been brought about, and our work is practically at an end, so
far as our duty is concerned.
The improvement of the iruits of this state and the Northwest will never
cease. They will keep on improving as long as there are other men like
those in this society who are to follow us; but we shall have the satisfaction
of feeling that we have contributed our quota, that we have done our part as
well as in us lay to bring about this grand result.
We must look after the causes of the troubles that beset our pathway. It
will never be productive of much good to simply work on a theory. We say
we will try this way and see what we get, then we will try that way. It is
like the boys used to work their arithmetic lesson. They said, “We will mul-
tiply by this number, and if that does not give the result we will divide, and
if that does not give the answer we will add one tothe other—until we get the
required answer.” How much better off are we if we follow after every-
thing? We shall make no advancement whatever. We must look to the
causes that obstruct our pathway, and such a lecture with the demonstration
as was given us by Prof. MacMillan yesterday morning gives us an idea of
what is before us. Get at the underlying principles; see what the cause of
the blight is, see what produces the summer scald, see why it is that those
apple trees root-kill; and in all these matters we should work along in har-
mony with other states, neighboring states that are having the same troubles,
the same difficulties, the same obstacles in their pathway that we have. After
we have got the thing established; after we have found out what the trouble
is there is no need of spending more time over that; then let us take some
other branch. It would be a good plan for us to say to North Dakota and
South Dakota and to Wisconsin: You make your experiments along this
line or that line. Not saying it in any dictatorial way, but say to them that
we want to cover certain ground, and that they should take this line, and we
will take that line, and North Dakota another and South Dakota another,
and work out those lessons, so that one will not go over the same ground
the others have gone over. Now we see how much is gained by this experi-
ment station in having its little stations scattered around over the state,
where the different soils are represented, and the people at those stations do
the experimenting that it would be impossible for each farmer to do for him-
self. Sc as horticulturists we have our little stations scattered through this
state; they are helping us out, and North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa and
Wisconsin can help us out, and we can help them’a great deal more than
each one can help himself if each one is working without any attention being
paid to these others that are working on these same great problems.
One of the things we want is a winter apple. We have got plenty of fall
apples and summer apples that are doing well. I think there are a large
number that can be depended on in the future for a crop year after year.
There will be what Brother Dartt calls a “test winter” by and by that will
thin this number out, but after thinning there will be enough left of that
kind. Now we want to turn our attention to the winter apple. I am one of
those fellows who believes that much can be done in the way of improving
by cultivating those varieties that we already have. The potato may be cul-
tivated (no particular variety of potato, the Chenango, for instance),
year after year, through generation after generation, and when you get
through with it it is the old Chenango potato, with all its diseases that have
PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL ADDRESS. 13
been adherent to it during all those years of cultivation. The advances that
are made, as the advance in wheat cultivation, are made by crossing, and
then when we have a cross that promises better than anything we have had
yet make the most of that. In crosses of this kind there will be sports.
You go into a wheat field and once in a while you will see a stalk six or
eight inches higher than the rest; the heads will be longer and the straw will
be stiffer. Through such sports some of the best varieties of wheat have
been established. A few heads were sent me from Oregon that had been
cultivated in this way. There was only a single stalk to begin with in a large
field, and that was carefully gathered and planted, and the product was
planted again and again, so that that variety has crowded out all the old
ones that they were raising in that vicinity. So it is with the strawberry, our
best varieties coming from seedlings and perhaps sports at that. We have
got to keep digging away in this with our seedlings, with our crosses, with
foreign varieties, in every way that we possibly can, and by and by we will
find something that is a little better than what we have now, and just as
soon as we catch that we have got just what we have been striving for. If
you have anything of value send it right to these men who are interested as
you and I are in the betterment of our fruit products, and they will see to
it that that seed is never lost.
I have taken up more time than I expected to take, but in closing I want
to say that it seems to me there are no people belonging to any other organ-
ization in this state or the Northwest that are so disinterestedly trying to do
something that will redound to the credit of the state and to the happiness of
the individual as is done in the very course we are pursuing, and all the mis-
takes of the past must be made to play into the hands of the future. When
we have gone wrong we must try not only hereafter to avoid that mistake,
but we must see to it that we do not make other similar ones. We must see
how easy it is to go wreng. An old man said to me at one time in Massa-
chusetts: “‘There is a straight and right path before every one that he must
follow. It is his only true course, and just as soon as he steps aside from that
path out into the tangled brush and thickets, wandering lost down in the
tangle of the forest and in the miasma of the swamps, where the serpents
hiss and vipers crawl—just as soon as he gets out of the path he is on the
devil’s ground, and the devil has got his traps set all over it, and the erring
victim does not know how soon he will put his foot in a trap and get
caught.”
REPORT OF COMMITTEE ON PRESIDENT’S ANNUAL
ADDRESS.
Your committee appointed to consider the address of the president con-
gratulate the society on his able and comprehensive address and recom-
mend that it be given an early publication in the Horticulturist. It also
recommends that a committee consisting of the president, secretary and
Professor S. B. Green be appointed to carry out the suggestion of the presi-
dent that so far as possible the horticultural societies of Wisconsin, Minne-
sota and the two Dakotas co-operate and do experimental work along differ-
ent lines to avoid waste of effort and duplication of experiments, the duty of
the committee being to investigate the extent to which such co-operation
is possible, and report at the next summer meeting. A. G. WILcox,
O. M. Lorp,
W. H. Eppy,
Committee.
14 MINNEAPOLIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
ANNUAL REPORT OF EXECUTIVE BOARD.
WYMAN ELLIOT, CHAIRMAN.
We have held four executive sessions the past year, two at the time of
the annual meeting, one at the summer meeting, and one at the state fair.
The rest of the business of the year has been managed through corres-
pondence.
The principal business of importance has been preparing rules and
regulations governing the $1,0co premium offered by this society for a‘seed-
ling apple fulfilling all the conditions named. This, it is hoped, will be far-
reaching in. its results in the development of pomology for our state. It is
hoped this inducement will give a great impetus to the planting of choice ap-
ple seeds all over the Northwest; and it is very much desired by the mem-
bers of your executive board that this premium offered shall be the means
of giving us not only one apple that is hardy and possessing all the other
qualifications stipulated, but that many others of equal merit will be pro-
duced to help swell the list of apples that are worthy of cultivation.
The secretary’s office and library room are fast becoming over-crowded
and provision must soon be made to secure a larger room.
Suggestions have been made that some measures should be adopted by
our society whereby the lady friends of the horticultural fraternity of our
state should become more closely interested in our work, and it is hoped
these suggestions will be discussed and some action taken at this meeting.
There are many talented women who are both capable and willing to pre-
pare valuable papers and participate in our discussions when once their ser-
vices have been enlisted, and as progressive horticulturists we should seek
their aid and encourage their efforts along the line of better home making
and adornment. The raising of choice fruits, vegetables and flowers, un-
less utilized by some one with acquired taste in preparing them in an in-
viting and appetizing manner, does not reach the best results. The horticul-
turist of the present day, with work always pressing him forward to greater
exertions, needs the assistance and refinement of the gentler sex to tone
down his rough exterior and make home more pleasant and living more
economical. We say, God speed the women’s auxiliary societies all over
our state and nation and may their influence be a leavening power in form-
ing progressive ideas and sentiments with every true horticulturist.
SECRETARY’S ANNUAL REPORT, 1899.
A. W. LATHAM, MINNEAPOLIS.
The year just closing has been one of interest in the work of the
society, at least as seen from the standpoint of the secretary’s office. The
legacy left it from the vear before was not altogether an encouraging one.
With no printing appropriation and a moral obligation amounting to some
thousands of dollars due the printers, covering the work of the two previous
years in the publication of our magazines and reports, and just a dash of
uncertainty as to what the incoming legislature might see fit to do about
meeting this obligation and providing the necessary means for continuing
the work of the society, there was occasion for very serious deliberation.
It was an assured relief when this crisis in our history was safely passed,
thanks to the persistent and untiring efforts of our president, of otir fellow
member, A. K. Bush, fortunately at this time a member also of the legisla-
SECRETARY'S ANNUAL REPORT, 1899. 15
ture, of the legislative committee, and of scores of other members and
staunch friends of the society, who were “instant in season and out of sea-
son” till the desired end was accomplished. The act as passed by the legis-
lature was printed in the May number of our monthly and need not be
quoted here. It did not give us all we desired, among other things an op-
portunity to enlarge our work ina certain field, but it does place our printing
on a safe and permanent basis to the same amount, quantity and quality as
for some years previous, and it provided for the payment of the arrearages
due the printers, who had so willingly carried the work over the interim.
Unfortunately, the delay attending the passage of this legislation till mid-
spring made a similar delay in the binding and issuance of the last report, and
the further fact that the secretary’s spare time was occupied with matters con-
nected with this unusual work had something to do, no doubt, with there
being no increase of the membership during the current year.
At the close of the society year 1899, the list of annual members stands at
691. A good many names will still be added to this list, judging by the ex-
perience of previous years.
The roll of life members has received a much larger number of acces-
sions in 1899 than in any previous year, fourteen names having been added
to the list. As this is a list we are especially anxious to see grow, and it
is desirable you should know what new fellow members for life have come
to you lately, I append here the list:
Jos. lerabek, Silver Eake; J. L. Hartwell, Dixon, Ii; J. C. Kramer. La
Crescent; Andrew A. Nelson, Jr., Atwater; E. M. snecnaat Charles City,
iar; se Eloverstad, Crookston; Thos.~C. Hawley, Lake Park: ©O.. W.
Hagen, Sleepy Eye; Hans Mo, Sleepy Eye; Warren H. Manning, Boston,
Mass.; A. W. Trow, Glenville; J. L. Adams, Glenwood; R. M. Dartt, Owa-
tonna; E. W. Randall, Hamline.
As far as my record shows, only two names have been dropped from this
roll by death during the past year, viz., those of Peter M. Gideon, of Ex-
celsior, Minn., and J. C. Plumb, of Milton, Wis.
The full list of life members will be found in the report of the society for
1899. It now numbers seventy-three.
In this connection it may be noted that the certificates for life qnemibers
so long in contemplation were finished and sent out to all life members dur-
ing the past summer. It is a handsome lithograph and, suitably framed, is
fitted to adorn the walls of any office or home. Any who are contemplating
a life union with this honorable society and would like to see how this re-
lationship is indicated can see a copy of the certificate hanging in the secre-
tary’s office. For sixty cents any aspirant for this honor can have a copy of
this certificate framed in a similar way, provided always a previous fee of
$10.00 has been paid to the secretary.
The life roll of our society should receive special attention. It is con-
ceded that our annual roll is very much larger than that of any other similar
association in this country, and the aggregate roll is also much larger, but of
the life roll this cannot be said. There are a good many members on our an-
nual list who have been paying annual fees long enough to have amounted to
the life fee, and some very much more. All such, and every new member
_ who conceives a lively interest in the various subjects connected with Min-
nesota horticulture, should make haste to place their names in this perma-
nent roll. It will be a wholesome move not only for the member, but es-
pecially for the society, in whose work they will then have an abiding inter-
16 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
est. For the convenience of those who cannot spare the whole amount at one
time, two annual payments of $5.00 each have been arranged.- The fact
should not be overlooked that as a life member you will receive a file of our
back reports, which is in itself quite a library, as we are now issuing volume
number twenty-seven. Fifty of the members in attendance at this meeting
should square themselves with the secretary and have their names placed in
this roll during the progress of this meeting. If you have already paid the
annual fee for this year the amount can be deducted from the first annual
payment, leaving only $4.00 more to be paid. Let us get to the front in this
line also.
A few changes have been made the past year in the equipment of the
secretary's office, mainly in the way of additions. Of these none is so highly
prized as a framed photograph of the late Peter M. Gideon, presented to the
society by Mr. Wyman Elliott. Within the writer’s recollection this picture
has been hung on the walls at our annual meetings. It is an excellent like-
ness of him as he appeared twenty years ago when in the fullness of success
in his work.
Next in interest to this is a cabinet of wax models of twenty-six varieties
of apples grown in our state. It is a valuable collection and should be sup-
plemented by a similar one of grapes and other fruits doing well with us.
Seven substantial chairs have lately been added to the office furniture,
made advisable by the increasing solidity of the office corps of the society.
The older incumbents are still there, and visitors are cautioned to make care-
ful selection proportionate to the bulk to be deposited thereon.
The executive board a year ago authorized the secretary to get a safe and
book cases with glazed doors for the whole library, but careful computation
showed the impossibility of accommodating the materials already accumu-
lated in receptacles that occupied more room than the present arrange-
ments. So these improvements were reluctantly postponed till it seems ad-
visable to move the office into larger and, necessarily, more expensive
quarters.
No feature of the work of the office during the past year is of greater in-
terest and, we hope, promises more for the pomology of the state than that
connected with the award of $1,000.00 offered by this society for a certain
ideal winter apple. The regulations pertaining to this award were finally
agreed upon and the permanent awarding committee appointed by the board
in September. Copies were at once sent to some twenty-five applicants and
very soon after to all the agricultural and horticultural papers of this country
and Canada, something over 150. The letters coming in indicate that these
journals gave wide notice of this offer, and a considerable number of informal
applications are being made as a result, most of them containing a descrip-
tion of a seedling apple which seems to be about what we need. There are
evidently a good many valuable seedlings the nurserymen have not yet got
hold of. The chairman of the awarding committee will present fuller report
on this subject.
Amongst other pleasant services the secretary had the opportunity early
in the year of aiding the work of the Women’s Auxiliary by sending out some
thousands of a circular setting forth the purposes of the organization and
containing also much other good practical literature along the line of their
work.
In connection with the Farmers’ Institute, as in former years, the lecturer
on horticulture in the corps has distributed the surplus magazines from this
SECRETARY’S ANNUAL REPORT, 1899. . iY
office and large quantities of a little folder containing our fruit list and a
description of the organization and purposes of the society. Most of you
have probably seen this folder and have been asked to hand them to your
neighbors, and you will probably have further opportunities to do good
missionary work along this line. Mr. O. M. Lord, who represented our
work in the institute the past year, has shown himself, as ever, a strong helper
for our association, placing our literature in good hands on every occasion
and sending a good many additions to our membership roll.
The intimate relation of this office to the horticultural department of our
state fair makes a brief reference to it excusable. Many of you attended the
last fair and know the outcome in our department, one which, under the
unusually unfavorable circumstances, may be considered creditable jointly
to the management of the fair and our association. It is, without doubt,
the strength and vigor of this organization which lies behind whatever suc-
cess has come to this department. A pertinent question is “what are you
doing personally to help this object?” The bulk of the exhibit is made by a
few of the older members, who with advancing years are beginning to feel the
weight of the burden and will soon be looking for others to take their places.
Each of you is appealed to to lend a hand to help forward this very important
part of the work of this society. Bring what fruit you have to the next fair,
and if it is not enough in quantity so that, considering the other advantages
of your presence there, you can afford to come, then send it to the superin-
tendent, not forgetting to make the proper entries, and any premiums your
fruit takes will be sent you. In this way you will soon become interested in
the fair and acquainted with its methods. This is a practical way of helping
along the work, and, as you will soon find, with much profit of some sort
to yourself.
One department of our monthly could be developed with advantage to
our members, and that is the one denominated “Our Corner.’ This is in-
tended to contain the words of the membership. Short communications from
you reciting any items of interest or value ought easily to fill a page or two
in each number. Would you like to support such a department? It is for
you to say.
FINANCIAL STATEMENT.
RECEIPTS.
EH ING CUO TILER Genero eee rey ec lesa ao cafes esc steie clone ciclo GAC aps.o skal ale lene $425.25
Penne pine: County SO aViINeSerbatikes se .-s dit atic abs sicncinteen tye « 500.00
(EGOIRS) Salah Face oc ses cle 6. eRe eae rea ee gene ee ear 11.58
TEL eines BIKE OS BL a tae ona ae oe Cee ene cic eins 4.90
AVUMGTERETISIER Agiae eo Sooo Coe a ee Ear ee eee 97.50
Minnesota State Fair, postage and stationery................. 8.00
ERR ATER OL CUO SE ey Gk rans Sia tie bape Meo lb eri a site eee a 28 75.00
Agititialamenapersiip-teeSa Ot LSOS. «4. +. ses aon eeartaaiesie ne Loe 16.00
AGiniial neta DeLSiipy TCS TOL TOOQ se... suai ies sie toc Ses se ase a oes 622.00
Aina eineMmpeLSiip wees TOL 1OOO) 25.c\s <6 ats as-is. <0 sees cee eee 95.00
SIGIGIEES Wl 5 SoG eR SS BE OOo aA eae ARE BASS Peale Te .54
GM CGeGIMETeW(LEASUITET> so caciscies Se nore. once seas bee ace wel sey 1,116.49
MGC UM thee RREASUGE Linn lore wie chaica cs ieupicts ai iaiary Ae clishtig
“well as in a number of other journals.
36 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
ECHOES FROM FARMERS’ INSTITUTE.
HON. A. K. BUSH, LECTURER ON HORTICULTURE.
Park Rapids, Minn., Dec. 6, 1899.—We have just closed a very successful
meeting at this place; attendance good, with interest well maintained on all
subjects. Horticulture was given a full share of time and attention by both
platform and audience.
I was out to visit Mr. Usher and found his plantings of small fruits, also
fruit trees, doing well. He has about two acres planted to currants, goose-
berries, raspberries, etc., with about seventy-five apple and plum trees. Much
of his coming crop is engaged at his price. The Older blackcap is doing
best; Loudon is also doing well; blackberries are a failure with him. No one
need be without home grown small fruits even in this part of the state, where
we are within the Lake Itasca State Park region, being about thirty miles
from that famous lake.
Alexandria, Minn., Dec. 12—A. W. Latham, Secretary: The package
of books, magazines, etc., came to me just before starting for this place. I
opened them in the Institute hall; had but a few minutes to distribute and
get members for our horticultural society, as the corps was separated, part
coming here for work tomorrow.
I got two members in about as many minutes; think a dozen more would
have joined us if I had had time during the afternoon. All appeared very
much interested in the Farmers’ Fruit and Vegetable Garden when I pre-
sented the subject. Many questions were asked. Found one party who
raised 300 quarts strawberries on small garden patch, another who had
strawberries measuring six inches about them: others growing good apples,
with courage good and prospects bright in Stearns county.
Fergus Falls, Minn., Dec. 15, 18909.—Dear Friend: Below find list of new
members Horticultural Society:
C. H. Brush, Fergus Falls, O. H. Brandhagen, Rothsay.
F. L. Ward, Fergus Falls; Walter Hogan, Fergus Falls; H. L. Burgess,
Amor; H. Ongstad, Pelican Rapids; Henry Oberg, Kensington; Oscar
Barsness, Urness; A. M. Dubry, Alexandria; Henry Huseby, Urness.
(Books delivered.)
The above list of ten new members was secured at the Alexandria and
Fergus Falls meetings, where 200 copies of the Fruit List and 50 magazines
were placed in the hands of people who appeared anxious to get them, as
they were taken with thanks. The farmers are very attentive to my talks on
the Farmers’ Fruit and Vegetable Garden, as many of them will plant ever-
greens and fruit trees next spring, being encouraged by reports of those
who have bearing fruits near Fergus Falls. One man sold twenty barrels
home grown apples, another grew fourteen quarts raspberries on seven
small bushes of the Older variety, which I find is doing well in this part of
the state.
Orchards or gardens protected with evergreens are doing best. I am
fully convinced that such shelters must be planted about all fruit trees in this
section, if one expects to succeed.
8 Wealthy apples grown here will keep nearly all winter. Plums are doing
well when planted and given any kind of care.
Your . (Yorner.
GOOD WORDS FOR US.—Dear Sir: I have just received a copy of
the report of your society for the year 1899. I wish to compliment you in
regard to its make up. I consider your Reports the most valuable works
on horticulture that reach this office. I let no opportunity escape to speak
a good word for your Annual Reports to our citizens, especially those of
northern Iowa. Chas. F. Gardner
President Ia. State Hort. Society.
AN OLD MEMBER.—During the twenty-eight or more years I have
belonged to this society I have received the annual report and the horticult-
ural monthly, which are well worth the annual membership fee. Some of
our best nurserymen who have visited my orchard think the money value
is worth from one to two thousand dollars. I owe a debt of gratitude to this
society that I never can repay for the financial help it has given me in the
returns now furnished from the orchard. I think there could be no greater
investment for the young men of Minnesota than to become members of this
society.
Morristown, Minn., Dec. 18, 1899. Seth H. Kenny.
A RESPONSE.—A. W. Latham, Secretary—My Dear Sir: Your letter
informing me of the action of your society at its recent meeting, making me
an honorary life member, was received while I was preparing to attend our
state meeting at Des Moines. In acknowledgment, I must say that this ex-
pression of fraternal interest and kindly regard gives me sincere pleasure.
And while I may not find language to suitably express my appreciation of
the honor that your society has done me, I assure you that I shall treasure
their action as one of the most pleasant memories of my life. It will surely
intensify my desire to still serve the interests of northwestern horticulture
with such zeal and fidelity as will merit the continued esteem of the members
of your honorable Horticultural Society. pay yours,
Charles City, Ia., Dec. 18, 1899. Chas. G. Patten.
ABOUT STATE FAIR PREMIUMS—I heartily approve the action
of our late meeting in recommending that the premiums on collection of
hybrids and crabs at our state fair be limited to ten varieties (although for
single plate for ’99 there were sixteen varieties on the list).
I would be very glad to have those parties that make up the premium list
make a somewhat similar restriction to the collection of plums. There are
388 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
now seventeen varieties on the list, and some of them are nothing extra. If
the list of plums should be limited to, say, twenty varieties—perhaps fifteen
varieties would be just as well—it would discourage the exhibiting (and
growing as well) of those small varieties, and would result, IT am sure, in a
much more numerous exhibit of our best kinds, which, of course, means our
largest and most showy varieties. :
The heavy rain of Dec. 9 extended to this part of the state and gave our
orchard and fruit plants a much needed wetting.
Windom, Minn., Dec. 15, 1890. : Dewain Cook.
WORDS FROM AN OLD TIME WORKER.—I notice the departure
of another old member, our P. M. Gideon, to join his neighbor Gould and a
host of others who have gone before, while we of the advance class are wait-
ing by the river’s brink to be ferried over the dark river a little later.
From a sketch in our Florist’s Exchange of last week, it seems he was
much older than I, his birth occurring in 1818.
I used to see him many years ago, as he was often at my nursery, when
that was the principal one of all the vast country where now they are
counted by hundreds, including florists and small fruit growers. I never was
at his home or your’s, though I took dinner once with the Goulds many
years ago when we were all young and full of work.
Since I last wrote you the pioneer florist of Minneapolis, Wm. Bucken-
dorf, has passed away, as also Mr. Fleischer, late of St. Paul, but formerly
of Minneapolis, if my memory is not at fault.
I do not remember if there were sketches of the above in Horticulturist,
although both were old settlers and prominent in our profession.
Truman M. Smith and I are about as we have been for some time. He
comes into town with fruit nearly every weekday, while I am pushing seeds,
bulbs, cacti, mostly for the East and Europe in a wholesale way.
San Diego, Cal., Nov. 16, 1800. L. M. Ford.
A PRIZE LOOKING TOWARD IMPROVEMENT OF HOME
GROUNDS.—Can your society not offer a prize for the best survey of
house grounds and the best plan of home’ grounds? You
can undoubtedly take advantage of a little leaflet that I am preparing to
give instructions for the preparation of simple surveys of home grounds by
the owner or his boys and girls, on which all existing conditions may be
indicated. It is in my opinion absolutely necessary that one should know
the existing conditions before he can pass intelligently upon any plan for
the re-arrangement of grounds. .A plan on paper means almost nothing
without a knowledge of such conditions. This leaflet that I am preparing
is to be used by citizens of Menomonie, Wis., and Ishpeming, Mich., and
by my representatives there, to secure just such conditions on every place in
the town, in order that I may make suggestions for improvements on each
place. These suggestions will not involve any considerable expenditure of
time or labor, for it must be recognized that the majority of lot owners can-
not make such expenditure. If every one does a little, however, each year to-
ward such improvement, it wil! raise the standard of the town immensely.
Boston, Mass., Dec. 2, 1809. Warren H. Manning.
ecretary’s (Yorner.
REPORTS OF DELEGATES TO KINDRED SOCIETIES.—The reports from the
delegates who have represented this society with the various Iowa horticultural
societies are all received, and it was hoped to print them in this number, but the
prospect ow is that some of them will be crowded out by matter which should
necessarily appear in this number.
NEw HONorRARY LIFE MEMBERS.—At the late annual meeting of this
society, the following were unanimously elected honorary life members: J. G.
Bass, Hamline; R. Knapheide, St. Paul; O. M. Lord, Minnesota City; Wm.
Mackintosh, Langdon; Wm. Oxford, Freeburg; S. D. Richardson, Winnebago
City; Charles G. Patten, Charles City, Ia ; Prof. N. E. Hansen, Brookings, S. D.
HAVE You RECEIVED THE 1900 REPORT?—Reports are not sent out to
members who live in or near Minneapolis, but they are invited to call at the
secretary’s office and receive them in person. If members at a distance have not
yet received them, please address the office, as they have been sent out some time
since. They go usually by express, and there is sometimes delay in delivery.
CHANGES IN THE TRIAL STATIONS OF THE SOCIETY.—At the personal
solicitation of Mr. Clarence Wedge, the trial station at his place, at Albert Lea,
has been discontinued. The number of stations is kept intact, however, by the
location of a new one at the place of Mr. J. S. Parks, of Pleasant Mounds
Mr. Parks has had a large experience in growing apple seedlings, and has much
of his own already of interest on which to report.
Wi, You HELP RAISE THE MEMBERSHIP TO 1000 THIS YEAR? — This
ought not to be a hard thing to do with all the great advantages this society
has to offer to its members in the way of books, magazines and plant premiums.
Nevertheless, it zeeds your help if it isto be accomplished. Will you send in
at least one new name? You will be well paid for doing so, too, and if you do
not want the book offered to you as a premium, give it to your new member.
List oF THOSE SENDING NEw MEMBERS IN DECEMBER:
O. M. Lord, Minnesota City, 1. W. W. Pendergast, Hutchinson, 2.
August Wittman, Merriam Park, 1. John Zeller, New Ulm, 2.
T. R. Cashman, Owatonna, 7. G. C. Matson, 1.
lin@C@tamern iva Crescent, 2: J. S. Jerabek, Silver Lake, 1.
Chas. B. Clark, Minneapolis, 1. C. Schiebe, 1.
O. A. Strong, 1. Mrs. E. B. Crocker, Minneapolis, 2.
A. C. Yivisaker, 1. Jas. Enden, Godahl, 1.
Bertel Christenson, Hutchinson, 1. A. K. Bush, Farmer’s Institute, 15.
S. B. Green, St. Anthony Park, 1. Mrs. Thos. Tollefson, Canton, 1.
A. H. Pickle, Sleepy Eye, 2. A. G. Long, Excelsior, 2.
J. C. Walker, Rose Creek, 1. Hans Mo, Sleepy Eye, 1.
A. Terry, Slayton, 1. W. F. Naylor, Wrightstown, 4.
DPS: Hall, <¥. Jewell Nursery Co., Lake City, 5.
40 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
DISTRIBUTE YoOuR 1899 ‘“‘HorTICULTURISTS.’’—Now that you have received
the Report for 1899 you have no longer occasion to keep the magazines re-
ceived during 1899, as they are to be found in the ‘bound’ volume. Give them
to your friends and neighbors at once, while fresh, and follow the distribution
up with a little personal work, and you can easily send in one or more new
members. It should be easy to get new members for what we have to offer
for $1.00.
SEND FOR FOLDERS FOR DISTRIBUTION.—The secretary has prepared the
annual folder for 1900, and it is intended for general distribution. They wil!
be sent free to anyone for this purpose in any quantity that can be used to ad-
vantage. The folder is a concise resume of the work of the Society, containing
the fruit list, list of officers, and concise information as to membership,
premiums, publications, etc. How many can you use in bringing the member-
ship up to 1,000 this year?
PROF. GREEN’S ILLUSTRATED ARTICLES IN THIS YEAR’S MAGAZINES.—
Prof. S. B. Green, Horticulturist at the Minnesota State Experiment Station,
has laid his plans to spend the coming summer in Europe studying horti-
cultural conditions and methods there with the purpose of bringing home
whatever he can find of value for our own country and especially for the North-
west. Arrangements have been made with him to furnish a series of illustrated
articles pertaining to these investigations, Our acquaintance with Prof. Green
assures us that they will be of exceeding interest. During the months prior to
his departure he will furnish articles of local interest which will be well illus-
trated. This alone should make the Horticulturist this year the most valuable
series we have issued.
A NEw EDITION OF GREEN’S ““VEGETABLE GARDENING.’’—A new edition
of this valuable work is just from the press. The changes made are in the
method of arrangement rather than in the addition of new material. In the
previous edition, and, indeed, in all other works on this subject with which the
writer is acquainted, the list of varieties of vegetables is arranged alphabetically;
but in this new edition they are arranged under classes botanically, and each
class is preceded with a brief description of its characteristics and the names
of the principal varieties to be found in it. As a text book, this change will
greatly improve the work, and it will inconvenience no one, as the index points
the way easily to any particular variety desired to be found. Have you this
book? If not you should have it, and what better way to secure it than to send
in two new members for the society and receive it free for your trouble? For
sale at this office at $1.25.
PLANT PREMIUMS FOR ALI, MEMBERS IN 1900.—Arrangements have been
perfected to send to each member who desires them two premiums of plants.
This applies to a// new members and also to all old members who renew their
membership before February 1st—but the application must be made at the time
of making the remittance. Members who have already renewed can secure
the premiums by addressing the secretary. The premium list and directions
for making selections will be found on the inside of the front cover page of the
January number of the Horticulturist and subsequent numbers during the year.
The principal object of this distribution is to interest every member in the
work of éxperimentation being carried on by the society. If this plan meets
with favor, it will undoubtedly be continued. One of the premiums this year is
seedlings apple trees raised by Peter M. Gideon. Mr. Gideon left a quantity of
these grown from selected seed for experimental purposes, and these have,
fortunately, been secured for this distribution.
“668T NI GULONALSNOY)
ATMALTAOIANY LO TOOHOS V.LOSUNNIW “VIVH TwWMOLIOOLLAOH
‘NNIW ‘MAVd ANOHINY “1S
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. FEBRUARY, Igo00. No. 2.
HORTICULTURAL HALL, STATE SCHOOL OF AGRI-
CULTURE, ST. ANTHONY PARK, MINN.
(SEE FRONTISPIECE).
This handsome structure, intended for the use of horticulture and botany
at the Minnesota School of Agriculture and State Experiment Station, has
just been completed and was occupied on Jan. 1, 1900.
The need for this building has been felt for some years, but it was only
a year ago that the state legislature made the necessary appropriation for its
construction. The building cost $32,000, and the balance of the $35,000 ap-
propriated was spent in equipment.
Its location on the south slope of the hill upon and around which are
grouped the various buildings of the school, gives a fine view from its front
and makes it a conspicuous and pleasing object even from points some miles
away.
It consists of the main building, an annex for a greenhouse, labora-
tory, a machine shed, about 4,000 feet of glass, and a good nursery cellar.
The main building is 50x80 feet, and three stories high. Since the heat for it
comes entirely from a central main plant, there is no space used for a sepa-
rate heating plant in the building. One-half the first floor is used for dress-
making and sewing, and the other portion is used mainly for a class-room
for mathematics and English. The main floor is used for a horticultural
class room, laboratories, and offices. The third floor is used for botany and
physics. The greenhouse laboratory is 26x50 feet, is one story in height,
has a tiled floor, and is lighted from overhead. The machine shed is 20x80
feet. It is used for the exhibition of machinery which is sent to the Horti-
cultural Division for study, and is in effect a machine museum. The nur-
sery cellar is 20x50 feet, is well ventilated and nicely adapted for its pur-
poses. There are two greenhouses, each of which is about 2oxrtIo feet,.
divided into two parts, so that the temperature of each part can be con-
trolled separately. The facilities in this building are such that we have
now perhaps the best horticultural building to be found in this country.
We now have room to take care of the large number of students which
seek admittance to the classes here. This term the classes in horticulture num-
ber 118 students in one class and 60 in the other. The special feature which
the new building will give us and which we hope to develop is what is known
as “greenhouse laboratory work,” and this is well provided for; and we
think that with the increased attention that will be given to it, it will be-
come a very important feature of the school work. This work consists in
practice by the students of seed sowing, transplanting, the growing of plants
by cuttings and grafting, the packing of nursery stock, pollination, testing
of seeds, the making of Bordeaux mixture and grafting wax, and similar
horticultural operations.
‘| vial tations, 1899.
ANNUAL REPORTS.
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION, (STATE EXPERIMENT
STATION ) ST. ANTHONY PARK.
PROF. S. B. GREEN, SUPT.
The winter of 1898-99 did not cause an unusual amount of root killing
of plants at the Experiment Station, but there was more killing back of
their tops than usual, although most have recovered and are in very ex-
cellent condition. On the whole, our loss from the effects of last winter was
little, if any, more than we generally expect in severe winters.
The past season has been a very favorable one for plant growth. There
has been an abundance of rain, and no especially bad condition at any time.
The work of the Horticultural Division of the Experiment Station is in-
creasing in extent of the land occupied from year to year. As our planta-
tions get older object lessons increase in our orchard, small fruit and for-
est plantations. We follow the practice of keeping a dust blanket on the
land during the dry weather. This seems to be the best method adapted to
this section. We aim not to cultivate deep after the first of August, but to
cultivate sufficiently to keep the weeds from getting a start. The campus
about our buildings, as well as our work in the fields, is increasing in in-
terest year by year. During the last year there has been a good deal of dig-
ging up of the lawns, due to the putting in of a central heating plant and
some extra sewers, but as these improvements are completed the chances
of laying the grounds out permanently are increased, and no serious dis-
figurement of our grounds has resulted from these improvements.
It is our aim to keep a good assortment of trees, shrubs, and herbaceous
plants growing in the beds and about the grounds of our campus, with
some specimens labeled with their common and their botanical names, and
with the name of the country in which they are indigenous. This adds to the
interest of our collection for visitors and students. Two years ago we made
a change in the method of keeping the records in this division. Previous
to that time the records had been kept in books, which, as they wefe needed,
were corrected and revised. Under the present system, all the records are
kept on cards. The records of the orchards, for instance, are kept by hav-
ing a white card for each row, and a number for every place for a tree, and
a card for every tree. In this way it is possible to expand the records and
keep a sort of debit and credit account with every tree. This method adds.
but little to the expense of what it was formerly, and it is far more com-
tat i se
= se”
1 spincsd Vk lel alias eins bie, A el
——— se
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CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 43
plete and satisfactory. Our plantations are gone over each year, and checked
up to date, and a record for each tree is made upon the card assigned to it.
The collection of photographs has become so bulky that it has been found
impracticable to keep it satisfactorily in the old way of pasting the photo-
graphs into a large blank book, and instead we have adopted the card
method here, and in this way the photographs can easily be classified under
the different subjects, which makes it easy to find ,what is wanted. We
have now about 1,000 negatives on record ins the office.
We have found that it is very unsafe to make reports as to the hardiness
of varieties of apples or plums that are growing on our grounds unless they
have fruited here, and now we do not regard them as being true to name un-
til we have fruited them and are sure of the descriptions.
APPLES.—We have now perhaps 300 varieties of apples growing on
the grounds of the Experiment Station. These are located in different
PORTION OF OUR RUSSIAN (ORCHARD A) IN AUGUST.
orchards, which as a whole are doing very well. The first plantings were
made in 1886, when Prof. Porter set out a few trees; but the larger plantings
were made in 1888 and 1890.
Orchard A, commonly known as the “Russian Orchard,” was mostly
planted in 1888. It consists of something over 1,300 trees located upon the
open prairie, without windbreak or other protection within 30 rods. When
first planted it contained something over 200 varieties, the most of which
were from Russia. These were planted six feet apart, in rows twelve feet apart,
and generally six trees of each kind were set. As a result of this, there are
many vacancies, due to the tender varieties dying out entirely, and there
are other places where hardy varieties were set that the trees are too thick,
or would have been had they not been transplanted a few years ago. These
44 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
vacancies and crowded places, of course, are object lessons, for which pur-
pose the orchard was planted, and we are now beginning to get valuable
data from them. These trees were all from root grafts when originally set,
but about five years ago we put in some of the vacancies perhaps 50 Vir-
ginia crabs, which we have been top working. For seven or eight years
the land was cultivated in squash each season until the trees made so much
shade that it was unprofitable to do so any longer. Since that time it has
been kept in a dust blanket during the dry weather of summer except as
buckwheat or some other cover crop has been used to add humus to it. It
has been plowed late in the autumn, turning the soil towards the trees, thus
leaving a dead furrow in the middle between the rows and the soil loose
to protect from winter drouth. In relieving the crowded condition of some
parts of the orchard, it has seemed desirable to move some trees that were
at least four inches in diameter and 12 or 15 feet high. This we have done
in the autumn, moving them with such balls of earth as we could con-
veniently. After digging around the tree and getting the ball of earth loose,
we have tipped the tree over and pushed a stone boat underneath it, and
dragged the tree on the stone boat to its new location.
Orchard B. Orchard B is located upon the north slope of the wooded
gravelly ridge north of the school buildings, there being from one to four
feet of clay covering over the gravel. This orchard was planted in 1890.
Most of the trees are from root grafts. About 50 Virginia crabs were
planted, which have been top worked. It has been kept in clean cultivation,
and the space between the rows used for the growing of nursery stock. In
this orchard we have about 4o varieties of apples, including perhaps 20
varieties from Hungary, many of which are large enough so that we can ex-
pect them to fruit before long. The trees of Virginia crab have been top
worked with new and interesting sorts. This orchard has made a very good
growth, and has produced some fruit.
Orchard C was planted in 1898. It is located on the flat land north of
and below the gravelly ridge where Orchard B is located. It is made up of
400 trees. The special object in planting this orchard was to make it a com-
mercial one, and the intention has been to put out only varieties of a very
promising degree of hardiness. The trees made a very good growth in the
summer of 1898, and in the autumn were laid flat on the ground and covered
with earth, so that they were not injured by the severe weather of last win-
ter, which was so very hard upon newly set trees. I regard this method of
treating young orchards and newly planted trees as of much value.
All of the vacancies in this orchard, and one whole row which was not pre-
viously planted, were set out this fall, the trees being laid flat on the ground
since planted. While fall planting-as a general practice is not as desirable as
spring planting, yet, since in the spring we are so greatly rushed by our
work, we find it very desirable to do all we can in the autumn, and we find
that fall planted trees that are laid flat on the ground, and covered with
several inches of earth and a little mulch, generally come through the winter
in good condition, and I think this method of planting could frequently
be followed to advantage in this section. It amounts practically to “heeling
in” each tree separately in the hole where it is to remain.
Besides Orchards A, B and C of named varieties, we have what is known
as the “Seedling Orchard,’ which is made up of about 2,500 trees planted
four feet apart in rows eight feet apart. These trees are seedlings of our
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 45
very best named sorts, and largely from hand-made crosses between the
Duchess and Hibernal and the Charlamoff and Hibernal.
The winter killing of roots of apple trees last winter has led to much dis
cussion as to the importance of getting hardy stocks for them, and just at
present interest seems to center around Pyrus baccata seedlings. To throw
light on this subject we have grown three varieties of this crab. One is no
larger than a medium sized green pea, with a very long slender stem. It is,
however, quite productive, and the tree is a good, vigorous grower, and, so
far, is free from blight. The seed, however, does not grow as freely as it is
desired. This variety is, I think, what is sometimes known as P. prunifolia.
We have also a yellow Siberian and a red Siberian. These have fruits much
smaller than the common red and yellow Siberian. One of these trees seems
PYRUS BACCATA. VALUABLE FOR HARDY SEEDLING ROOTS.
inclined to blight, but the other is, so far, entirely free from it, although the
branches of the two interlock. Each produces an enormous amount of fruit
regularly each year, which might be of some value for preserving, but it is
rather too small for general use for this purpose. Our interest in this as a
stock, it seems to me, centers around the fact of its being very hardy, of
fairly vigorous growth, and in the important additional fact that it produces
a large amount of seed, which grows with great certainty. I think these
latter are the most promising of anything that we have for stocks. We have
sent out about 1,500 of these seedlings for trial to nurserymen and orchard-
ists the past year.
PEARS.—We have been trying for many years to get a variety of the
pear that will be of value here, and we have thought that if we could secure a
46 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
good hardy stock on which to work them that it would be a great improve-
ment over our present method of growing them, which is by grafting them
either upon apple stocks or upon French seedling pear stocks. On the
former, they do not make a very strong growth, and the latter is too tender.
We have raised the past year several hundred seedlings of Pryrus betulifolia,
which we have obtained as a stock from the Arnold Arboretum, and we shall
watch the development of them with much interest; but owing to some pre-
vious experience with a similar form of this we are disposed to doubt its be-
ing of much value for us here.
The plum stocks that have been tried here consist of seedlings of P.
Americanus and P. myrobolan, and the stocks commonly known as “Mari-
ana,’ which are grown from cuttings. Of these different stocks the Ameri-
canus have proved by far the most satisfactory, as on them our trees make a
vigorous growth, are not disposed to sucker very freely, and the stocks are
perfectly hardy. The myrobolan stock is rather too tender for us here, and I
think does not make as good a union with our native plums as native species,
although some trees have done fairly well on it.
DISEASES AND INSECTS ESPECIALLY AFFECTING DHE
APPLES.—Among the insects that are becoming quite injurious to the
apples here is the codlin moth. This moth lays its eggs on the fruit during
the latter part of the spring and early summer, and the insects bore into the
fruit, causing it either to fall off or ripen prematurely, making what is com-
monly known as ‘‘wormy apples.” When our orchards first came into
bearing here, we had scarcely any trouble from this insect; but during the
last few years it has increased very much, and is now quite troublesome, and
it will probably be necessary for us to take some means of holding it in
check.
The tent caterpillar has occasionally been somewhat injurious in our
orchards, but a little attention has prevented our having any serious trouble
from this cause. Our best remedy has been the destroying of the egg clus-
ters, which may be easily seen in the branches in winter and early spring,
and in gathering the worms in the tents as soon as they hatch out.
In seasons when fire blight is prevalent in this section, we seem to have
rather more than our share of it, and yet by cutting the blight off we seem
to have stopped it from spreading rapidly, and we have been able to keep it
in check, and our orchards quite free from serious injury from this cause.
Sun scald we have avoided nearly entirely, except in the case of those
trees that are especially liable to sun scald in the branches. We have done
this by protecting the trunks and the large branches from the sun. Our
chief method of doing this is by tying corn stalks upon the south and west
sides of the tree each autumn. These corn stalks are generally taken off in
the summer, although there is no special need of doing so except that the
trees look more tidy with them removed. We have also used wood veneers,
which are thin pieces of cottonwood, or similar wood, which when thor-
oughly soaked in water will bend around the trunks of the trees. These
pieces of wood are held in place by a small piece of wire, and have proven
quite satisfactory. We have also used wire mosquito netting and burlap for
this purpose. We have found that boxing up the trunks of the trees not only
prevents sun scald and injury from mice, and to a large extent from rab-
bits, but that it seems to make the trees much more hardy. I think this
is due to the fact that the trunk being well protected, and the foliage of the
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 47
trunk not having been injured by winter, it is able to greatly assist the rest
of the tree in overcoming any injurious effect of the severe weather. In our
experience with these boxes on the trees, which has been for some six or
seven years, we have generally filled them with soil and kept them filled the
year round. This has not apparently resulted in any injury to the tree. In
a few cases small roots have been sent out by the trees in the earth in the
boxes, but on the whole there has been very little of this. I am of the
opinion that this treatment of the apple tree is especially well adapted to
the requirements of the small orchardist for those in severe locations. It
should be generally understood by our people that a dozen apple trees well
planted and well cared for will produce more fruit and be far more satis-
factory than a large number of trees set out in the ordinary, neglectful way.
PORTION OF ORCHARD A, IN NOVEMBER; LAND NEWLY PLOWED; TREES
“BANKED’’ AND CORNSTALKS ON TREES TO PREVENT ‘‘ SUNSCALD.”’
PLUMS.—Our plums have been grown for a number of years next to
our nursery stock in the old nursery. They have grown so strongly that
they are now in pretty full possession of some portions of this nursery, and
will soon have the land entirely to themselves. A new plum orchard has
been started on the gravelly ridge near Orchard B. This orchard it is in-
tended shall be extended the coming year, and made to include all our
varieties of special promise. We have in cultivation now about 90 varieties
of plums, most of which are of native parentage. While we have tried a large
number of the European plums, we have not found a single variety that is
adapted to our conditions. Some of the Russian sorts, the Moldavka and
Early Red, for instance, have held on with us, seeming to be sufficiently hardy
for our conditions; but the small amount of fruit that they have produced,
and their tendency to become infested with black knot and the curculio,
make them of very little value for us, and thus far we have found no variety
among them that it is worth while to recommend for planting. Among the
48 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Japanese sorts there are none that are sufficiently hardy to make them of
any special value here. In a few of the most favorable locations in this state
however they may be desirable. We have raised a large number of seedling
plums and have fruited some on our own grounds, but have sent large num-
bers to our sub-stations at Grand Rapids, Crookston and Lynd. At Coteau
Farm a large number of plum seedlings were planted in the forest planta-
tion, and while they were somewhat crowded with trees, yet they have gen-
erally made a most excellent growth, and have been very productive.
DISEASES OF THE PLUM.—tThe plum pocket is very abundant in
some years and in some portions of the state. At our Experiment Station,
by destroying the diseased fruit as fast as it has appeared, we have succeeded
in preventing its getting any hold here. Some experiments with the peach
leaf curl, which is a disease of a similar nature to the plum pocket, seem to
show that Bordeaux mixture will probably prove a great help in preventing
the spread of this disease. The rot on the plums, or Monilia, has become
very abundant in this section during the past three or four years. This dis-
ease is characterized by a rotting of the fruit during the summer, and the
dried, rotted fruit remaining on the tree over winter. It is in this dried fruit
that the disease is carried over winter, the spores of which are ripened and
distributed during the moist weather of early spring. Remedies for this
are picking and destroying the diseased fruits, and spraying the trees with
Bordeaux mixture of double strength early in the spring before growth
starts, and then spraying the fruit with the ordinary Bordeaux mixture
several times during the summer. I believe that it is perfectly practicable
to keep this disease in check.
The curculio seems to be about as abundant the past year as for a num-
ber of seasons. By the use of the sheet and the jarring method we have
been able to keep it pretty well in check. The plum aphis, or leaf lice, have
not been as abundant the past year as during some previous seasons. We
have found that this insect may be entirely kept in check ,and the trees
may be entirely relieved of it, no matter how badly they may be infested,
by the use of tobacco smoke, as described in a former number of our “Hor-
ticulturist.”’
The plum borer has been especially abundant the past few years, and
has caused to many the mysterious loss of their plum trees. We have been
greatly troubled with it here. In the case of a neighbor’s orchard I found,
in looking over the trees, that some of them had as many as seven borers
in them, and that they had completely girdled many trees. A little attention
to this matter in looking over the trees and taking out the borers in the
fall and spring, will result in keeping the trees entirely free from serious
injury from this pest.
STRAWBERRIES. Our strawberries produced a fairly good crop this
year, and are in a fair condition for another season. In cultivating straw-
berries, we follow the plan of setting the fruit two feet apart in rows four
feet apart, and allow all runners to grow; but in the case of strong growing
varieties, like the Bederwood and Crescent, we remove a part of the run-
ners, so that they will not be too thick on the land. We keep the bed well
cultivated during the growing season. On the approach of cold weather,
generally the latter part of October, or early in November, we put on a cov-
ering of straw. We prefer to do this before severe freezing weather, as we
like to have the leaves bright and green when they are uncovered in the
—
:
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 49
spring, and very severe freezing without protection will sometimes kill the
foliage in autumn. We uncover rather late in the spring, removing most
of the straw from over the plants, but leaving as much as possible be-
tween them. We do not cultivate in the spring of the year. In covering
strawberries we have found rather heavy covering desirable, especially in
winters when there is no snow on the ground, since after some winters when
we have not had snow the plants have been so weakened by severe freezing
that, while they would start into growth, yet they did not have sufficient
strength to mature their fruit properly, and as a result a large number of
nubbins were formed. We have always found that such plants are not
easily moved; at least not until late in the spring, after they have made a
good growth of new roots. If very heavy covering (8 inches solid straw)
is to be resorted to, the best plan is to put the rows six feet apart, which al-
lows plenty of room for storing mulch between the rows in the spring. In
this place, between the rows, it can be kept until all the danger from frost
in the spring has passed, and it is then in convenient place for covering
the plants on very frosty nights when they are in flower. There can be no
question about the practicability of this latter way of protecting the flowers
of strawberry plants from being destroyed by frost, and it should be more
generally practiced, since without it the work of growing the plants for
nearly two years may be entirely lost. It is our custom to fruit the beds
at least two years in succession, and the beds are renewed by mowing off
the plants and weeds close to the ground as soon as may be after the
crop is gathered. This growth of weeds and plants is than burned on the
bed if it is very dry. If the weather is moist so that it is impracticable to
get a quick burn on the bed, then the material is either raked into the rows
between the beds before burning, or else it is carried off of the bed and
burned. I think that much the best way is to burn it on the bed; but this is
not safe except when the material is very dry so that it will burn quickly.
If it is at all moist, and lies over the plants and slowly burns, it is apt to
kill them out.
As soon as the burning is over, we put on a riding corn
cultivator and go over the rows several times, leaving a strip of plants
about 16 inches wide for each row. The space between the rows is kept
well cultivated until the plants which have been left have started, when the
rows are gone over and the beds thinned by taking out the old and weak
plants so that they will stand about six inches apart each way. With this
treatment of the bed we have generally got as good results from the second
crop as from the first.
We have grown 56 varieties of strawberries this year. Beder-
wood seems to be the best all round perfect flowering variety, either for
home use or for general marketing. Its special value for recommending
to beginners lies in the fact of its being so very vigorous and productive,
and that it is bi-sexual, not requiring any other plant near it for fertiliza-
tion. The fruit is rather soft, but does very well for home use and the near
market. The Haverland is a fine, light colored berry that is very produc-
tive. The Warfield has not been as productive with us for the last few
years as previously, but holds on well with many growers in this vicinity.
~ I am inclined to think that our plants have degenerated and that we should
renew our stock of plants of it. William Belt produces large fruit, but is not
sufficiently productive. Marshall is of about the same value as William
Belt. Nick Ohmer is a light red, short bodied berry of good quality that
50 - MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
has been fairly productive. Hunn is a variety sent out by the New York Ex-
periment Station at Geneva. It is a late pistillate sort, and it is recom-
mended that Gandy be used to produce pollen for it. We received 50 plants
two years ago. They made a good growth the first year, but the second
were so badly rusted that the crop was ruined. Bissel had done fairly well.
Mary is a very desirable pistillate sort of light red color, and very pro-
ductive. Ridgeway is a good late, light red berry of firm flesh. Glen Mary
_is a light red, conical berry, that is fairly productive. Lovett has been very
productive in years past, but this year did not do so well as usual. Crescent
seems to be as reliable as ever, and while the fruit is small and of rather
inferior quality, yet it is so very vigorous and productive that I am in-
clined to think that it is one of the most profitable sorts for planting
in severe locations.
RASPBERRIES produced a very large crop of fruit this year, and the
plantations are in very good condition for next season, although there is
more anthracnose on the canes of some varieties than was the case a year
ago. We regard the Loudon as our best red raspberry. The objection
that it is not easily picked on account of its adhering so closely to its re-
ceptacle has never been especially noticeable here, and its great pro-
ductiveness and vigor make it most desirable. ;
Marlborough has never been productive on our land, although on
heavier and better soils it does remarkably well.
The Cuthbert has some years done remarkably well here.
Miller’s Red has not proved very productive with us, and the Loudon
is so much superior to it in every way that we do not consider the Miller
of any special advantage.
King is an early red raspberry which makes a strong growth and
produces a large amount of fruit early in the season, but we do not regard it
as superior to the Loudon.
Turner is the best for general planting of the older varieties of rasp-
. berries, and is very hardy. And although the fruit is somewhat soit, yet
it is still a very desirable variety for planting in the home garden and for
near market.
Columbian is a wonderfully strong grower and very productive and
bears large, purplish red fruit. While it makes a very strong growth, yet
the canes may be bent to the ground quite easily and covered. It seems
to have great vitality and the power of producing a large number of fruiting
laterals from near the surface of the ground in case the top of the plant is
injured, a quality which is very desirable. If it only had a bright red color,
it would be one of the most popular varieties for marketing. It is well
adapted for home use, although not for marketing, as the purplish color
color of the berries makes them look as though they were stale, even when
they. are first picked.
Nemaha is our best black cap raspberry. It is difficult to distinguish
it from the Gregg, but I am disposed to regard it as being the hardier,
although there is very iittle difference between the two.
Progress is a very good early black raspberry.
Kansas is a good mid-season berry, and seems to be gaining in favor.
Older is a strong-growing, productive sort, of good quality, but it is
soft, and on-that account I doubt if it will prove profitable for shipment.
It is, however, a desirable sort for home growing.
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 51
BLACKBERRIES. Among the blackberries that we have tried are
included all the promising sorts of the old list, and most of the new ones
of promising hardiness. As yet we have found nothing which combined
as many good qualities as the Ancient Briton, and this variety is very
superior on our land to any other that we have tried. Fhe fruit on the Sny-
der ripens earlier, but the plants do not produce more than a third as much
as the Briton. Stone’s Hardy has been so very unsatisfactory on our land
that we have taken up and thrown away all the plants of it that we had
formerly growing here.
SEEDLING RASPBERRIES. About six years ago we raised some
700 seedlings from the Schaffer’s Colossal raspberry, and among them we
find varieties with red, purple and black fruit, and some that increase by
suckers from the root, but most of them increase by tip layers. This seems
to verify what has been believed for many years by the best botanists,—
that Schaffer’s Colossal, and probably the Columbian and similar berries,
are the result of hybridization between the red and black raspberries.
These seedlings have all been thrown away except about sixteen kinds,
which are now being tested on a larger scale, with the idea of determining
whether they are worth sending out for distribution.
We also have about one hundred seedlings from the Marlborough,
and about one hundred choice red sorts of raspberries, which ought to fruit
next year.
CURRANTS.—Among these we have little of special interest to report
at this time. The varieties recommended by our State Horticultural Society,
including the Red Dutch, Victoria, Stewart’s Seedling, of the red sorts, and
White Grape, of the white sorts, are kinds that have proven most valuable
here. Injury from the currant worm has been common with us for eight
or nine years, but it is as easy to destroy it as it is to destroy the potato
bug by the use of Paris green or by white hellebore. The currant borer
has not been as numerous the past two years as for several years previous to
that time, when they were exceedingly abundant.
GOOSEBERRIES.—Among these we find that the Houghton
and the Downing of the older varieties still hold their own, and
the only new rival for popular favor, judging from our experience,
is the Champion, which is a _ strong-growing, vigorous’ variety
with large fruit. The Pearl seems to be another Downing. Col-
umbus seems to be doing the best of the large fruiting sorts,
but there are none of these large fruiting sorts that do especially well with
us. The list of this class which we have tried and found to be of little value
includes the Triumph, Puyallup, Mammoth, Red Jacket, Chatauqua, Orange,
Strubler’s Early, Industry, Crown Bob, Whitesmith. We have fruited per-
haps 200 seedlings within two years, and have propagated a few of the best
of them for distribution. Most of these are seedlings from the Downing,
and some of them very closely resemble the parent.
DEWBERRY. We have never sticceeded in fruiting the dewberry ex-
cept in but one season, which was in the dry year of 1894, when it yielded
far better than any of our blackberries. We have grown Austin’s Im-
proved, Windom, Bartell’s Mammoth and Lucretia, but have found none of
them reliable. All of them would flower well in the spring, but they
failed to set fruit. At one time it was recommended to set dewberries near
to the blackberries, as it was believed by some of our horticulturists that
52 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
cross-fertilization with the blackberry might aid them in setting fruit. We
have experimented with this in planting the dewberries and blackberries
in parallel rows, but without getting any material increase in the results ob-
tained. Our experience seems to show that they are exceedingly unreliable
on our soil.
GRAPES. This year, one vineyard was destroyed to make room for
the new Horticultural Building, but in anticipation of the necessity of de-
stroying this vineyard, we started, four years ago, a new vineyard in the
garden, which bore fruit this year for the first time, and made a most
satisfactory growth. This vineyard would probably have fruited two years
ago, were it not for the fact that it was nearly destroyed by the winter of
1896, which was so very severe on grape vines, and which resulted in de-
stroying most of the varieties which were young at that time. This vine-
yard contains about 20 varieties, including our hardiest and most desirable
kinds. This year, Campbell’s Early fruited for the first time, and appears
to be a very promising variety. Beta is a very hardy variety, which origi-
nated with Andrew Suelter, of Waconia, Minn., and which for many years
has been grown in a small way in that section, and found to be exceed-
ingly hardy, and able to stand fully exposed through some of our most
severe winters. We are propagating this sort for distribution as a premium
for the Horticultural Society. I regard it as fully as good in quality of
fruit as the Janesville, rather more productive and perhaps hardier. The
old vineyard, located near the farmhouse, and which was planted in 1886,
produced a very good crop of fruit this year. The early frost in Septem-
her hurt the fruit of some of the varieties, and they did not ripen as satis-
factorily as generally in former years; but such sorts as Worden, Moore’s
Early and Agawam ripened perfectly. We have about 50 grape seedlings,
some of which fruited this year; and one of them seems to be of especial
value, and will be propagated for further trial.
Among the native fruits, Success Juneberry has been very productive
at the Station for six or more years. While the birds are very fond of this
fruit, and generally get their full share, yet it is well worth growing, for
it is perfectly hardy, very productive, and the fruit is desirable. It is nearly
the same thing as the old service berry, but is far more reliable and pro-
ductive.
The buffalo berry is a wild fruit that it seems to me we have not paid
quite enough attention to. Our experience with it at the Station began
by obtaining a few plants from South Dakota in 1887. These plants flowered
in 1889, and all were found to be staminate. About two years later we
succeeded in obtaining one large pistillate tree, which has fruited every
year since then. About this same time, several quarts of fruit were obtained
from North Dakota, the seed from which produced a large number of
plants, and since these have come into bearing we have had considerable
of this fruit each year. We have found the fruit to vary considerably in
size, and also in the season of ripening, some of it being apparently ripe
about the middle of August, and other trees producing fruit which would
hold on into the winter. A peculiarity of this fruit is that frost seems to
improve the quality of it much in the same way as frost affects the per-
simmon. We have had, perhaps, a bushel and a half of fruit the past year.
We find that the seed grows easily when mixed with sand and kept frozen
over winter. In 1898 we raised about 6,000 plants in a bed six feet wide
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 53
and 24 feet long. We find that these small seedlings move very easily
indeed, but the old plants, especially those from suckers, are apt to be very
slow in starting to grow. The plants generally have fruit buds when
three years old, and it is a very easy matter to determine the pistillate from
the staminate plants from the shape and general appearance of the buds.
This makes it practicable for the nurseryman to send out one or two stami-
nate plants in each dozen of pistillate plants, which I think will be sufficient
proportion to fertilize all the fruit if they are planted in groups. The points
“which especially recommend this berry are its great hardiness, produc-
TWIGS OF THE TWO FORMS OF THE BUFFALO BERRY.
1. Twig fron male plant showing the large rounded buds. 2. Twig from female plant
showing the rather pear shaped buds of thisform. By a little study of this
matter, it will be found quite easy to separate the plants into their
two forms, which is very desirable for planters.
tiveness, and reliability; and while it will probably never be very popular
in the section of the state where currants are grown, yet for the more
severe portions of this state and the Dakotas it has undoubtedly great
value. On almost every farm Io0 feet of row of this plant would be found
valuable. The fruit makes an excellent sauce, and.a jelly fully as good as
currant. The plant is ornamental, and makes a pretty dwarf hedge and
stands pruning well.
54 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
FORESTRY. The experiments with the various trees at the Station
have now been continued for a period of about 15 years. Our present for-
est plantation, which consists of five acres, was started in 1889. It now
consists of about 40 species and varieties of trees, representing practically
all the kinds of probable value in this section. In the older portion, the
trees have made a very fine growth, and we are beginning to get forest
conditions, and to get an idea of the possibilities of growth with trees on
our land. We have raised seedlings of many kinds of trees, especially those-
which are somewhat rare, or not generally propagated, such as Hackberry,
Red Cedar and Basswood. In order to supplement the work at Central
Experiment Station, we have planted out at Coteau Farm, which is located
in the dryest portion of this state, in Lyons county, twenty plats of trees of
different mixtures, including, in all, some 40 species and varieties of trees,
to determine their value in that section of the state. The most of this
PORTION OF OUR FOREST PLANTATION AT THE EXPERIMENT STATION.
plantation is now six years old. It has made a very satisfactory growth, and
is an object lesson that attracts much attention in the section in which it is
located. The land in Lyons county is made up of rolling prairie, and there
is a scant rainfall. The difficulty in growing trees there we have found to
be chiefly in getting a windbreak established, after which many kinds of
trees could be grown under its protection which otherwise could not live
there. We have, for instance, had the earth blown away from seedlings that
were exposed until they stood fully five or six inches out of the ground.
The plan followed here has been to mulch the windbreak when first
planted, and to continue the mulching process with the windbreak. Inside
of this windbreak we have followed clean cultivation, setting the trees two
feet apart in rows eight feet apart, and keeping the soil cultivated with an
ordinary garden cultivator. This is probably the best way for the general
care of windbreaks and shelter belts in such sections. In this section we
have found even the White Spruce and the Scotch Pine unable to with-
stand the severe conditions there existing unless a windbreak was first
formed, after which, however, they seemed to thrive. This has also been the
case with our hardier plums in this section. Where they have been planted
on open prairie they have generally failed; but where they have been planted
under the lee of a good windbreak, they have generally done well.
The insects that have been especially hurtful to our forestry trees_have
been the saw fly larve on willows and various other foliage eating insects.
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 55D
The saw fly on willows we have been successful in checking by use of Paris
green and water sprayed on the foliage by a spray pump. In case of infested
trees Gver twenty feet high they should be shortened, and then by using
a spray pump in a wagon and long pieces of hose held up by means of
bamboo poles twelve feet long the tops may be reached. For the tent
‘caterpillar the same remedy is good, but should be commenced as soon as
the young hatch out.
During the last two years our lawns have been seriously injured in
summer by the larvae of the May beetle. These grub worms eat the roots of
SEEDLING PLUMS IN FRUIT AT THE FOREST PLANTATION OF COTEAU FARM
; SUB-EXPERIMENT STATION.
These seedling plum trees were used in some of the plats as secondary trees, and have
borne well and given good shade.
the grass so that the top dries out and can be raked up in piles, as the
plants lie only on the top of the ground. We know of no satisfactory remedy
for this pest. The grub worms probably remain in the soil for at least
‘three years, and it is probable that they do the most injury in their third
year. The best treatment seems to be to spade up the infested portion
in the fall and seed down early in spring.
The following shows the condition of some trees and shrubs of special
interest on our grounds last spring. Ampelopsis veitchii, Ampelopsis cuspi-
56 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
data, Spirea thunbergii, Tamarix amurensis, Pyrus betulifolia, Cornus offi-
cinalis, Pyrus sanguinea, Quercus pedunculata, Chestnut Oak, Philadelphus
speciosum, Celtus tournefolia, Celtis andibertiana, Symphoriocarpus race-
mosus, Spear Elderberry, Polish privet (probably Ligustrum ibota), Ex-
ochorda grandifolia, Spirea crataegifolia, Spirea Van Houtii, Rhamuns al-
pina and Lonicera albertii were frequently killed to the snow line. Abies
concolor was severely injured down to the snow line but not killed back.
The following specimens were lost entirely: Hydrangea Japonica, Vi-
burnum tomentosa, Comptonia asplenifolia, Lonicera ledebouri and Judas
tree:
The following shrubs are of special interest from the fact that they have
been newly introduced and have proven perfectly hardy:
Japan Lilac (Syringa Japonica). Small trees about ten feet high and
exceedingly vigorous, starting from their terminal buds and producing loose, -
graceful clusters of cream-colored flowers, often fourteen inches long and
nearly as wide, very conspicuous. Is a long time in coming into flower.
Lonicera marrowii and L. standishii are much alike and seem perfectly
hardy. They are bush honeysuckles of good habit and free flowering.
Crataegus glandulosa, C. prinnatifida and C. microcarpa came through
the winter in best condition and flowered abundantly.
Ribes triste is a dwarf currant that seldom gets over two and one-half
feet high, and has a pretty compact habit and bright glossy leaves that
appear early and remain on until late in autumn. Its flowers are rather
inconspicuous, and its fruit is of no value. As an ornamental plant for
division lines between city lots and for similar purposes it promises to
prove valuable. It was not injured in the least by the last winter. It grows
easily from cuttings.
By the severe weather of last winter many of the more tender varieties
of plums were injured. Many of these varieties are new to us here, and
we have never fruited them, so we cannot be sure that they are true to
name. But in every case much care has been taken to obtain reliable stock,
and it is fair to assume for the purposes of a preliminary report that they-
are correctly named, especially where this data is supported by other evi-
dence: Hungarian Prune, Communia and Yellow Aubert top-worked
on Prunus Americana stocks about four feet from the ground were all of
them very severely injured and killed back very much. They had made
good large heads and had rather outgrown the stock.
Col. Wilder, Sophia, Gold, Robinson, Wilson, Hilltop, Taige, Milton,
Lombard, Charles Downing, Wayland and Prunus davidiana killed to the
snow line.
A few trees of a blue plum that were given to the Station by Mr. T.
T. Lyon, who regarded it as hardy, practically killed out entirely. This
variety had fruited for a number of years in Minneapolis and appeared ex-
ceedingly promising.
The Japan plum, known as Ogon, started from near the terminal buds,
but made a very weak growth. I regard it as of no value for this section.
Budd and Missouri apricots killed out entirely. Seedling cherries
grown from seed imported from Riga, Russia, in 1891, that had made good,
bushy trees, twelve feet high, killed out entirely.
or
~] :
EUREKA TRIAL STATION.
EUREKA TRIAL STATION.
Cc. W. SAMPSON, SUPT.
The grape vines and small fruit plants came through the winter in ex-
cellent condition, owing to the extra protection by the heavy snow fall.
Several of my new varieties fruited this season, among them Campbell’s
Early, which was very fine. It is a very strong, vigorous, hardy vine, with
thick, healthy, mildew-resisting foliage, and perfect, self-fertilizing blossoms.
Clusters very large, usually shouldered, compact and handsome, without
being unduly crowded. Berries are large, nearly round, often an inch or
more in diameter. Flavor rich and sweet, with no foxiness or unpleasant
acidity, from the skin to the center. It ripened about with Moore’s Early,
Aug. 25th.
_ Early Ohio also fruited the second time with me. Its berries are small
and round; skin thin; purple with a blue bloom; flesh tender, melting,
without pulp, and good; ripens early, about Sept. Ist, with me.
Moore’s Early is another very valuable grape for Minnesota. Bunch
smaller than Concord, of which it is a seedling; rarely shouldered, but
berries somewhat larger. It is generally as healthy and hardy as its parents,
though not as productive or vigorous. It ripens ten days to two weeks
earlier than Concord, though not quite equal in quality. Its large size and
earliness render it desirable and make it a popular market grape. It needs
careful cultivation and liberal manuring, being better than Hartford, Cham-
pion or Talman, and quite as early. It is recommended to supersede these
undesirable varieties. Moore’s Early is ripe and ready to put on the
market Aug. 20 to 25 each year.
Brighton. This handsome and fine grape is a cross of the Concord
and Diana-Hamburg. Vine hardy, a rapid and vigorous grower; leaves
large, thick, dark green; very productive; if the small bunches were taken
off early in the season, it would be a great benefit to the others. Some-
times, however, its flowers do not fertilize, though abundantly blooming.
It should, therefore, be mingled with other varieties growing close by,
which have the same time of blooming. I have several other varieties which
will fruit the first time the coming season.
All varieties of plums, including De Soto, Forest Garden, Weaver,
Cheney, Wolf, Rollingstone, Hawkeye, Aitkin and Gaylord. The Cheney
and Aitkin were attacked by the curculio so badly that I failed to raise any
good fruit on them. The Compass Cherry fruited very abundantly on trees
of only one year’s growth. The University apple came through the winter
in perfect condition, the terminal, buds being perfectly sound and the wood
bright and not the least discolored.
EXCELSIOR TRIAL STATION.
H. M. LYMAN, SUPT.
Apple trees at this station have made a good growth this past season,
but have produced little fruit. Was the scarcity of fruit owing to the cold
previous winter? I think that could not have been the cause, for the very
hardiest varieties seemed as unproductive as the more tender ones. This
fall here has been very favorable in preparing the fruit trees for a Minnesota
winter. It has been like the one a year ago in moistening the ground and
ripening the wood, and if we do not have more than two or three weeks
58 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
of extremely dry cold 40° below zero weather at one time, our hardy Minne-
sota trees will come through all right. My observation is that newly set,
well cultivated trees that made a good vigorous growth with well ripened
wood, passed through the last winter in much better condition than those
that were set in uncultivated ground and made little growth. They had the
vitality in themselves to withstand the rigors of the winter.
I do not think very much of the Longfield. It is subject to blight and is
more tender than most of the Russians, though I would not discard it from
the orchard, for it is an early bearer and very good in quality, though,
doubtless, a short-lived tree. I am growing more in favor of the McMahon.
I think it is hardier than the Kaump.
Trees have blighted little the past summer about here; none at the
station, except a few trees in the nursery rows of the Lowland Raspberry,
Longfield, Whitney and Charlamoff. I have added a few varieties to the
orchard this summer: Patten’s 102, Iowa Beauty and Compass Cherry.
They are all doing well. The cherry is a vigorous grower. The North-
western Greening has passed through three winters with me, and still looks
well, with well ripened wood, and will stay with us if we have no more try-
ing seasons for it than the past fourteen have been.
My Prolific crab tree is holding its own well, though not fruiting as
heavily this year as usual. Plum trees were loaded with fruit with the ex-
ception of the Cheney, which with me has been an unprofitable bearer on
account of the curculio and plum pockets. I will mention that while in some
parts of the country apple trees suffered much from root-killing, here they
were so well protected by snow there was no trouble from that cause.
LA CRESCENT TRIAL STATION.
J. S. HARRIS, SUPT.
The last winter (1898-9) here was noted for its light snow fall, a number
of extremely cold days and nights in February, following a warm period
that had taken off the little snow that had previously fallen, and was in many
localities disastrous to trees and plants, both through root-killing and injury
to the tops. The trees generally entered the winter in good condition, with
wood well-ripened and apparently with sufficient moisture in the soil to
prevent injury to the roots.
The larger portion (two-thirds) of the trees in this station are planted
on land sloping towards the north and northeast, but a small portion (one-
third), on land sloping south and southeast. With rare exceptions no injury
occurred to the roots of trees on the northerly slopes and but little injury
to the tops, and this was confined to a few named varieties and a considerable
number of seedlings yet unnamed. The varieties perceptibly injured are
Roman Stem, Sweet Pipka, Stepka, Miller’s Gennetin, Wolf River (slight-
ly), Sklonka, one Boydonoff, (three Boydonoff unharmed), Repka from J.
L. Budd, Dabold Seedling, Bates’ Sweet, Ratsburg, Walbridge, Haas and
Giant Swaar. On the southerly slope several old trees of Duchess of Olden-
burg were so badly injured in the roots that they have since died, and Whit-
ney No. 20, McMahon, Munn, Red Astrachan, Walbridge and Haas were
very seriously injured in the trunks and tops, and the Utter slightly; also the
Fameuse and Wealthy were injured in the trunks, but not in the smaller
branches.
aoe
LA CRESCENT TRIAL STATION. 59
Blight has been unusually severe, and few trees have escaped. The
Hibernal, Virginia crab and Wolf River have blighted badly, and some
blight is seen on Patten’s Greening and Peerless. The apple crop was light,
of rather poor quality, and ripened so early that winter varieties would not
keep well.
All trees except those badly injured in the tops have ripened up their
season’s growth well and are well supplied with fruit buds, but during the
very warm weather of late October the buds have swollen considerably.
Trees that were considerably injured in the tops are filled with immature
shoots that are likely to be killed back during this coming winter. The
ground at the present date is very dry about the roots, and should winter
set in without rains or an ample covering of snow there will be great danger
of severe root-killing.
A few experiments of top-working on stocks of uncertain hardiness
and blighting propensities have resulted in failure, as the trunks blight and
winter-kill below the grafts, and the tops have shown more tendency to
blight where put upon bad blighting kinds.
A few experiments in girdling have not brought satisfactory results,
and we cannot advise its practice only for the purpose of bringing seedlings
or unknown varieties into earlier bearing, in order to get some idea of the
quality of their fruit. The girdling is a tax or shock on the trunk or root
of the tree below the point of girdling, and does not conduce to permanent
fruitfulness, unless repeated about every second year, and tends to invite
insects, blight and premature death. The fruit is hastened in maturity,
liable to drop prematurely, and will not keep as long as fruit grown on
healthy ungirdled trees.
Our best raspberries this year were the Loudon and Red King, in reds;
and the Older, in black.
The Pomona currant is very promising, is a free grower and liberal
fruiter. We have this year added to our collection the Wilder and Red
Cross.
In: gooseberries, the Houghton, Red Jacket and Pearl endured the last
winter the best. The Downing was considerably injured, and the,Queen,
Champion and Triumph were killed outright.
All varieties of the native plum (P. Americana) appeared to endure the
winter without injury, but the Oxford, Aitkin and Cheney blossomed so
early that they were not pollenized, and the fruit nearly all turned to plum
pockets. Among the very best and most reliable for fruit are the De Soto,
Rollingstone, Cotterell, Wyant, Gaylord and Stoddard.
The cherry crop was nearly a failure this year, although the trees do not
appear to have been seriously injured.
Nearly all yearling apple trees in the nursery were considerably dis-
colored: also many of the two-year-olds, and the Ben Davis were killed
down nearly to the ground. The Springdale is proving too tender for this
climate: besides the trees are inclined to bark-burst near the surface of the
ground.
Present indications are that a considerable number of the newer North-
western seedlings will prove hardy enough for planting in all favorable loca-
tions. The Russian, Red Wine, Juicy White, Sklonka, Skrout, German,
Sweet Pipka, 30m, 1056, 224, Holdfast, Ostrehoe and some others do not
appear to be worthy of any further trial.
60 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
MINNESOTA CITY TRIAL STATION.
O. M. LORD, SUPT.
Among the strawberries that gave the best results were, in the order
named, Bederwood, Warfield, Mary, Gardner, Dayton, Capt. Jack and
Crescent. :
Plants have made a good growth and will go into the winter in good
shape. Red raspberries were not laid down, and were injured more or
less by the winter. The Loudon suffered less than other varieties. The
Turner was partly killed and the Cuthbert mostly all killed. The Shaffer and —
Columbian unhurt. Black raspberries, especially the Palmer, were unhurt,
but blackberries where unprotected were all killed. Where they were prop-
erly covered they yielded a fair crop of fruit.
All varieties of currants bore a large, fine crop. Gooseberries were un-
usually affected with mildew; the Pearl appeared to be the nearest perfect.
Grapes. The Iona, Moore’s Early, Worden, Lindley, Massasoit, Aga-
wam and Delaware bore no fruit. A few Concords fruited, but were inferior
in quality. Native plums, the main specialty of this station, produced a
large crop again this year. All of the old standard varieties bore well.
Some of the newer ones on trial bore for the first time here. The Gable,
from Storm Lake, Iowa; the Hunt, from W. H. Guilford, Dubuque; the
Wragg, from Edson Gaylord, Iowa; the Bursoto, from Mr. Williams, Ne-
braska, were among the most desirable. Though fifteen varieties of Do-
mestica were entirely killed, and some of the Japans much injured, a further
trial of some of these kinds will be made, to experiment with them in the
direction of cropping. If we can succeed in perfecting something of the
quality or character of the commercial prune from some oi our natives, it
will be of great help to our fruit interests.
MEADOW VALE HORTICULTURAL CLUB EXPERIMENT
GROUNDS.
A. W. KEAYS, SUPT., ELK RIVER.
The winter of 1898 and 1899 did very little damage in this trial station,
the ground being partly covered with snow, the hills only being bare. We
have Jearned some valuable lessons, however. Among I50 varieties of.apples.
on trial, the Peerless seemed to have killed back the most and Longfield
next. The Longfield started out a new growth and does not appear to have
been injured only in the ends of the limbs. I will say that our grounds are
in a very exposed place. We had a number of seedlings root-killed, which
proved that they are not hardy enough for our severe winters.
In the spring of 1896 I root-grafted several varieties of apples on
Transcendent crab roots. In the fall of 1898 some of those were as large
as the trees from which the scions were taken, those being then five years
old. Those grafts were in bloom in the spring of 1899, while the old trees.
from which the scions were taken have not bloomed yet. Some of those
root-grafts have been placed on trial in other places. I am satisfied this way
of propagating will make a hardier tree and come into bearing sooner.
Longfield was in bloom in this lot and killed back on Pyrus malus roots.
There are old Transcendent trees in this vicinity that have been planted
over 30 years and are bearing as high as twenty-seven bushels of apples
7
MEADOW VALE EXPERIMENT GROUNDS. 61
each year. Some of those trees are in a perfectly healthy condition. They
were cn their own roots.
I have not found one tree of American wild crab (Pyrus ioensis) injured
in the least; they were in bloom and fruited in the fall of 1899. This grows
wild here and seems to be hardier than they are farther south. I have a num-
ber of small trees and some just commencing to bear, and I intend to try
some experiments with them, which I will report later.
In the spring of 1898 I planted seed of several varieties of our hardy,
half hardy and tender varieties of apples. These were planted in sections
in an exposed situation. In the spring of 1899 some of the kinds were en-
tirely killed, while others were in good condition and made a fine growth
the past summer. The minimum temperature the past winter was —42°. From
January 27 until February 12 the temperature did not rise above zero.
Among the new fruits originated here is a very valuable seedling black-
berry and two plums; one that is very fine for eating and one for cooking.
One oi these seems to be proof against the curculio.
OWATONNA TRIAL STATION.
E. H. S. DARTT, SUPT.
The Owatonna tree station was established by the legislature
for the purpose of testing fruit, forest and ornamental trees. I started
in under rather adverse circumstances. I was to run the tree station,
but I had no compass to guide me, nothing as a precedent, and I
had to depend entirely upon my own resources, or I might say in-
telligence, in conducting the work of the station, and although I
was under the control of the superintendent of the farm school, yet
my instructions were to use my best judgment, and I have done so.
I have not had any instructions, but managed the station as in my
judgment seemed best. I secured from the growers all over the
country their best and hardiest varieties to the extent of two or three
hundred varieties. I planted seeds of the Quaker Beauty and Minne-
sota crabs, and | have grafted each year by selecting the most prom-
ising of these seedlings, so that now I have grafted in the neighbor-
hood of five hundred varieties, and have them growing and num-
bered.
I succeeded by girdling in exhibiting one hundred and fifty
varieties of apples at the state fair. A good many of them were rather
small and perhaps of no account, but in selecting those small apples
I generally select keepers, and a good many of us know that the
small apples are likely to increase in size as time advances. I under-
stood a man to say that the first Wealthy apples were only of medium
size, and some of the small varieties I girdled last year, and which
were placed on the crab list this season, I was obliged to put on
the apple list on account of their increased size, and I believe it is
safe to conclude that those which are brought into bearing by gird-
ling will have larger apples in the future than they have now.
62 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
It has been suggested that I have a great lot of trash at the tree
station I should get rid of. I probably destroy hundreds of varieties
every year. It is known that in a lot of seedlings perhaps hundreds
will not be very valuable. I am thinning them out as fast as I can
by girdling, and it will still take a long time to find out whether there
is an apple at the station that is very valuable. I have great faith
in a number of varieties; but my report is intended to cover that
ground. I simply thought I would preface it by turning your
thoughts in the right direction.
At the beginning of the year there were growing on the station fully
one thousand varieties of grafted apples, and about the same number of
varieties are growing at the present time. Of these about two hundred
are Russian varieties, about three hundred are seedlings contributed by
growers of the cold northwest from their hardiest stock, and the remainder
have originated on the station, being grown from seeds of our best apples
and crabs.
It has been my custom to carefully survey the field each fall and select
the most promising varieties for grafting the following winter. One hun-
dred and fifty-six varieties were grafted last winter, and about the same
number of varieties will be grafted this winter.
Our last winter, though severely cold, was not a test winter. Very little
harm was done except by root-killing, and that only occurred where our
light covering of snow was blown off. About forty orchard trees were thus
killed and the most of the root grafts set in the spring of 1898. By the side
of the winter of 1884-5, our last winter was a tame affair. On the former
occasion 800 Wealthy trees in one orchard were killed to the ground. Last
winter the Wealthy, Haas, Ben Davis, and many others of that grade of
hardiness escaped material injury. We talk about hardy roots, but root-
killing when it has occurred on the station has made a clean sweep, taking
apples and crabs alike.
Far the most interesting and important experiment that I have tried is
that of girdling fruit trees to produce early bearing and test hardiness.
This I have practiced on a large scale, having girdled thousands of trees.
Death is always the result of injury, and the amount of injury that a tree
or animal can receive and still live is the true test of hardiness or tenacity
of life. Certain kinds of injury invite the attack of certain diseases, and the
interference with the flow of sap, which is the great promoter and protector
of plant life, makes the girdled tree especially susceptible to sun scald. bark
blight, and, perhaps, to many other diseases of which we know nothing.
When the tree doctor knows half as much as the man doctor pretends to
know we may have a long list of tree diseases with remedies as infallible
as the patent medicines that cure all the diseases that flesh is heir to.
Girdling makes the young tree prematurely old, brings out all its latent de-
fects, and if persistently followed up only permits the survival of the fittest.
It seems poison to some varieties while entirely harmless to others. Two
trees of Tetofsky seed No. 3 that have been girdled three years in succession
are now in fine condition and well loaded with fruit buds, while two trees of
Tetofsky seed No. 4, standing near, were both killed—bark blight starting
in at the wound and extending entirely around the tree. Okabena seed No.
1, which bears a small winter apple-——may get larger—has been girdled
OWATONNA TRIAL STATION. 63
for four years in succession, and is now in healthy condition, while Rich-
land Winter always kills with one girdling. No variety having a good repu-
tation for hardiness and not subject to bark blight has been permanently in-
jured by a reasonable amount of seasonable girdling.
The manner of girdling is not very essential so long as the cambium
layer is cut through entirely around the tree. Girdling by the spiral method,
which seems least harmful, is accomplished by starting in with a saw just
below the limb and cutting down around the tree at an angle of forty-five de-
grees. On small trees and limbs a knife may be used. I have used pruning
shears to advantage. I now use the tree girdler made on the principal of
shears. The blades are four or five inches long bent in a little at the ends
to hook on to the tree. The handles are like those of blacksmith’s tongs;
the blades are sharp and if bent an inch or two apart at the ends trees may
be girdled spirally in a very expeditious manner. Since trees may be ex-
pected to bear the next season aiter the girdling is done, it follows that if
we remove the fruit from part of our orchard trees and girdle, we may rea-
sonably expect the girdled trees to iruit the following season. May we not
in this way bridge over the off year? Much girdling was done in 1898, and
in 1899, in spite of tramps, hoodlums, the hard winter and the off year, I
was able to exhibit at our state fair over 150 varieties, several of which were
new seedling apples of great promise. For this latitude I think the first of
July about the best time to girdle. If it is done too early, the wounds heal
over quickly without results, if too late, there will be greater danger of per-
manent injury. On young trees thus forced into bearing, the apples are
likely to be considerably below the natural size. We have no way of dis-
tinguishing the apple from the crab except by size, and I am pleased to note
that some varieties that I placed in the crab list last year I am obliged to
transfer to the apple list this year on account of increased size. If this in-
crease shall be maintained we may reasonably expect many good sized ap-
ples to develop from our very large crab list. Mr. Gideon claimed that the
Wealthy was the product of Cherry crab seed, and I have some good sized
apples' growing where crab seed was planted. It has been my custom to re-
graft the most promising new varieties each year, so that if any proved valu-
able I would have scions for distribution, and I am pleased to say that I
have scions of this class now ready for our Minnesota experimenters and
nurserymen.
SAUK RAPIDS TRIAL STATION.
MRS. JENNIE STAGER, SUPT.
Although this year was a gocd year for growing fruit, it was not a good
year for ripening here. We planted about three hundred fruit trees, also
some butternut trees, and they grew nicely, but this fall the warm weather
has caused the most of them to begin to bud out, which I am afraid will
weaken them or perhaps even kill them. Grapes fruited heavily, but with
the exception of some early varieties none ripened.
The Scotch pine seedlings you sent a few years ago are many of them
over six feet high, while the Colorado blue spruce are not two feet high.
Turner raspberries are very large and fine here, and the Yellow Queen
has as large a berry as the Cuthbert and of a nice flavor.
Small fruits, with the exception of strawberries, did very poorly here
this year, as the vines were weakened on account of losing their leaves
64 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
through the ravages of the worms last year. But all vines and bushes made
an exceptionally strong growth this year, so we live in hopes of a large
harvest next time.
WINDOM TRIAL STATION.
DEWAIN COOK, SUPT.
Strawberries were a iair crop, though the late berries did not seem
to be perfectly fertilized. I am favorably impressed with the Bederwood
for a home and near-by market berry. It should not be planted on too rich
soil, in sheltered places, as in such places it is often too soft to handle, but
where grown in not very rich soil and where there is a free circulation
of air the berries are firmer and of a better color.
Dwari Juneberries, as usual, bore a heavy crop, and we found a quick
sale for them at five cents per box.
Currants were only a fair crop, Long Bunch Holland doing a little
the best. Cheap strawberries and raspberries have had a tendency to crowd
out the currants. We brought the price of currants down to six cents per
box, at which price they sold readily.
My sand cherry bushes bore heavily, but the fruit about all rotted on
the bushes. Unless the sand cherry does better in the future, we will have
to consider them of no value.
As but few apple trees bore anything, I can report but little of value
about them. With few exceptions my apple trees made a fine growth the
past season, and my apple orchards are looking better now than ever before.
A couple of bearing Wealthy trees that looked sickly and made but feeble
growth this season, dropped their leaves early and are very full of extra well
developed fruit buds. I have noticed that any not fatal root injury by cold
to bearine apple trees will set them to bearing extraordinary crops after the
first year is past. In this section, on the high prairie, where blight and sun
scald is not as prevalent as in some other localities, the orchards that have
the benefit of windbreaks are doing the best; in fact, there are no orchards
where there is a full exposure to the northwest winds, as the trees always
kill out the first or second winter after planting.
We have had lots of experience with plums the past season. I believe
that we have all the tent caterpillars exterminated that were on the place, and
we have been making a vigorous fight against the borers, that had got a
strong foothold here. We cut out or made firewood of the trees that were
infested the most; the other trees we examined each one, and got after each
individual borer with a jackknife early in the autumn, and a few days later
went over each tree again, getting a few that were missed the first time.
We think that by keeping up the fight another season that we can eradicate
the borers. The plum is the only tree troubled by them.
The gouger and curculio are increasing in numbers and destructive-
ness each season. We are again to resort to the jarring process next sea-
son. We are not going to be beaten by them. We gathered and destroyed
all of the down plums this season, which, of course, destroyed many larve
of curculio. We have also cut out all of our wild plum trees, also a good
many of the inferior named varieties. It seems that the gouger especially
breeds almost entirely in those small plums that have a large pit, while
those large plums, like the Wolf, that have small pits are rarely attacked
by them.
cam, es
~~ fe
=e 3
WINDOM TRIAL STATION, 65
The plum rot is another very destructive enemy that we have to contend
with. Some of the wild plums were entirely destroyed by the rot, no kind
being entirely exempt. We have gathered all of the dried mummyfied
plums, and as yet we know of no other way of fighting this pest.
As to varieties for market, I believe the Wolf (freestone) takes the lead.
Year after year it excels the De Soto in bearing, in size and in selling qual-
ties, and the tree seems to be just as good. The Hawkeye, Black Hawk,
Wyant and New Ulm are also the best of sellers as well as good bearers.
These, with the Wolf, sold here at $2.00 per bushel; the De Soto, Spree, Roll-
ingstone, Wood and a few others sold at $1.50 per bushel. The Cheney did
better than usual, yet we got no good plums from them, although we have
a dozen or so bearing trees of them, as well as a lot of other trees of other
varieties of that class. They seem to set fruit very well, which grows very
rapidly early in the season, what escapes the plum pocket and is not claimed
by the curculio and rot. As they get large so early they seem to about quit
growing several weeks before they ripen, and they furnish an ideal breed-
ing place for the curculio. We have had the Cheney bearing quite a num-
ber of years, but we have never had any of the fruit that we could use, or
any of the fruit to sell. If we had no curculio I think we might grow the
Cheney for cooking purposes.
One lesson that I have thoroughly learned the season just passed is
this: that when the plum trees get to bearing size, it will not do to plow
among the trees. While it does no injury to the trees it reduces the size
of the fruit, and may destroy the crop, mulching with manure being a much
better way.
I am also of the opinion that plowing close to the apple trees retards
their bearing or reduces the crop.
In closing this report I will say that I have made very good headway in
the last two years in making this station an object lesson to all visitors,
not only in growing fruit but in the way of ornamentals as well. Of the
Rocky Mountain and other evergreens and ornamental shrubbery sent me
from the central station last spring all grew except one silver cedar, and are
now looking first rate.
I think there is enough moisture in the ground to carry trees through
the winter all right.
The new railroad town of Jeffers is only three miles from this station.
NORTHEASTERN IOWA HORTICULTURAL SOCITEY,
ANNUAL MEETING, 1899.
W. E. FRYER, DELEGATE, MANTORVILLE.
Your delegate to the Northeastern Iowa Society arrived at Cresco at 2 p.
m. Tuesday. just in time to take a drive with the other members of the so-
ciety about the city and out to the nursery of Upton Bros. Trees at this
nursery seemed to be in fair condition, and no signs of root-killing.
Thursday forenoon we were driven out to the nursery of Mr. Mitchell, the
home of the Red Warrior, Cresco, etc. The only root-killing at this place
was a few one-year trees on exposed elevation. Some varieties were quite
badly discolored, but all hardy varieties were in good condition.
The Red Warrior is a very thrifty grower, and one-year trees were on ex-
hibition that were well rooted on the scion. Cresco is the county seat ol
ae se
66 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Howard county and has a population of about 3,000. In our drives through
the town we noticed many well kept yards and pretty hedges.
Wednesday evening the citizens of Cresco gave a creditable entertain-
ment, consisting of vocal and instrumental music and short speeches.
The meetings were fairly well attended, but the farmers of the immediate
vicinity were conspicuous by their absence.
Prof. Green, of the state society, exhibited some interesting maps show-
ing the elevation, rainfall, temperature etc., of different sections of the
state, and its effect on different varieties of fruit trees; also maps showing
the number of apple, pear, peach, cherry and plum trees grown in each
county.
The members from the central and southern part of the state had a sad
story to tell of the root-killing of trees last winter. Mr. Guilford, of Du-
buque, reported the loss of about 50,000 young trees, seedling grape vines;
etc. Blackberries, grapes, peonies and tulips were killed. Elm seedlings
.were so badly injured that when transplanted they failed to grow. Wild
plums and grapes in exposed locations were badly injured. All
plums on Myrobalan are dead and on Marianna nearly as bad. Those on
their own roots and on Americana are generally in good condition. Vir-
ginia stood the test the best in the nursery and Whitney next. (This was in
Mr. Guilford’s district.)
Elmer Reeves, of Waverly, reported the loss of nearly 70,000 young trees,
etc. Prof. Greene estimates that nearly 700,000 trees were destroyed the past
winter in Iowa. When the snow stayed on the ground or trees and plants
were mulched, they were generally in good condition. E. H. S. Dartt, of
Owatonna, and A. J. Philips, of Wisconsin, were there and poked fun at
each other as usual. Hon. Geo. H. Van Houten gave an hour’s talk on the
Hawaiian Islands, describing the habits of the nation, soil, climate, ete.
C. G. Patten read a paper on root-killing. He would save seed of
Whitney and Briar Sweet to raise seedlings, and use a piece of root two and
one-half inches long, and scions about six or seven inches in length. Some
talk of planting more Virginia and top-working trees.
Iowa Falls was selected as the place for the next meeting, and C. F.
Gardner, of Osage, was re-elected president; Elmer Reeves, of Waverly,
vice-president; C. H. True, of: Edgewood, secretary; and G. A. Ivans, of
Towa Falls, treasurer.
NORTHWESTERN IOWA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
ANNUAL MEETING. 1899.
JOSEPH WOOD, DELEGATE, WINDOM.
Having been sent as a delegate’to the Northwestern Iowa Horticultural
Society, at Spencer, Ia., I arrived the 4th of December. The next day was
the opening of the meeting, but only a few members were present, and there
was no work done that day till in the evening. The president and secretary
did not arrive until the evening of the 5th.
We had an evening session, and Prof. N. E. Hansen, of North. Dakota,
spoke for a short time on root-killing. He was compelled to leave for Min-
nesota to attend the horticultural society meeting in session at Minneapolis,
and, therefore, his remarks were too brief to suit us. Mr. Hansen thought
that after last winter’s experience the right thing to do to avoid wholesale
root-killing during severe winters is to import Siberian crab seed, or obtain
NORTHWESTERN IOWA HORT. SOC’Y, ANNUAL MEEETING. 67
the seed from parties growing the Siberian crab here, and to plant the
same, and from the seedling’s obtain stock for grafting purposes.
The following day in the morning, Prof. John Craig, of the Iowa State
Experiment farm, took up the same subject of root-killing. His belief was
the same as Proj. Hansen’s, but he thought we could overcome a good deal
of root-killing by using short roots and long scions and mulching in the
winter. To prove this Mr. Craig had samples of trees to show the differ-
ence between short and long roots. The short root was dead, and the tree
had formed roots on itself, whereas on long roots, both tree and root were
dead.
In the evening Prof. Craig spoke about hybridizing, showing a chart
from bud to blossom, and fully explaining how it was done, and what could
be accomplished in that line. Mr. Antisdel, of Fostoria, read a paper on
“The Dark Side of Berry Culture, and What Varieties to Plant in. North-
western Iowa.”
Mr. Felter read a paper on “Grape Growing, Planting, Cultivating,
Pruning and Protecting and Best and Hardiest Varieties for the North-
west.” Prof. Greene showed different maps of Iowa, of the rainfall, the pos-
sibilities of certain kinds of fruit growing by counties, and that outside of
these districts it was of no use to try to raise peaches and pears, with the
varieties we now have, for commercial purposes.
Dec. 7th, in the forenoon, Mr. Edson Gaylord read a paper on blight.
He said there are three different kinds of blight, and described all of them,
and instructed how to prevent certain kinds of blight, also a remedy by
spraying.
Mr. Pearson spoke on ‘Plum Growing in the Northwest.” He said
every farmer ought to have a plum orchard, and by securing the right kind
of trees from a reliable nursery and giving them the same care as corn, they
would have success. And by getting different varieties, one could extend
the plum season for a month and a half. He spoke about growing seedlings
from pits of the common wild plum and graiting the largest at one year old
with our best cultivated kinds. The best, he said, on his ground were De-
soto, Wyant, Wolf and Forest Garden. ‘
Joe Wood, from Windom, Minn., read a paper on plum growing. He
said that he was not in the nursery business, but grew fruits for pleasure and
homeuse. He said he had tried most all the known kinds in a small way, and
fruited forty varieties this year, and found that if any one wanted to grow
plums for market he should cut the list down to about seven or eight varie-
ties. The best and largest on his grounds were De Soto, Wolf, Wood,
Wyant. New Ulm, Ocheeda and Rollingstone. But those are not the only
good kinds; there are others that may be just as good in different localities.
He said there are many good kinds for an amateur to grow, like Hawkeye,
Stoddard, Moon, Citey, Black Hawk and others, but only on a small scale.
Mr. F. S. White, of Des Moines, read a good paper on “Growing and
Saving Garden and Field Seeds.”
In the afternoon of Dec. 7th there was a general discussion of what
varieties to recommend for general planting.
Strawberries—Bederwood, Warfield, Crescent were the favorites, but
- others were mentioned.
Plums—De Soto, Wolf, Wyant, Forest Garden, New Ulm; for Trial.
Ocheeda, Hawkeye, Surprise and Stoddard.
68 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Apples—Wealthy seems the favorite. Duchess, Hibernal, Longfield and
some of the Russians were recommended.
Grapes—Concord, Moore’s Early and Worden; of the red, Brighton and
Delaware.
Blackberries—Briton and Snyder.
Next came the election of officers for the coming year:
President—P. S. Kenney.
Vice-President—J. C. Winset.
Secretary—W. B. Chapman.
Treasurer—B. Schontz.
Directors—C. W. Conners, L. A. Clemens, H. L. Felter, A. W. Hatfield,
H. N. Antisdel.
IOWA STATE HORICULTURAL SOCIETY,
ANNUAL MEETING, 1899.
O. M. LORD, DELEGATE, MINNESOTA CITY.
The annual meeting of the Towa State Horticultural Society was held
at Des Moines, Dec. 12, 13, 14 and 15, 1890.
Your delegate was cordially received, made an honorary member for
the year, and invited to take part in the discussions. The reports indicated
that the past year had been disastrous and discouraging to the fruit raisers
of Iowa, but the display of apples on the table of exhibits was large and
fine, showing that even in an off year Iowa has reason to be proud of her
productions. *
The society voted $300 to meet the expense of a fruit show at the coming
Paris Exposition. The president’s address recommended teaching young
people tree planting and the cultivation of fruit. The secretary’s report
gave the statistics of fruit damage last winter, showing most damage across
the central part of the state, while no part was wholly exempt.
Referring to the president’s address, Mr. E. Secor and Prof. Craig dis-
cussed the issue of a handbook of nature study for the use of the public
schools.
The state is divided into twelve districts, under the supervision of resi-
dent directors, who report to the state society. These reports were princi-
paily confined to results of last winter’s cold, and, incidentally, the prospects
of the future. It was notable in these reports that what had been con-
sidered the most hardy, like the Oldenburg, had failed with the rest. while
the Wealthy and Greenings stood as well as the best. Most of the native
plums were unhurt, while southern varieties were killed. Grapes were
nearly all killed. The necessities of the society demanded a live corre-
spondent in every township of the state. The opinions expressed hope
from the lessons learned, and that they will be of great value in the future,
if ihey lead fruit growers to select the right varieties and soils and locations.
Mr. Trowbride read a paper in which he advocated fall plowing,
setting trees twenty-eight feet apart, and for a commercial orchard not
more than three varieties. Deep setting, high manuring in the winter
and thorough cultivation advised. Deep setting was emphasized by Messrs.
Reeves, Wilson, Burnap and Van Houten.
“What Varieties Shall We Plant in the Future?” by Mr. McCoy, ad-
vised Rambo, Wealthy, Grimes’ Golden and others of first quality, size and
color, discarding all inferior sorts.
IOWA STATE HORT. SOC’'Y, ANNUAL MEETING, 1899. 69
“True Test of Hardiness,” Mr. Mitchell. The only true test was by time
and trial.
“The Cultivation of Orchards,” provoked a lively discussion, as some
claimed them to succeed best when in grass. Mr. Coleman said blue grass
would kill an orchard. If grown up to weeds, mow them and leave on the
ground. Prof. Craig would cultivate for twenty-five years; shallow cultiva-
tion with a cover crop at intervals to be turned under. Clover the best one,
oats not desirable.
“Management of Fruit Lands,” by C. L. Watrous. Lands must be fer-
tilized. It was formerly supposed that a windbreak on the west and north
was necessary, but it is a mistake. Physical condition of the soil very im-
portant. Cultivated orchards give best results. Use cover crops that grow
quickly and remain green.
Mr. Burnap said dust blanket would not do on drift soils; must have
cover crop.
“Why Apples, Plums and Cherries Have Proved Unprofitable in Iowa,”
R. P. Speer. The cause was unfavorable locations. Unripe trees invited
sun-scald; useless to plant where water was wanting; we must supply and
conserve moisture to succeed; Russian cherries are hardy on a dry soil, but
not fruitful; we have too many summer and fall varieties of apples; the ten-
der kinds cannot be grown except by top-grafting. Reports were not relia-
ble unless conditions were known.
Prof. Sommers gave a very interesting paper on scale insects, with life
history and scientific description, and methods of destroying them. This
brought out a discussion of the San Jose scale law. Prof. Summers had
little confidence in fumigation certificates. The laws of other states had not
been effective. Mr. Wilson would have a national law. Mr. Bomberger
said emigrants take trees and plants with them without inspection, and the
inspection cannot be enforced.
The report of the delegate to Minnesota, Mr. Secor, highly commended
our seedling exhibit, also the Woman’s Auxiliary; and he considered the
discussions very profitable for the consideration of Iowa fruit growers.
Mr. Coleman, on “Experimental Horticulture.” Definite plans should
be made and carried to completion. Plant improvement opens a broad
field for study and work; crossing fruits the principal line to be followed.
He has succeeded in crossing on Wolf River with marked success. A better
apple than either parent the result; has also crossed cherries, producing the
best he has seen.
Fungous diseases were discussed by Prof. Craig, giving something of
life history, methods of growth, etc. Advised the destruction of all im-
perfect fruits that develop spores. He considered the native plum one of
the most important fruits of Iowa, and its greatest enemy the rot, a fungous
disease, which could be controlled by spraying and gathering and destroy-
ing affected fruit, especially the dry plums that hang to the limbs in winter.
Black knot also serious, should be carefully cut out while green, and wound
painted with turpentine; for smaller fruits would depend on spraying with
Bordeaux mixture. Apple and pear blight was bacteria and not fungus;
it affects the sap of the trees and requires different treatment.
Mr. Burnap, delegate to South Dakota, reported: Southern varieties of
fruits quite successful on the Missouri bottom lands. Flowing wells used for
irrigation in some places. On the Vermilion were large plum orchards,
ten to fifteen acres common; 1,000 bushels were marketed from a limited
area—sold in covered bushel baskets.
70 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Mr. Watrous reported as delegate from Illinois. Their lines of investi-
gation ahead of Iowa: cultivation and spraying last year had resulted with
good crops this year; failures attributed to neglect. The society con-
demned the sale of spurious jellies as fruit products. Their experiment
stations were disseminating valuable information. Russian fruits of no
commercial value in Illinois. The Wealthy apple was highly commended,
and the outlook promising for other Minnesota seedlings. Russian cherries
were useless for Illinois. Chestnuts successful in the southern part.
Mr. Irving, of Missouri. reported the Wealthy apple as one of the best
and most profitable for northwest Missouri.
Mr. Wilson had tested the Wealthy for cold storage along with other
varieties. The Wealthy proved much the better. Mr. Haviland has the
product of forty acres of Wealthy in cold storage keeping perfectly.
Mr. Graham, on “Pears.” Must have clay subsoil and depends upon
spraying with Bordeaux mixture. Succeeds with Winter Nellis and Duchess
d Augouleme.
“Growing Peaches.’ N. K. Fluke. Seedlings stand better than others.
Many in open ground were killed last winter; not so much hurt where stand-
ing in grass; covering the trees while standing is not practicable; covering
with straw rots the buds; covering with dirt kills them; corn stalks or
coarse light cover the best.
The Bailey peach was discussed; condemned by Mr. Wilson. Mr.
Reeves had five trees of Bailey, all of different fruit. Mr. Van Houten said
the Bailey was at home in Muscatine, and it was claimed to produce true
to seed, consequently seedlings had been sold for the Bailey. It was a well
known fact that the natural flora of Muscatine belonged further south, a
peculiar condition of the soil and climate supposed to be made largely by
the trend of the river and contour of the bluffs.
The society, by resolution, voted $250 to publish the fruit and climate
maps of the state made by the secretary, Mr. Greene.
Mr. McGeehan and Mr. H. A. Terry were made honorary life members.
The work of Mr. Terry was eulogized by Mr. Wilson. He said Mr. Terry
would only introduce fruit of special value, and had shown at Philadelphia
the best native plum, and had in his collection forty superior varieties not
yet introduced.
The evening session was devoted to papers on birds, street trees, native
trees, etc., without discussion. These papers considered the different vari-
eties of native trees in regard to their adaptability to street and ornamental
planting, and also their utility. The walnut and hard maple were highly
spoken of.
All the officers of the society were re-elected.
Mr. Jackson, of Glenwood, set forth the cherry interests of Iowa; 16,000
cases were sold in Glenwood last year; the fruit is always in good demand;
75 cents per case gives a profit of 50 cents. Forty trees, eight years old,
produced 2,000 quarts, and sold for $100. Adyises European plan of planting
on road sides; gravel loam the best soil; little pruning necessary. Would
recommend Early Richmond, Montmorency, Morello and Wragg.
“Rocky Mountain Conifers,” by M. J. Wragg. Blue spruce was given
first place, and the value of other conifers discussed. Prof. Budd would use
Iowa seeds of white pine in preference to those from other localities.
Reports from the trial stations gave statistical returns of the conditions
of large and small fruits and plants. Mr. Patten’s reports were specially
;
’
~~ eS,
IOWA STATE HORT. SOC’Y, ANNUAL MEETING, 1899. ia
interesting, as he is known as a careful observer. He would discard all the
Russian plums, as one native tree had borne more fruit than all the Rus-
sians in thirty years. Communia plum entirely worthless; not one bushel
has been grown in an area covering sixty miles wide across Iowa. The
Chinese sand pear hardy and valuable for crossing; also one Russian pear.
Strawberries were considered by Mr. Councilman. Spoke highly of
Crescent, Warfield and Bederwood; home growers should plant only stam-
inates. .
Mr. Plummer gave a description of grapes best adapted to Iowa.
“Study of Insects in the Common Schools,” by Prof. Summers, created
a lively discussion. One of the points dwelt upon with force was that
nature studies in the schools could not be successfully carried out with text
books alone, and before these subjects are introduced the teachers should be
fully prepared.
The subject of “School Gardens” was given by F. M. Powell, of Glen-
wood, in which he gave a glowing account of the beneficent results of this
work in Germany, France and Austria, and regretted that we were behind
in this line of education. The subject was presented in a forcible and pleas-
ing manner and was well received.
MINNESOTA STATE BEE-KEEPERS’ ASSOCIATION,
ANNUAL MEETING, 1899.
DR. L. D. LEONARD, SEC’Y, MINNEAPOLIS.
Wednesday, Dec. 6th, 1899. Meeting called to order by Pres. J. P. West.
After prayer by Rev. Mr. Mitchell, and music by the Misses Longfellow, a
talk on pollination of flowers, by Prof. Conway MacMillan, Prof. of Botany
of the State University, was given, before the combined associations of Hor-
ticulturists and Bee-Keepers.
The minutes of the last meeting were read and approved.
Report of executive committee was read and approved.
Special committee on Foul Brood Legislation reported no progress.
Mr. Grey, of St. Cloud, reported foul brood as dying out in his neighbor-
hood. No other member present seems to have been much troubled with it.
The treasurer, Mr. L. E. Day, reported the bills of the year as amount-
ing to $15.10; amount received for dues, $25.; amount on hand before the
meeting, $73.30; balance now on hand, $83.20.
A letter from Mrs. Livingston, thanking the association for the interest
taken in her blind condition and also for having elected her a life member
of the association, was read by Pres. West. The president was requested by
the association to respond to Mrs. Livingston in a fitting manner.
The Bee-Keepers having been invited with the Horticulturists to visit
the Agricultural College, at. St. Anthony Park, voted to accept the invita-
tion, and accordingly adjourned to Thursday morning, Dec. 7th.
Thursday morning. Dec. 7th, 1890, meeting called to order by Pres.
West, who made an address on the general subject of bee-keeping.
A paper by Mr. C. Thielmann, who was unwell and could not be present,
was then read, on ““How I Manage my Apiary.”
72 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Next was a song by Miss Ethel Acklin, of St. Paul. Next a talk on “How
I Prepare and Winter Bees Out Doors,” by C.°G. Mattson, Lindstrom,
Minn. He reported a crop of 2,500 lbs. of honey from thirty-nine colonies.
Next a piano solo by Mrs. Frank Hoffman, of St. Paul, which was heart-
ily encored.
Next a paper by Hon. Eugene Secor, of Forest City, Iowa, was given,
on the “‘Adulteration of Extracted Honey and How to Prevent It.” In con-
nection with this subject, Pres. West spoke on adulteration of honey in Min-
nesota. It was voted to send the following resolution to the senators and
representatives of this state, at Washington:
Resolved, That we the members of the Minnesota State Bee-Keepers’ As-
sociation, in convention assembled, at Minneapolis, December 7th, 1899, in-
dorse and recommend the passage of the Brosius Bill, H. R. 12,190, by the
congress of the United States, and earnestly ask the support of all members of
congress and senators from Minnesota to its speedy enactment into law.
It also voted the following resolution:
Resolved, That we insist that the Dairy and Food Commissioners of the
state of Minnesota make an honest effort to enforce the law against the
adulteration of extracted honey in this state.
Messrs. Wm. Russell, H. C. Acklin and J. P. West were chosen a com-
mittee to present this resolution to the Dairy and Food Commission.
Next a talk by Dr. E. K. Jacques, of Crystal, on ““My Method of Pro-
ducing Comb Honey.” Next a paper by Mrs. H. G. Acklin, of St. Paul, “My
Method of Raising Queens.”
Next was a recitation by Miss Ethel Acklin, of St. Paul.
The question having arisen as to whether this association should join
the United States Bee-Keepers’ Association, it was laid on the table for one
year, the members to be notified of such vote to be taken in the printed
programs for that meeting.
Thursday afternocn. First a paper was given by Mrs. F. C. Miller, of St.
Paul, “That Wonderful Insect, the Bee.”
Next a paper by Mrs. Flitner, of St. Paul, “‘The Bee, or not the Bee, That
is the Question.”
Next the election of officers, which resulted in the following gentlemen:
being elected for the next year:
President, J. P. West, Hastings; Vice-presidents, Gideon H. Pond, W. H.-
Putnam, Hudson, Wis.; Frank Moeser, Minneapolis; Secretary, L. D. Leon-
ard, Minneapolis; Treasurer, L. E. Day, Clinton Falls; Executive committee,
H. G. Acklin, St. Paul, chairman, Wm. Russell, Minnehaha Park, Herbert
Van Vieit, Farmington.
It was voted to buy a box to keep the records in.
Voted to send a vote of thanks to the Metropolitan Music Co. for the use
of the piano.
Voted to send a vote of thanks to the county commissioners and park |
board for the use of their rooms for the meetings.
Song by Ethel Acklin, of St. Paul.
Adjourned. °
—_——— Se
—_ -. | oo
——s
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE HORT. SOC’Y, ANNUAL MEETING. 73
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
ANNUAL MEETING, 1900.
Cc. E. OLDER, DELEGATE, LUVERNE.
The meeting of the South Dakota Horticultural Society, called to meet
at Parker, Jan. 16, 17 and 18, convened at Io o’clock a. m., and immediately
preceeded to business. The president, Mr. H. C. Warner, of Forestburg, not
being present on account of sickness in his family, Mr. C. W. Gurney, of
Yankton, vice president, took charge of the meeting, Prof. N. E. Hansen, of
Brookings, being secretary.
The first business of the meeting was by a unanimous vote of the society
to come into the Minnesota society as an auxiliary society, without losing
their own identity as an organization, under Art. III. of the Minnesota so-
ciety’s constitution.
The attendance was fair, and a good deal of enthusiasm prevailed, being
far better than for the past several years.
Mr. Gurney read his paper on “Propagation and Management of Small
Fruits.” . To prevent thawing and freezing in winter was the leading thought
presented. The papers, “Small Fruits in Clay County,’ by Rev. E. H.
Cewles, of Vermillion, “Commercial Strawberry Culture,” by E. L. Collar, of
Vermillion, and “Small Fruits for Profit,” by D. M. Dickinson, of Richmond,
were read and discussed, when the dinner hour arrived.
At two o'clock the members came to order and Mr. Lathrop, of Iowa
City, and Mr. C. E. Older, the delegate from the Minnesota state society,
were made honorary members.
“Propagation and Culture of Forest Trees,’ was the subject of a paper
by Mr. Geo. H. Whiting, of Yankton. He advocates clean cultivation, and
giving the trees the same chance to grow that you would corn or potatoes.
In the discussion that followed it was clearly demonstrated that without
good cultivation raising trees was impossible.
A Norby, of Madison, gave a talk on “Evergreens for Ornament and
Windbreak,”’ red cedar from the north being especially emphasized. Pon-
derosa pine, jack pine, Black Hills spruce and white spruce were strongly
recommended. The Colorado blue spruce, from seed grown in Colorado,
was hardier than that purchased of Mr. Douglas—this had been his ex-
perience. Prof. Hansen stated that in Germany the blue spruce is grafted on
the Norway spruce. The discussion emphasized the fact that red cedar from
the south was not desirable for Dakota. Jack pine are easy to transplant
without shade and a desirable evergreen; far better than the Scotch pine.
Prof. Hansen stated that Scotch pine seed are gathered largely in southern
France from low, scrubby trees, as they are easier to gather from. Mr.
Lathrop said Scotch pine in his city were dying out after they became large
trees. Mr. Cowles lost a few small ones, but his large ones are all right.
Several gentlemen favored the Austrian pine rather than the Scotch pine.
The subject of apples root-killing and blighting was brought up. Prof.
Hansen advocates Siberian crab roots for budding stock, giving a whole
Siberian root. They are free from blight, bear earlier, dwarf the tree to
- about two-thirds of the size of the apple tree but do not affect the apple
in size.
Mr. Whiting thinks that at Yankton the Duchess is far hardier than
the Wealthy. Mr. Norby said the Wealthy with him was hardier than the
74 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Duchess. Mr. Gurney recommends deep planting, quoting an orchard at
Wakefield, Neb., of one hundred Duchess, set thirty inches deep, being the
finest orchard he knew of.
Mr. Cowles thought they had taken surface roots, and it was those that
made the trees so good.
Mr. A. W. Applebee, of Parker, objected to deep setting in their Da-
kota soil, the top soil having all the moisture,
Wednesday morning. The president called the meeting to order at 9:30
with a statement that Mr. Cowles would read the papers of the absent mem-
bers.
Mr. C. W. Gurney, acting president, then read the president’s report,
which was accepted and adopted. Prof. Hansen then read the report of
the secretary. He dealt largely on root-killing of apple trees at the experi-
ment station, and he gave an interesting report of his labors at the station.
He condemned the use of foreign stocks for plums. Plums grafted on sand-
cherry are doing well, some of them blossoming at one year old and making
a growth of about two-thirds the size of the others.
In the discussion which ensued several new plums were mentioned,
native plums alone being regarded as successful, and on their own roots if
possible, although it did not seem to make much difference with some
varieties. In this connection Mr. A. Norby read his paper on “Culture and
Propagation of Plums.’ Hogs in the plum orchard was advised only in
the form of young pigs, but a good healthy growth was desired to make large
fruit as well as a good healthy tree.
Mr. L. R. Alderman, of Hurley, who is the active man of the Alderman
fruit farm, where there is I10 acres in apples, thins his crop at about the time
they are two-thirds grown and finds market for them at that time, making his
crop larger and better by so doing.
The president asked the Minnesota delegate what lesson he learned from
the last winter. Mr. Older stated that he found that some covering for the
ground was essential, as where his grounds were bare the trees root-killed,
and where he had some protection his trees came through all right. He
sows buckwheat at the last cultivation, about Aug. 1, and thinks it
successful.
Mr. Alderman cultivates his orchard with disk harrow in spring, then
drags’ with a common harrow, towards fall cutting the weeds high with a
mower, leaving the weeds and stubble to catch the snow and for winter pro-
tection.
The papers on “House Plants,” by J. K. Jenson, and “The Russian Wild
Olive as a Hedge Plant,” by T. L. Mc Crea, of Tyndall, were read. Mr.
Whiting recommends the wild olive very strongly, as it is a good drouth
resister, grows as fast as the box elders, and no stock can go through it,
and is perfectly hardy. Prof. Hansen explained the wild olive as it grows in
Russia and other cold countries and considers it one of the best trees we
have for windbreaks. :
“Ornamental Hedges,” by Mr. C. W. Gurney. Buckthorn and red cedar
were considered good, but Russian mulberry was not favored outside of the
Missouri valley. Russian pea is very ee and well adapted to hedges in
cold and dry countries.
The Russian artemisia will make a nedae in one summer. It grows
very quickly to about four feet high, when the blossom must be cut off, or
the plant will ripen and winter-kill. It is very highly recommended by Mr.
}
;
.
.
:
,
:
b
.
SOUTH DAKOTA STATE HORT. SOC’Y, ANNUAL MEETING. 75
H. W. Hinds as a protection or shade plant for small evergreens. When
trimmed it makes a very handsome hedge.
The secretary’s and treasurer’s reports were accepted as read, and
adopted.
Wednesday afternoon opened with a paper by B. F. Hines, of Beres-
ford, on “Lawn Making,” flowering shrubs being the leading subject de-
veloped.
“The Farmer’s Garden and Orchard,” by W. B. White, of Olivet.
Quite a discussion came up on grapes, Mr. Lathrop thinking a garden with-
out grapes not to be thought of. Mr. Norby thought Madison too far
north to grow grapes satisfactorily. .-This was cut short to hear a paper by
John Grant, of Wessington, on “Springs in Garden and Orchard.” Several
other papers on the same subject were read, when “Irrigation on Farm
Lands,” by S. A. Cochrane, state engineer of irrigation, of Brookings, was
explained in an able manner by him.
“Farm Gardening on the Prairie,” by J. H. Berry, of Armour, and
others. “‘Melon Culture” was treated by C. E. Fitch, of Alwilda.
Thursday morning. Some papers were passed over to be published, and
the fruit list was taken up and revised by districts, the state being divided
into eleven districts.
The place of holding the next annual meeting was named as Sioux
Falls. The election of officers resulted in Mr. H. C. Warner, of Forestburg,
president; L. R. Alderman, Hurley, vice president; Geo. H. Whiting, of
Yankton, treasurer; Rev. E. D. Cowles, Vermillion, librarian; Prof. N. E.
Hansen, Brookings, secretary.
A vice president for each fruit district was appointed.
A paper on “Commercial Orcharding in Turner County,” by L. R. Al-
derman and “Fruit Culture in Southwestern Minnesota,” by your delegate,
closed the proceedings.
After adjournment your representative in company with Prof. Cochrane,
conductor of the State Farmers’ Institute, and Mr. Himes, of Centerville,
visited: the large apple orchard of Mrs. L. A. Alderman, near Hurley. This
is an orchard of one hundred and ten acres of apples set out twelve years ago
and is doing nicely. Her son, Mr. L. R. Alderman, conducts the business.
He is a very competent and pleasant young man, who is making his mark
as a fruit producer in the northwest. There is a block each of Duchess and
Patten’s Greening, with a large field of Wealthy, that are especially fine and
healthy. He tried some of the tender varieties, but as with others they are
a failure. Here it is exemplified on a large scale that hardy apple trees
grown in northern nurseries are doing well, while others are a failure.
Mr. Alderman sorts his apples closely, and all those not up to grade
go into a mill, and the cellar, forty feet long, full of barrels of pure cider
vinegar, explains what he does with them.
His strawberry field of four acres surrounded with ditches, and with
water pipes laid from an elevated tank, holding about one hundred fifty bar-
rels, is very fine.
Mr. Alderman has, like most others, tried varieties not suited to his
locality, and although he raised last year over twelve bushels of Snow apples,
they are not a success by any means.
76 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
MEADOW VALE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
ANNUAL REPORT, 1899.
A. W. KEAYS, SECRETARY, ELK RIVER.
Our annual meeting was held on Nov. 11, 18990. Officers elected: Pres-
ident, Chas. A. Hill; vice-president, E. G. Bailey; secretary, A. W. Keays;
treasurer, Albert Hill; executive board, Florence R. Hill, Minnie Heath, A.
C. Bailey. A. W. Keays was appointed delegate to attend the state annual
meeting to be held Dec. 5 to 8. A resolution was passed that this society
take advantage of the offer of the state society in regard to the horticultural
report and join the state society in a body.
Some valuable lessons are to be learned from our experimental stock.
Some of the apples that have been sold as hardy have been killed to the
ground. Many of the newer apples stood the winter well and appear to be
promising for this section. The most damage from the past winter’s freeze
was in root-killing where common seedlings were used for stock or in
budded trees. Sub-soiling the land and deep setting of trees has been most
successful with us.
We have a seedling blackberry that is far ahead of anything we have
on trial; it is a very strong grower and an immense bearer of very large,
juicy fruit. A large number of new apple trees were added to our stock last
spring and several miscellaneous trees and evergreens, among which is a new
wild peach, just discovered in the mountains of California. I think this
will be a valuable stock for grafting, being very hardy. It was sent to us
by V. O. Bailey. He also sent us Picea breweriana, or weeping spruce, one
of the rarest conifers in existence in this country, and only to be found in
two or three places.
Strawberries were a fine crop the past season, seventy bushels being
picked on our old trial bed and a small new bed.
Hibernal trees, set two years. were in fruit; also several varieties of
plums. Nearly all varieties of apples and plums were in bloom, but the fruit
mostly dropped off the last of June. Nearly all trees have made a fine
growth except those injured the past winter.
Grapes have a very heavy crop of very fine fruit. We had peach trees
that stood the past winter without any protection and were not injured.
MuLcHING.—That mulching does not retard blossoming has been again
demonstrated by Prof. Craig, of Canada, who mulched apples, cherries, plums,
gooseberries, currants and strawberries about March 15, when the ground was
deeply frozen and covered with about a foot of snow. The mulch did not
retard the leafing and blossoming except in the case of strawberries, where, of
course, the tops were entirely covered. This agrees with the experience of the
best fruit growers in the United States.
STORING CELERY.—I dig a trench eighteen inches wide, twelve feet long
and four inches deeper than the height of the celery to be placed in it. Before
killing frosts come I take up the celery, place it in the trench in upright posi-
lon and close together. I cover with two boards 1x12 in.x 16 ft.,until heavy
frost and snow set in, then cover with a thick layer of stable manure. Other
covering might answer.—James Marshall, Iowa.
SOUTHERN MINN. HORT. SOCIETY ANNUAL REPORT. 77
SOUTHERN MINNESOTA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
ANNUAL REPORT, 1899.
C. PARKHILIL, SECRETARY, CHATFIELD.
The counties of Freeborn, Mower and Fillmore comprise the territory
of this society.
Last spring much damage to fruit was feared, as the result of the ex-
treme cold weather of the past winter, but as the season advanced it was
seen that the hardy varieties had not suffered to the extent that had been
anticipated. On the whole, the late test winter has been a blessing to pros-
pective fruit growers in this territory.
In the orchard, the Wealthy has wintered almost as well as the Duchess,
and some of the newer seedlings, such as the Patten and the Peerless, have
shown a remarkable vitality.
As arule, small fruit wintered in good shape, where well protected, and
gave good returns, but the apple crop was almost a failure.
Our society proposes to help find the “coming apple,’ and to that end
has been distributing one year seedling apple trees to all members who
wish to experiment on this line. The seedlings are supplied at a nominal
price by the Wedge Nursery Company.
That $1,000 premium hangs a little high, but is so tempting that many
of our members are planning to raise an apple tree on which they can climb
high enough to reach the prize.
As a result of the work of our society, an interest in horticulture is
slowly but steadily growing among the farming community; on the other
hand, of the many business men who became members in 1808, only a small
percentage renewed. :
Our annual meeting will be held at Albert Lea in February, and there
is a good prospect of the largest and best meeting in the history of our
society.
PROGRAM OF THE SOUTHERN MINNESOTA HORTI-
CULTURAL SOCIETY, 1900.
Following is the program of the Seventh Annual Meeting of the Southern
Minnesota Horticultural Society, to be held in Skinner Mercantile Co. Hall, at
Albert Lea, Minn., February 14 and 15, 1900:
OPENING SESSION, WEDNESDAY, 10 A. M.
Good and Bad Results of the Past Winter.—Two minutes talk—All.
Award of Premiums on Essays.
Trees and Shrubs for the Farmer’s Front Yard.—J. Marshall, Washington,
A Good Way to Raise Good Plums.—O. W. Moore, Spring Valley.
The Place for and Treatment of the Orchard.—C. Morgan, Forestville.
WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON SESSION, 1:30.
President’s Address.—President J. C. Hawkins, Austin.
What is the Matter with My Orchard?—W. F. Kearns, Austin.
How to Raise 4,090 Quirts of Strawberries per Acre—H. C. Ellergodt, Lanesboro.
Protection Against Root Killing.—Clarence Wedge, Albert Lea.
Some Enemies in Fruit Raising and How to Fight Them.—Prof. S. B. Green, State Uni™
versity.
78 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
WEDNESDAY EVENING SESSION.
Program for this session will include reading of first and second prize essays, and will be
arranged by the ladies of Albert Lea.
Programs will be distributed at commencement of session,
THURSDAY MORNING SESSION, 9:30.
Report of committee on fruit. Report of committee on seedlings.—Two minute papers.
Take Time to Notice the Beautiful in Nature.—Miss L. Freeman, Austin.
Horticultural Adversity of Last Winter.—J. C. Hawkins, Austin.
Secretary and Treasurer’s Report.
Election of Officers.
THURSDAY AFTERNOON SESSION, 1:30.
Which Varieties Have Stood the Past Winter the Best?—J. S. Harris, La Crescent.
A Good Way to Keep Apples in a Common Cellar.—Geo. Andrus, Chatfield.
Good Varieties of Small Fruit for the Farmer.—E. F. Peck, Austin.
Horticultural Education in our Common Schools.—J. Freeman, Austin.
PREMIUMS FOR ESSAYS.
Premiums are offered as follows for essays by our young people in Minnesota and two
northern tiers of counties in Iowa. Any girlor boy under eighteen years of age in said
territory can compete. Essays not to exceed 200 words each, and to be in the hands of
Clarence Wedge, Albert Lea, on or before February 12. Competition limited to one topic.
Toric 1.—Where and Why I would Plant Evergreens.
First premium. $5.00; Second, $3.00; Third, $2.00; payable in nursery stock.
Toric 2.—Raising Small Fruit for the Home.
Premiums same as above.
_ Secretary's ( Porner.
PREMIUMS ON HORTICULTURE AT THE NEXT STATE FAiR.—This premium
list is now under consideration, and suggestions in regard thereto will be gladly
received. They may be addressed to this office or to Mr. J. M. Underwood,
Lake City— at once to be in season.
CLARENCE WEDGE AGAIN AN EpDITOR.—We note that Mr. Wedge is to take
charge of the ‘‘ Orchard and Garden’”’ department of ‘* The Farmer,’’ the one
of the three Minnesota agricultural papers which is published in St. Paul.
He is cut out for this kind of work, and his assistance will be of material value
to the journal and its readers.
ANNUAL MEETING, SOUTHERN MINNESOTA HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.—
The date for the regular meeting of this vigorous off-shoot of the state society
is fixed for February 14 and 15, and the place of gathering is to be Albert Lea.
The program is at hand and will be found elsewhere in this number. It con-
tains as an interesting innovation offers of premiums of $5.00, $3.00 and $2.00,
in nursery stock, for essays on ‘‘ Why and Where I would Plant Evergreens,”’
and the same premiums on “ Raising Small Fruits for the Home.’ The prize
essays will probably be published in the Horticulturist. Can you not attend
this meeting?
ANNUAL MEETING, WISCONSIN STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.—The
program for this annual gathering is received. The session convenes at Madi-
son February 6, 7 and 8, on the same week when all other Wis. state societies
hold their sessions in the same town. It should bea lively week. The pro-
gram touches horticulture at most points and presages an interesting occasion.
We note the names of a number of Minnesotans thereon, viz.: Hon. S. M.
=
SECRETARY’S CORNER. 19
Owen, Martin Penning, O. M. Lord and Frank Yahnke. The last named is
the regularly appointed delegate from the Minnesota society and will give us a
report of the meeting.
Wednesday morning is to be occupied with a memorial service for the four
well known horticulturists who have died in the past year: J. C. Plumb, F. W.
Loudon, M. A. Thayer and P. M. Gideon.
List OF THOSE SENDING NEW MEMBERS IN JANUARY:—
John Zeller, New Ulm, 1. Wm. Sandrock, Money Creek, 1.
A. K. Bush, Farmers’ Institute, 27. N. J. Trenham, Alexandria, 1.
Geo. R. Widger, Chatfield, 1. C. E. Older, Luverne, 1.
_ Paul Burtzlaff, Stillwater, 1. J. S. Parks, Pleasant Mounds, 1.
J. S. Harris, La Crescent, 1. A. H. Pickle, Sleepy Eye, 3. 3
A DIRECTORY OF MINNESOTA NURSERYMEN.—A full directory of all who
are engaged in the nursery business in the state would be a great convenience
in connection with the work of this society, and might well be published annu-
ally. The secretary has undertaken to get up such-a directory and needs the
co-operation of all the nurserymen of the state to do so completely. All
Minnesota nurserymen who see this are requested to send in as soon as possible
the names and addresses of all whom they know are engaged in this business in
the state. Do not delay doing this because of a personal acquaintance with the
writer, for you can in all probability send in some names with which he is not
familiar, and the list should be made a very complete one. The secretary has
in mind another step that might be taken in connection with this list should
the responses prove to be full enough. Please do not postpone sending this
information.
ANNUAL MEETING, MINNESOTA AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY.—Secretary Ran-
dall, of the above society, has again given us an interesting and helpful program,
and judging by the attendance those interested in the subjects considered ap-
preciated it. Horticulture was represented by Mr. O. M. Lord,who presented
the subject of ‘‘ Plums for Minnesota.’’ His paper was listened to with marked
interest, and many questions followed it. This was not an horticultural audi-
ence, but the interest taken in this topic by the general public was very
apparent.
The session was in every respect a harmonious one and resulted in the re-
election of all the retiring officers except in the case of the second vice-presi-
dent, Mr. Geo. H. Partridge, who declined a nomination and suggested as his
successor Mr. Thos. H. Shevlin,who was unanimously elected. In each case the
election was unanimous. The society is to be congratulated on the happy
conditions prevailing in its counsels.
Officers, 1I900.—John Cooper, President, St. Cloud; Chester R. Smith, 1st
Vice-President, St. Paul; Thos. H. Shevlin, 2nd Vice-President, Minneapolis;
E. W. Randall, Secretary, Hamline; F. J. Wilcox, Treasurer, Northfield.
Board of Directors—C. N. Cosgrove, Le Sueur; J. M. Underwood, Lake City;
W. M. Liggett, St. Anthony Park; J. H. Letson, Alexandria; N. S. Gordon,
Crookston; J. C. Curryer, Mankato.
ECHOES FROM FARMERS’ INSTITUTE.—‘‘ The people of this county are very
enthusiastic over the possibilities of growing trees and fruits as they better
understand their value and good methods of planting, handling, cultivation,etc.
‘‘We held an evergreen planting session from the platform the first day of
the institute—uniting forces and experience to prove the value of the Scotch
80 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
pine, red cedar, etc., to all farmers in these western prairies, when grown
under shelter of the golden willow or other hardy trees.
‘‘The afternoon of the second day ‘Our Farmers’ Fruit and Vegetable Gar-
den’ was presented and well received. We make no mistake in advising a//to
endorse this ‘one acre garden.’ With evergreens and a belt of timber on these
prairies, ‘making forest conditions’ under which no failures in growing fruits
are reported when the trees and plants, etc., have good care.”’
Madison, Minn., Jan. 18, Igoo. ;
‘“The Morton meeting was a tame affair compared with the session held at
Madison, although the meeting here was 50% better than one held in 1808.
The people listened with much interest to our talks on the value of evergreens
on the farm and how to growthem. Many questions were asked and answered.
an evidence of the general interest in the subject.
‘In teaching the ‘Gospel of Fruit Growing,’ I always begin with the state-
ment or text that all orchards and fruit gardens must be enclosed with a pro-
tection of evergreens and other trees on all the prairie section of our state if
the planter expects to grow fruits. Establish about the farm buildings and
orchard forest conditions, and the problem of successful fruit growing and
gardening is solved to the man who is willing to plant and give his plantings
intelligent care.
‘““We presented the subject of ‘Fruits for the Farm’ in the afternoon of
the second day of our institute, recommending the planting of everything in
the garden in long rows the entire length of the garden, so that cultivation can
be done with horse and corn tools. All appeared to be very much interested in
the improved native plum, as many questions were asked about methods of
growing that fruit.
‘To get the plum started we are urging their value as a practical shelter belt
about the farm yards and buildings where people have been discouraged
planting the evergreen. Under protection of the plum trees evergreens can be
successfully grown in this part of Minnesota, regardless of past failures, if the
Scotch pine and red cedar is planted.
““Mr. T. B. Terry, of Ohio, gave a short, interesting and very practical talk
on his method of growing and using the strawberry. Many people who suc-
ceed in growing fruits do not know how to use them to the best advantage. The
farmer’s family deserves the best product of the farm. Strawberries should be
used by the feck or bushel on every farm in Minnesota instead of by the quart.
‘FR. M. Greely gave the experience of a South Dakota farmer with raspber-
ries. When they were planted in long rows, with plenty of room between rows
to cultivate and mulch, the results were most satisfactory even in that section,
where fruit growing is regarded a failure. The family was supplied in abund-
ance at a minimum cost of laber, with some to turn off for the neighbors.
‘‘Mrs. Laws, in her talk on foods, which was valuable and most practical,
calls special attention to the value of fruits, the apple in particular as being
strictly medicinal as well as a much needful food and luxury for the entire
family during the winter; also to the fact that home grown fruits are much
better and cheaper than patent medicines and will save many visits from the
family physician and consequent expensive doctor’s bills.
‘‘A word to the wise is sufficient. Plant a generous and well assorted fruit
and vegetable garden next spring, ordering a¢ once from some reliable grower
a good supply of trees, plants and seeds.”’ A. K. BUSH.
Morton, Jan. 19, 1900.
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LUTHER BURBANK, SANTA ROSA, Car.
(See opposite page.)
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. MARCH, 1900. No. 3.
LUTHER BURBANK AND HIS HORTICULTURAL
CREATIONS.
PROF. S. B. GREEN, ST. ANTHONY PARK.
Every farmer and gardener. and almost every person in Minnesota,
knows of the Burbank potato, which has so long been a standard market
sort here, but comparatively few know of its origin or that the producer of
it has continued, since giving us that, to bless mankind by developing many
other desirable plant products. The Burbank potato was originated by
Luther Burbank’s Home, Santa Rosa, California.
Luther Burbank in 1873, while living in Massachusetts, which is his native
state. It was grown froma seed ball of the Early Rose, that was very likely
crossed with the Davis seedling, which grew in the same field. The seed
was sown in the open ground and produced potatoes of full size the first
year. ‘He sold his stock of this to J. J. H. Gregory, and with the money
thus obtained he moved to California, where the climatic conditions are
better adapted than those of Massachusetts to the development of new vari-
82 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
eties of plants. For a number of years he successfully carried on a large
nursery business, until he was in a position to devote all his time to his
very interesting work of originating new varieties of plants.
Personally Mr. Burbank is somewhat under size and of a quiet, gentle-
manly appearance. He is highly esteemed by his neighbors as a man of
good sound judgment. His home is in a little vine-clad white house, just
a few blocks away from the center of the town of Santa Rosa, California.
Stoneless Plums. At the top the small Stoneless French Damson—the parent of all the
others. Much reduced.
His experiment grounds were formerly located here, but owing to the soil
being rather heavy and not especially adapted to his work he has moved
his main experiment grounds to Sebastapol, five miles distant, where the
land is rather sandy, but he still lives at Santa Rosa. He has, however, sey-
eral smaller experiment farms. It was the great pleasure of the writer to
spend parts of three days last summer with the subject of this sketch.
Mr. Burbank’s catalogue of 1893 he entitled. ‘‘New Creations in Fruits
and Flowers,” and it attracted much attention in this country and in Europe.
Among the interesting novelties which he has sent out may be mentioned
Sweet Baton, Burbank, Satsuma, Gold, and a dozen or more other very
desirable plums, which are proving hardy and productive in many sections;
LUTHER BURBANK: AND HIS HORTICULTURAL CREATIONS. 83
new and greatly improved varieties of quinces, walnuts, chestnuts, gladioli,
callas, clematis, nicotianas, lilies, roses, blackberries, raspberries and many
other plants. One of Mr. Burbank’s latest and most valuable productions
is an apricot-plum hybrid, which is a large smooth-skin, free-stone fruit of
excellent quality.
By crossing the small stoneless Damson plum with the French prune
he has produced a large number of stoneless plums of good size and qual-
ity. In a few cases some of these varieties have remnants of stone left on
one side of the seed, that were perhaps as big and thick as the finger nail
of my little finger. The seed, however, was generally well developed, al-
though in a few cases this, too, had become nearly or quite obliterated, and
one seedless and stoneless variety is extremely early. Some of these plums
are of large size, and it would seem that they must be the precursors of
marketable pitless plums.
Common Field Daisy. Showing’ five large blooms of the improved form, 5% inches in
diameter, and of graceful forms; and below the common field daily without improvement.
He has one plum tree which he said produced pistillate flowers only,
and these have no petals. Another plum tree has flowers that never open,
yet it fruits abundantly, the flowers, unquestionably, being self-fertilizing in
the bud. In peaches he has got some of his best results by crossing the
Alexander and Wager peach with the white nectarine. He has crossed the
peach and almond.
He has been paying considerable attention lately to the improvement
of the common field daisy, or whiteweed of the eastern states (Chrysanthe-
mum lecanthemum), and has obtained flowers five and one-half inches in
diameter and of most graceful forms, thus making it an interesting and
84 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
ornamental garden flower. He is putting considerable time on the improve-
ment of the calla and aims to get a yellow calla of the same form as our
common white calla lily. Two years ago he sent out a calla having the last-
ing fragrance of violets and lilies.
The results from crossing the cultivated raspberry and the Lawton
blackberry have been some plants which produce fruit that pulls off the re-
ceptacle like the raspberry and others that produce fruit which sticks to
the receptacle as in the blackberry.
In referring to the effect of stocks on the quality of fruit he said that
the Burbank plum when ripened on Prunus simoni seemed to have the. best
quality.
Bud Variations in our common Calla Lily.
Formerly Mr. Burbank made many hand crosses in order to get varia-
tions, but by continuing this work over a long series of years he finds
that most of the stock growing on his place is so mixed and so inclined
to vary that he gains very little by hand crossing, and he uses straight
seedlings of his crossed plants, from which he generally gets the best re-
sults after the second and third generations from the cross. As his newer
and best seedlings are all the result of careful hand crossings, he is now
inclined to depend largely upon the work of insects and the variations re-
sulting from former combinations.
In discussing the improvement of the buffaloberry and other wild
plants, he said that in his experience the most important thing had been to
find plants that would vary, and that any plant that varied greatly from
the original type, even though it might be a change to the worse, might
produce seedlings that would vary widely from the type and be the basis
of future improvement.
He makes a special point of top-working all his seedling tree fruits and
does not consider them fairly tested until they have been thus tried. Some
LUTHER BURBANK AND HIS HORTICULTURAL CREATIONS. 85
do better and some worse grafted than when on their own roots. Nearly
all plums improve in all respects by grafting and generally improve with
age for several years, even on their own roots. He showed us a number
of plum trees that had two or three hundred different seedlings grafted on
them and one apple tree that he said was grafted with 526 different seedlings.
The experiment grounds at Sebastapol are laid out in a very neat and
systematic way. He uses no irrigation, as the rainfall in this part of Cali-
fornia is plentiful and well distributed through the growing season.
Partial View of Burbank’s Experiment Grounds, Sebastopol, Californla.
In his first catalogue Mr. Burbank uses the following words: “There
is no possible room for doubt that every form of plant life existing on the
earth is now being, and has always been, modified more or less by its sur-
roundings, and often rapidly and permanently changed, never to return
to the same form. When man takes advantage of these facts and changes
all the conditions, giving abundance of room for expansion and growth,
extra cultivation and superabundance of the various chemical agents in
the most assimilable form, with abundance of light and heat, great changes
sooner or later occur, according to the susceptibility of the subject; and
when added to all these combined governing forces we employ the other
patent forces of combination and the selection of best combinations, the
power to improve our useful-and ornamental plants is limitless.”
“Tomatoes may be grown from seed pollenated by potato pollen only;
pure wheat from rye pollenations, and vice versa. Pure raspberries, black-
berries and dewberries from apple, rose, quince or mountain ash pollena-
tions.
“There is no barrier to obtaining fruits of any size, form or flavor de-
sired, and none to producing plants of any form, color or fragrance; all
that is needed is a knowledge to guide our efforts in the right direction,
undeviating patience and cultivated eyes to detect variations of value.”
86 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Mr. Burbank refers to his productions in the plant world as “New
Creations,’ which they are. He has created some plants which, were they
found wild, would be termed new species; perhaps new genera. He has
opened the eyes of every intelligent horticulturist and botanist to possibili-
Photo of plums grown from the same lot of seed showing great difference in size and
appearance.
ties hardly dreamed of before he presented his interesting work. Such a
man is entitled to great respect from his fellow men, and I should like
to see a good and substantial monument erected to him in the nation’s
capital, for his “Creations” are a blessing to all mankind.
SOME THINGS LEARNED IN FORTY YEARS’ EXPERI-
ENCE AS AN ORCHARDIST IN WISCONSIN.
A. G. TUTTLE, BARABOO, WIS.
That the extreme and long continued cold of some of our winters and
the excessive heat of the summer sun, with a dry atmosphere, are the main
causes of injury.
That the best grounds for orchard planting are the elevated, well drained
clay lands.
That we should plant nothing less hardy than the Duchess of Olden-
burg.
That trees should be trained with bodies from four to six feet according
as their manner of growth is upright or spreading.
That the bodies of the trees should be protected from the summer sun.
That the orchard should be cultivated:in some hoed crop; neither mer-
chantable fruit nor healthy trees can be grown with trees only in the sod.
That it is necessary to wage continued war against insect enemies, and
that they are more destructive in sodded than in cultivated ground.
Vice ~ Presidents” JXeports,
1899.
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, FIRST CONGRESSIONAL
DISTRICT.
F. W. KIMBALL, AUSTIN.
In reporting on the fruit prospects for another season, as well as the
results of the past, I am under a disadvantage, having been out of the dis-
trict much of the time during the season, and having had little opportunity
to enquire or examine. The winter of 1898-9 was not altogether without
good: it tended to weed out many varieties of apple, and plums as well, in
many places individual trees that we thought hardy; and, probably, it has
taught all some lessons worth remembering.
So iar as I have observed the crop of small fruit in this district was
rather small. The strawberries were very good where the vines were not
killed, but the red and black raspberries were most all injured, so the crop,
as a rule, was light. The Loudon, however, showed scarcely any injury
and fruited well, and any one desiring to raise raspberries can hardly afford
to be without it. Asa rule, I think the Columbian did well and is going to
prove a valuable berry, especially for canning. Gooseberries and currants
did well. Apples were a light crop, as a rule, though many individual trees
and even orchards did fairly well. Plums, as a rule, were light, and in
many places badly affected by the gouger as well as by the scab.
The season has been quite favorable, and with a favorable winter I think
that the prospect for fruit another year is favorabl®
Blight prevailed in many localities, and good air drainage did not in
all cases, at least, prove a panacea. And here let me say, if any member
has trouble with the blight and has growing in his orchards blighting kinds,
such as the Transcendent, Yellow Transparent, etc., cut them out root and
branch, as he would small pex from among his household.
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, SECOND CONG. DIST.
S. D. RICHARDSON WINNEBAGO, CITY.
The year 1899 was what we call an off year for fruit. The year previous
apples, plums and cherries bore heavily, as a general rule, and where they did
so, did not bear much this year, with very few exceptions; while trees that
did not bear last year bore a fair crop this year but not heavily.
The heavy rains in the spring seemed to hinder pollenization. The
winter was hard on some varieties, like the Malinda, Haas, Utter, etc.,
while our standard varieties recommended by our society were not injured.
The Wealthy stood the winter apparently just as well as the Duchess, and
is the apple that is planted in larger quantities than any other variety in our
88 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
part of the state, but the most of the growers are too busy to prune, and
have been since the trees were planted, and the trees have short bodies and
low tops.
The cherry stood the winter as well as the apple and blossomed ireely
but failed to set much fruit. I have noticed that a heavy rain immediately
after they blossomed seemed to hinder fruitfulness.
Some varieties of plums seemed to blossom and set fruit freely, but
owing to the heavy rains, or for some other reason, but a small proportion
came to perfection.
Strawberries were a fair crop on dry land; on low land the water killed
the plants. Tile that had been large enough to carry off the water in pre-
vious years failed this year. There was too much water. If there could be
some variety of strawberry found that was two weeks later than our com-
mon variety and an abundant bearer, it would be a godsend to growers of
that fruit in this part of the state.
Currants were a fair crop. Gooseberries were light.
Blackberries are grown by but very few persons in this part of the
state. Mr. Mills, of Garden City, raised a good crop this year. Of course,
he covers his bushes in the fall, as also his Gregg raspberries.
The black raspberries were a fair crop; the red a failure, with most
growers.
Grapes root-killed in some places very badly and failed to ripen up
properly in the fall, even where the roots did not seem to be injured.
Some of the new seedlings of the Duchess seem to be as hardy as their
parent and better keepers and of better quality for eating purposes.
There is not any doubt but that some of the newer varieties of apples
will keep in a common cellar all winter, and when they get disseminated and
get to bearing I do not know any reason why the farmer in our part of the
state cannot have plenty of apples in his cellar all winter.
FRUIT LIST FOR SECOND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT.
sd APPLES.
For general planting: Wealthy, Duchess, Hibernal, Charlamoff, Longfield,
Patten’s Greening, Tetofsky, Malinda.
For trial: Okabena, Peerless, Hotchkiss, Anisim, Yellow Sweet, Kaump,
Gilbert.
CRABS AND HYBRIDS.
For general planting: Virginia, Martha, Whitney, Minnesota, Sweet Rus-
sell, Gideon’s No. 6; Briar Sweet.
For trial: Lyman’s Prolific, Faribault, Crampton No. 3.
' PLUMS.
For general cultivation: De Soto, Forest Garden, Weaver, Cheney, Wolf,
Rollingstone, Wyant, Hawkeye. ,
For trial: Stoddard, Surprise, Mankato, Aitkin, Ward.
GRAPES.
Concord, Delaware, Moore’s Early, Worden, Agawam, Brighton, Janes-
ville.
RASPBERRIES.
Red varieties: Turner, Cuthbert, Loudon.
Black and purple: Ohio, Palmer, Nemaha, Gregg, Older, Kansas, Scuhe-
gan, Schaffer, Columbian.
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, SECOND CONG. DIST. 89
BLACKBERRIES.
Ancient Briton, Snyder, Badger.
CURRANTS.
Long Bunch Holland, Stewart, North Star, Victoria, White Grape.
GOOSEBERRIES.
For general planting: Houghton, Downing.
For trial: Red Jacket, Triumph, Pearl, Columbus.
STRAWBERRIES.
Pistillate: Crescent, Warfield.
Staminate: Bederwood, Lovett, Splendid.
Valuable for trial of the native fruits: Dwarf Juneberry, Sand Cherry,
Buffalo Berry.
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, THIRD CONG. DIST.
MRS. A. A. KENNEDY, HUTCHINSON.
We had a good crop of fruit of all kinds this year, the best we have had
for some time. Strawberries were fine. Red raspberries ‘or my ground
were the best they have been for years. Black caps came on in good shape,
but after a few pickings they commenced to dry up; they were where we
could not turn the water on to them.
Currants bore heavily. The North Star were small.
Plums were a good crop. I had several kinds all set at the same time,
but the Cheney bore the heaviest. I picked a milk pail two-thirds full off
from each tree, the fruit large and perfect, while the De Soto and Forest
Garden bore a few and of inferior quality. They have been set three years.
For strawberries, the Crescent and Bederwood have done the best for
me. Of red raspberries, the Loudon has given the best satisfaction, although
the Turner has always done well, and I found ready sale for them. The
Miller is nearly as large as the Marlboro. I do not see so very much differ-
ence in the fruit; it throws up more sprouts.
Three vears ago we set out several kinds of apple trees, among them
were the Wealthy (that bore seven apples last year), Okabena, Patten’s
Greening (one of these bore last year, four apples, two large ones and two
middling sized. The tree was about as large as my thumb and perhaps
three feet tall). Two of the Peerless bore this year; one had four apples, and
the other two; they were set out as much as six or seven years ago, but
have been transplanted twice since. They were set first. One Sweet Russet
crab and one Tonka crab both bore this year. The Wealthy blighted some
last year.
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, FIFTH CONG. DIST.
JOHN H. STEVENS, MINNEAPOLIS.
The past year has been fairly productive in fruit such as is commonly
grown in this section. Small fruits were abundant in this county, but ow-
ing to competition from the south the production did not receive fair prices,
especially for strawberries and raspberries. Apples were not as abundant
as they were last season. The Duchess and Wealthy are still favorites,
though other varieties reached maturity.
90 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The wholesale dealers in fruit in this city informed me that Minneapolis
is one of the best markets in the northwest for the sale of fruit. I cannot
but help to repeat what I have said in past years, that we, especially of
Hennepin county, owe much to the good work of Prof. S. B. Green, in
teaching us all about fruit growing. No one doubts for a moment that in
the near future we shall throughout the state excel in this important indus-
try of apple growing, and what a debt of gratitude future generations will
owe this society.
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, SIXTH CONG. DIST.
MRS. JENNIE STAGER, SAUK RAPIDS.
All through this part of the country, strawberries fruited exceedingly
well. Where the worms had not passed through last year, small fruit such
as raspberries, currants and gooseberries also fruited well, but on our place,
and on all other places where the worms had put in their work the year be-
fore, there was hardly half a crop. Hundreds of apple, plum and cherry trees
died outright, also thousands of oak and other deciduous trees, through the
ravages of the worms.
Grapes fruited heavily, but with the exception of the earliest varieties
none ripened thoroughly. We had a cool, wet fall, which accounted for it.
Fifteen years ago, currants, a few crab apple trees and wild plum trees,
could be found here and there around the country. Now almost every family
has different varieties of fruit planted on their home lots, and fruit culture
is extending all through this part of the country, mainly through the work
and literature of the State Horticultural Society. At our St. Cloud state
fair quite a good showing of different kinds of fruit was exhibited.
We have had such exceptionally fine weather this October and Novem-
ber that the fruit, elm and willow trees have commenced budding out, and
we are feeling anxious about our trees going through the winter under the
circumstances. However, we will live in hopes.
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, SEVENTH CONG. DIST.
D. T. WHEATON, MORRIS.
In making a report of horticulture in the Seventh Congressional Dis-
trict, if it should correspond to the size of the district, it should be lengthy;
but if it is according to horticulture itself or to the interest taken in it, it
should be very short. This district consists chiefly of the strip of prairie
extending from the north line of the state south along the western border
of the state for some two hundred miles, that part of the state acknowledged
to be the most difficult in which to raise fruits or to make trees grow. But
comparatively little fruit is grown and most of that probably costs more
than the same could be purchased for in the markets. I think more is paid
for nursery stock each year than the value of all fruits grown, and the
amount of nursery stock growing today is but little if any more than it was
ten years ago.
This view of the condition of horticulture in the district may seem to be
pessimistic, yet I think has been the condition of horticulture in all parts of
the northwest in its early days.
=
VICE-PRESIDENT’S REPORT, SEVENTH CONG. DIST. 91
Most people like fruit, and it does not require a very good man to sell
nursery stock, but it does require more than an ordinary man to take care
of it and make it grow. Although some of the stock sold is not hardy or
not suitable or fails to receive good care, yet some succeeds to grow with
good care and favorable conditions or with neglect, and shows to the faithless
that fruits can be raised on the prairies of western Minnesota.
Although the number of orchards and fruit gardens make but a poor
showing, yet the amount of fruit grown is not so very small after all. Every
now and then is found a garden where more fruit is raised than is needed
for home use. During the past year fruits of all kinds have done fairly well.
The severe cold of last winter and the lack of snow made it a trying
one for fruits; yet when properly cared for they generally came out in good
condition and fruited full.
Of most small fruits that make a good crop, strawberries and raspber-
ries were as good as could be wished for; gooseberries were a full crop, but
currants were nearly a failure.
Blackberries are an uncertain crop and do not seem to do well, and there
were few berries on them this year.
The apple crop was fair. Cultivated plum trees—especially the late
varieties—were generally loaded with fruit, while most of the wild plums
were nearly a failure.
There has been more blight on the apple trees than usual, which may be
owing to the severe winter weakening the vitality of the trees. With good
hardy stock and good care, I do not think there is any reason for discour-
agement.
At the present time the ground is full of moisture and in good condition
for wintering.
Nearly all small fruits and most of the apples in the fruit list grow and
do well in western Minnesota, and I know of no good reason why plenty of
apples and plums and small fruits should not be raised, and I think the time
is not far distant when they will be.
FRUIT LIST SEVENTH CONG. DISTRICT.
Strawberries: Capt. Jack, Bederwood, Parker Earle, are among the best.
Raspberries: The Turner does the best.
Gooseberries: Houghton.
Currants: Red Dutch and White Grape.
Hybrids and Crabs: Whitney No. 20, Tonka, Early Strawberry, Pow-
er’s Red, Virginia, Martha and others.
Apple: Duchess, Hibernal, Patten’s Greening, Wealthy, and Longfield.
Plum: Forest Garden, Weaver and others doing well .
Grapes: Concord, Janesville, Worden and Delaware.
In putting fruit in cold storage, insist upon having the temperature
lowered gradually. Managers of large cold storage houses are studying this
question carefully and are becoming informed upon the matter. They first
submit the fruits of all kinds to a temperature of, say 50 degrees, to begin
with; then gradually remove it to other compartments, until they get it to the
compartment and temperature best suited to the particular kind of fruit.
92 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
WOMEN’S AUXILIARY DURING 1900.
MRS. ANNA B. UNDERWOOD, SEC’Y, LAKE CITY.
Woman’s interest in all things pertaining to out-door life seems to be
increasing. We hear of Town Improvement Clubs, Village Improvement
Clubs, and, strange as it may seem, Country Improvement Clubs. The
women in rural districts are beginning to realize that with the expenditure
of a little effort on their part much may be accomplished in the way of
beautifying their surroundings.
Many inquiries were received last spring from different parts of the
state, asking for advice as to the best method of forming a club. Several
wanted to know how to go to work to get rid of weeds. All the letters
were answered. In view of the fact that there may be many more inquiries
during the winter and spring of 1900, the Auxiliary has decided to get up a
simple form of constitution and by-laws, and also a program for Arbor Day
observances; these to be printed in pamphlet form for free distribution.
The Women’s Auxiliary was represented at the Federation of Women’s
Clubs, by Mrs. Jennie L. Stager.
The Women’s Auxiliary was represented at the Federation Headquarters
by a committee consisting of Miss Lucia Danforth, of Carlton College,
Northfield; Miss Emma V. White, president of the Women’s Auxiliary,
and Mrs. Anna B. Underwood, secretary of the Women’s Auxiliary.
Through this committee many of the circular letters printed last spring were
distributed.
Interest in nature study seems to be increasing greatly. The city and
town schools already have incorporated it to a greater or less degree in
their work, and the rural schools should take steps to arrange themselves
in line with the movement.
At the annual meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary, held Dec. 7, 1899,
it was decided to continue to urge the women to organize Country Improve-
ment Clubs, and to suggest, as a form to mould public opinion to, the im-
provement of the school grounds in rural districts, and the introduction of
nature study into the schools.
At this meeting, the members considered the suggestion, made in the
report of the executive committee, that the Women’s Auxiliary have charge
of one session of the Horticultural Society meeting. The courtesy of the
executive committee was fully appreciated, and the members decided to ayail
themselves of the opportunity offered to present a program embodying the
objects of the Auxiliary.
The President: I would like to ask if it would not be well to
have a committee of the women appointed to wait upon the governor
and ask him if he will not give out his Arbor Day proclamation a
little earlier than usual and lay a little more stress upon those points
we have brought out. Coming from the chief magistrate of the state
and published by all the papers throughout the state, it would be of
great importance. I think he would be glad to do it.
Mr. Wedge: I think it is the duty of the society to interest them-
selves in this movement. I confess I have been more backward than
any one else. If we are to grow we must enlist the services cf the
F
pee
WOMEN’S AUXILARY DURING 1900. 93
women. This is a branch of horticulture that peculiarly attracts
their attention, and they ought to stand not only equal in numbers
with us, but equal in participation. I desire to see the society take
hold of this matter and do all in its power to make a specialty of this
work in our future meetings.
Miss White: I hope the other members of the society feel as Mr.
Wedge does. We have inaugurated the work in a very quiet way
and on a small scale as yet. We would be glad if the wives of all the
members would be interested in this work, and as their presence here
is somewhat uncertain we do not know how to reach them except
through their husbands. We wish every husband here would in-
terest his wife in becoming a member of the Women’s Auxiliary. It
is not like running a club by ourselves, we are simply trying to doa
little good in the state through this organization. Our constitution
provides that any member of the State Horticultural Society may be-
come amember of the Auxiliary upon application, and any one who is
not a member can become such upon payment of a fee of twenty-five
cents.
Mr. Underwood: I feel very much interested in this work as
calculated to benefit our state society, particularly so because of my
attention having been called to the direct work that has been done
by the Women’s Clubs in supporting the Agricultural Society the
past summer. It was a new movement inaugurated at the last fair.
It seemed to me if we could have their help at our annual fair it
would be a great thing for us, and we brought it about, as you are
aware, and the interest and enthusiasm that was awakened by and
through the Women’s Clubs was perfectly marvellous. When you
can find a large class of women that will meet in a building on a
race track where horses are beating a record, drawing premiums
amounting to five thousand dollars a day, together with a great
many counter attractions, then you will know as I know of the en-
thusiasm that was displayed and the work that was accomplished by
the women at the state fair. We ought to encourage their work in
this society all we can. They ought to have a large audience room;
this room will not begin to hold them all, They ought to have a
large, well ventilated room in which to hold their meetings. At the
same time we are holding our meetings, they can hold their meet-
ings, and then at some time they can hold a joint meeting with us. [
hope we may have a great big boom through the efforts of the
Women’s Auxiliary.
Apples wrapped in paper keep better than when stored in any other way.
- 94 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
THREE NOTED HORTICULTURISTS, GIDEON, PLUMB
AND LOUDON.
A MEMORIAL ADDRESS.
“A. J. PHILIPS, WEST SALEM, WIS.
I feel on this occasion like thanking Mr. Latham and those who helped
him prepare this program for honoring me by affording an opportunity
to say something regarding Mr. Gideon, a man whom I always esteemed
and respected for the work he did for horticulture in the cold north. I have
felt since coming into this room that it would have been better had I listened
to and put in practice the advice of my wife on many previous occasions.
When noticing my name on a program she would say, “Now prepare some-
thing; write it out; and then you can read what will be a credit to yourself
and a credit to the subject you are to talk about.” But I confess I am here
totally dependent as to what I shall say and as to thoughts that shall come
to me and inspirations I shall receive and have received from the surround-
ings of this room and the memories of the acquaintance with, and the life
work of, the men of whom for a few moments I am to speak.
I have been asked by Mr. Latham to say something on this occasion
in regard to two of our Wisconsin pioneers who have been called from their
labors during the past year, who were as much like Mr. Gideon in their work
and aims as two men could be, Mr. F. W. Loudon, of Janesville, and Mr. J.
C. Plumb, of Milton. Their work has been along different lines, but it has
all tended to the same end, something that would be of value to horticulture
in the northwest.
I was quite well acquainted with Mr. Gideon as well as with the other
men I have mentioned. It was my privilege, and I esteemed it an honor,
when you held your meetings on the old grounds out here in the country, be-
fore Prof. Porter selected the beautiful new site you now occupy, to conduct
Mr. Gideon before the society after a somewhat lengthy absence. There
had been some misunderstanding between Mr. Gideon and the members
of the society, and Mr. Gideon, like Mr. Plumb and Mr. Loudon, who were
men noted for being true to their convictions, was true to his convictions,
and perhaps for some reason Mr. Gideon had not been as cordial to the
members of the society as they desired him to be. However, he was true to
his convictions. He thought he was right, and the people at that time knew
comparatively little of the great work he was doing on those grounds as they
do now. But they were anxious to have him there at the meeting and ex-
pressed a desire to take Mr. Gideon into fellowship with the society. Ac-
cordingly a committee was appointed to go out and confer with him in re-
gard to the matter. He had brought his wife with him, and the committee
went out to see him, and when they had reached a conclusion Mr. Peffer
and myself were sent out to bring them in. As we were from Wisconsin
it was thought right and proper that we should escort the old people into
the meeting. Mr. Peffer asked me to introduce them. I am always glad if I
can say or do anything that will help any one. So we went out to the other
room, and when ready we went in, and Mr. and Mrs. Gideon followed. I
do not now remember what I said, but I. know I introduced him and his
wife to the audience, with a few kind and as well chosen words as I could
command, There was a recess of fifteen minutes given which was spent in
THREE NOTED HORTICULTURISTS. 95
shaking hands with the old people. I shall never forget that occasion while
I attend meetings in Minnesota or anywhere else.
Last year at your meeting he came in at yonder door, he was noticed
by the audience as he walked up that aisle and took his seat close up here.
‘The president, Mr. Underwood, gave an intermission of ten minutes and
asked the members to rise and shake hands with Mr. Gideon. Now when
that audience shook hands with him they acted as though they appreciated
his work, they then felt he was entitled to honor, and they felt honored by
his presence.
Perhaps no one was more impressed with Mr. Gideon’s presence at
your last fair than I was. I went and sat down beside him, and I think I
spent an hour with him at two sittings. He had before told me time and
time again that while the fairs permitted horse racing and gambling he
would not exhibit. I said to him, “You have considerable fruit here, Mr.
Gideon.” > “Yes, I know,” he replied, “but I am not showing for a pre-
mium. I want to show the people that peaches can be raised in Minnesota,
and I have some new seedlings here that some of you have never seen. The
people of Minnesota have been so good to me, and perhaps I have said things
I should not have said: no doubt I have. I am not showing these apples
for a premium. I have been in straightened circumstances, I have been
burned out and have lived alone out there, yet not only the people of Min-
nesota, but of other states have said good things about me and made me
some donations which I appreciate. You said good things about me at
Omaha, and I have come to make this show because I appreciate what has
been thought and said of me.”’ I then noticed that a tear was trickling down
from each eye over his wrinkled cheeks. I do not know whether he had a
presentiment that that would be the last meeting he would ever attend in
Minnesota. I saw he was failing, but I little thought he would leave us so
soon, or, as he insisted, I would have gone home with him to see his seed-
lings which he loved so much. He believed he had spirit communications
and he believed he was directed in his work by a higher power than the
words of the Minnesota Horticultural Society or any one in the flesh.
There is one incident that I often think of which happened at one time
‘while I was visiting him. It was my first visit to his place and in going
along the walk there was a toad sitting right beside the path. “Now,” said
he, “step around on this side so we do not disturb that toad. That fellow,”
he said, “stays here all the time; he is the best friend I have, for he catches
many injurious insects, and he works for nothing—I do not have to pay him
a cent.” It struck me then that only a kind hearted man would step out
of his way to give a toad a chance. That little incident convinced me that
Mr. Gideon was a kind hearted man; and his gifts of flowers that day to the
school children ratified my opinion of him.
I will say nothing of the Wealthy apple; that has been spoken of here
before. I made a specialty of showing northern seedlings at Omaha. Pro-
fessor Taylor was asked three years ago at the Wisconsin meeting what
the value was of all the seedlings grown in the north, to which he replied
they were not worth fifteen cents. When I thought of how men like Mr.
Gideon and others had been spending the best part of their lives in propagat-
ing seedlings I felt as though the judgment of Mr. Taylor was very harsh.
He tried to modify his statement by saying that the men who originated the
seedlings had never made fifteen cents. Perhaps that was true. I never
96 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
realized what Peter M. Gideon had done for the northwest as forcibly as I
did at the Omaha Exposition. I took the finest plate of Wealthy applés
from my place, and I found a dozen more plates there from Wisconsin.
We had the best plates in front, and we labeled them, ‘““The Wealthy apple,
a Minnesota seedling originated by Peter M. Gideon.” There were nine
states that exhibited the Wealthy. A Montana man said to me, ‘We do not
have to propagate seedlings, we take the original varieties.” I looked his
exhibit over, and out of fourteen plates he had twelve plates of northern
seedlings. When I looked over the various exhibits, notably those of Cali-
fornia and Oregon, I could not help but feel that Peter M. Gideon had
done a valuable work for horticulture. We have a fine show of Wealthy
apples here on the table, and if we could have some plates of the beautiful
Loudon raspberry, and the Jessie strawberry, the Windsor and Plumb Cider
apples and other evidences of the work done by Mr. Loudon and Mr.
Plumb it would make an impressive picture.
I was arranging for a paper from Mr. Plumb for our winter meeting.
He was past seventy, and he said to me, “I have been thinking for years of
writing something of Wisconsin seedlings that should be preserved, and I
feel now that if I ever do it I must do it this winter.” With the weight of
three score years and ten on his shoulders he was still delivering milk to sey-
enty customers. He came to the meeting, but had had no time to write a
paper, so he made a lot of notes and read them there. I asked him for
those notes, but he said he must carry them home and revise them. He
never lived to do it. I obtained the notes and his paper from his family and
fixed them up the best I could and then returned the paper to them.
In regard to Mr. Loudon. I was intimately acquainted with him. He
was just as sincere and anxious to promote his chosen work as were Mr.
Gideon and Mr. Plumb. I was at his place a few weeks before his death.
He had a new seedling cherry, and he told me I must come down and get
some scions and let the people have the benefit of it. He was an unselfish
man and lived largely for others. He had a brother who was writing a
book on forestry in England, but his health was so poor that he took his
wife with him wherever he went for fear he might be taken sick while alone.
He was so anxious to finish his book, that while he was working on the last
chapter he dropped dead. F. W. Loudon was the same in his work; he
possessed the same enthusiasm and perseverance.
I often visited him and told him what was being done in horticulture.
He said he preferred hearing of it instead of reading, as he went from home
but little.
There is much more that I could say of these three useful men, but I
have occupied more than my allotted time, but being from another state I
have taken a little more liberty.
In conclusion I want to say this: In Massachusetts where the Baldwin
apple originated there was erected a monument to the man who originated
it, and on top of that monument is a Baldwin apple, and I hope to live to
see the day when Minnesota (and our Wisconsin people ought to help your
people) will have a monument erected to the memory of Peter M. Gideon
over on your university grounds, where the citizens and especially the young
men of your state can see it, and in the cemetery where Mr. Gideon is buried,
and I would propose to put on top of that monument a Wealthy apple that
will perpetuate the memory of Peter M. Gideon—which will also be. per-
petuated by the growing and bearing Wealthy trees in the north as long as
time lasts.
JOBBERS IN TREES. 97
JOBBERS IN TREES.
ER. H. S. DARTT, OWATONNA.
I very frequently receive letters inquiring as to the responsibility and
methods of certain Minnesota nurserymen or jobbers in trees. Since the
recent disasters to trees south of us, there is greater demand for genuine
Minnesota grown trees. The tree jobber has appeared. He has located
at a good shipping point, planted a few trees, established an office and
packing grounds, with tree cellars and sheds, gets out an elaborate cata-
logue and in a few weeks the great “Columbian Nursery Company” gets a
puff in the papers as a new business enterprise and goes sailing on. Its
boss says to his many agents “Go ye out into this cold world and sell
genuine Minnesota grown trees. All want the best, as _ indicated
by the price charged, so I have placed prices well up in the
catalogue. Be liberal. Frequently donate 50 cents or $1.00 in
the shape of a 2 cent grapevine. It pays to please customers. Sell
the Dewey, McKinley and Bryan at $1.50 per tree. If your customer is
English add Queen Victoria. If he is Dutch or Irish put in Gen. Kruger
instead and sell the four trees for even $5.00. I have paid $1,000 each for
these choice varieties and have very few left, but sell all you can!”
I am’ glad to say that some of the jobbers are planting young stock
extensively and will soon become respectable nurserymen, if such a thing
is possible after having learned so many tricks of the trade. As a matter
of information I suggest that our State Horticultural Society publish a
Nurseryman’s Directory, giving in tabulated form, name, location, age
and approximate amount of stock growing, number of agents employed and
amount of sales.
Under existing circumstances allow.me to give a little gratuitous advice
to the poor man—the rich are abundantly able to take care of themselves,
and if they get swindled they can stand it. But to the poor man I would
say: Buy nursery stock only from reliable nurserymen of your own state.
Do not be deluded by the song of the agent. If he has any high priced, new
thing leave it for your rich neighbor and buy sparingly of well tried, com-
mon things, which, as a rule, are of more real value than boomed sorts.
Fay’s Prolific currant had a great run, but I understand that a man in
Wisconsin dug out acres of them because they were of less value than the
more common kinds. If you would get value received buy good common
stock and give it good common care.
Owatonna, Minn., Feb. 15, 1goo.
(Country papers please copy.)
ANNUAL MEETING, 1899, SOUTHERN MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
R. PARKHILL, RETIRING SECRETARY.
The seventh annual meeting of this society was held at Skinner Hall,
Albert Lea, Feb. 14 and 15. The attendance was good, considering that the
district court was in session, and that the meeting had been postponed
about a month, but faithful work had been done by Clarence Wedge and
gome of the Albert Lea ladies, and so on the whole the meeting was a
success. The hall was brightened by a liberal display of plants and flowers,
furnished by Mr. Clausen, proprietor of the Albert Lea greenhouses.
—= A oe
98 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Our honorary life member, J. S. Harris, was prevented from being pres-
ent, but sent a valuable paper. Ditus Day, Farmington, and J. H. Upton,
Cresco, Ia., were cordially welcomed as honorary members for 1900.
Freeborn county made a good display of fifty plates of apples, of which
the Wedge Nursery furnished thirty-eight. Ditus Day showed two plates
of his long keeping seedling apple, one being of the crop of 1898. President
Hawkins had a very fine display of ten varieties of plums.
While there was no lack of interest at the first session, yet there
seemed to be an increasing interest as the meeting progressed.
The report of the fruit committee showed a general failure of the
apple crop in this territory, a plum crop slightly below the average, and
where winter protection was given an average crop of small fruit. The com-
mittee on seedlings reported several promising new seedling apples, some
of which were long keepers.
The apple was prominent on the program and in the discussions, but a
fair share of the time was given to the plum, small fruit, evergreens, and
ornamental shrubs.
Rey. R. C. Mosher, of Albert Lea, gave an address on “Gladiolus Cul-
ture.” He advocated a more general culture of this magnificent flower,
which showed every color and blending of shades, and which was as easily
cared for as a potato crop. He considered that these three things were
necessary to success in raising the gladiolus: a deep rich soil, deep planting
and abundance of moisture.
No change was made in the fruit list. A committee appointed by
President Hawkins submitted a list of apples, crabs and plums, giving per-
centage of each, for guidance of Minnesota farmers in setting out small
orchards. The list which was adopted and recommended by this society
is as follows:
APPLES. =
Wealthy, 20 per cent; Patten, 10 per cent; Longfield, 10 per cent; Hiber-
nal, 6 per cent; Repka Malenka, 5 per cent; Duchess, 6 per cent; Tetofsky,
4 per cent.
CRABS AND HYBRIDS.
Martha, 6 per cent; Sweet Russett, 4 per cent; Minnesota, 4 per cent; E.
Strawberry, 2 per cent; Whitney, 4 per cent.
PLUMS.
De Soto, 7 per cent; Stoddard 5 per cent; Wyant, 4 per cent; Aitkin, 2 per
cent; Miner. 2 per cent.
An interesting and instructive program prepared by the ladies of Albert
Lea was given at the Wednesday evening session. Mrs. C. E. ‘Brainerd.
Albert Lea, presided. A paper by Mrs. Ober, Albert Lea, on “Woman’s
Work in the Improvement League,’’ showed the importance of the work
done by the Woman’s Federation of Clubs, and advocated the organization
of local Improvement Leagues in every city and village. A paper on
“Needed Reforms in Villages and Cities,” by Miss Southgate, Albert Lea
College, pointed out needed reforms in sanitary laws and a more rigid en-
forcement of existing laws. All taking part in the discussions favored the
suggestions presented in these papers. The first prize essay on “Why and
Where I Would Plant Evergreens,’’ was read at this session. Several
SOUTHERN MINN. HORT. SOCIETY, 1900. 99
vocal solos by Mrs. Voles and Mrs. Fuller, respectively, were enjoyed by
the audience.
At the closing: session a motion prevailed in favor of a three days’
meeting at next annual meeting.
Officers elected: President, J. C. Hawkins, Austin; vice presidents, O.
L. Gregg, Jonathan Freeman and O. W. Moore; secretary and treasurer,
Mrs. C. E. Brainerd, Albert Lea:
There is good prospect of an increase in membership, and the outlook
is hopeful for the work of our society in 1900, Our next annual meeting
will be held at Austin.
WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE.
S. M. OWEN, MINNEAPOLIS.
I had the pleasure of meeting with the Wisconsin State Horticultural
Society during its late annual convention at Madison. It was more than
pleasurable, it was profitable to meet the leading horticulturists of that
state, for it is equivalent to meeting some of the best fruit growers in the
Union. Other duties made it impossible to devote as much time as was de-
sired to this meeting, but enough was given to it to show that the members
of the society are able, earnest and enthusiastic fruit growers; and that
the cause will grow and flourish in their state is inevitable under such
leadership.
The evening of the first day was devoted to forestry, under the auspices
of the State Forestry Association, and it was largely upon invitation for
the purpose of addressing that society that I was present. The subject of
forestry is evidently beginning to attract something like the attention its
importance demands in Wisconsin, as was evidenced by the attendance and
discussions on the evening named. It is cheering to old workers in the
cause to realize that forestry is beginning to attract more attention every-
where, and among classes that have been accustomed to ignore it.
Minnesota was represented in person at the meeting by Mr. Frank
Yahnke, who read a paper on vegetable growing for market, and was a
frequent and able contributor to discussions of various subjects. Mr. O.
M. Lord, Minnesota City, furnished a paper on improvement of the native
plum, and Mr. Penning, of Sleepy Eye, wrote about the Surprise plum and
its origin. It is needless to say that Minnesota did not suffer through its
representatives.
Among the well known Wisconsin horticulturists it was a treat to see
and hear were: F. C. Edwards, L. G. Kellogg, A. L. Hatch, M. S. Kellogg,
Prof. E. S. Goff, President Franklin Johnson, Secretary A. J. Philips and
others. Wednesday evening was devoted to an exercise in memory of the
lamented eminent fruit promoters and originators, J. C. Plumb, F. W.
Loudon, M. A. Thayer, and Peter M. Gideon. Following was the program
of the evening: Prayer; music; short addresses by Prof. E. S. Goff, G. J.
Kellogg, President Whitford, Frank Yahnke, B. S. Hoxie, S. M. Owen, and
A. J. Philips; close by prayer and doxology.
In justice to Mr. Yahnke it should be said that his contribution to this
memorial service was particularly appropriate and touching. His allusions
to Mr. Plumb, with whom he was intimately acquainted, were tender and
pathetic. It was an unconscious tribute to the eulogist as it was an eloquent
one to the eulogized.
100 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The forenoon of the following day was devoted to routine business, the .
election of officers, etc., and the afternoon to discussions pertaining to re-
vision of fruit list, reports from committees and from visiting delegates
frem adjoining states. The meeting closed in the evening with papers, reci-
tations, music, etc., by the students of the School of Agriculture, which is
ample assurance that the occasion was enjoyable in all respects.
FURTHER TRIBUTE TO PETER M. GIDEON.
A. W. SIAS, HARBOR VIEW, FLORIDA.
Dear Fellow Members: On receiving the Jan. 19th number of the
Minnesota Horticulturist, I read the sad news of the death of Peter M.
Gideon, and about a dozen tributes to his sacred memory, that do him
henor—without the least show of adulation. Should have been glad to have
been in ‘on the ground floor” and to have heard those kind, heart-felt words
spoken, and to have added my opinion of this great worker in not only the
cause of horticulture, but also in the great cause of temperance and right
living. Good men claim that it is never too late to speak a good word for
Abraham Lincoln, and let us all claim the same for Peter M. Gideon.
Fourteen years ago today I was acting president of your society, and I
knew that I must do something liberal and great or misrepresent good
Mr. Harris (whom I was acting for). So to use about the language of one
of our young members, I proceeded to “water the stock” of the honorary
life membership list by the nomination of Peter M. Gideon, Norman J.
Coleman, R. L. Cottrell and F. K.Phoenix. One-half of this list have
already passed over the mystic river. One has been honored with a seat
in a president’s cabinet, perhaps the first horticulturist to ever get there.
Phoenix is the same good old temperance, high grade worker that he al-
ways was. It pays to be liberal. Our annual paying list of membership
keeps pace with the honorary list.
The Wealthy is a grand success over a wider range of country than any
new fruit of my knowledge. After leaving Minnesota in 1890, I stopped
three years in Colorado and found the Wealthy among the foremost in that
state. ‘Ten states had the Wealthy on exhibition at the Omaha Fair,” says
Bro. Philips.
The Minnesota State Horticultural Society is non-partisan and non-
sectarian—still I have no doubt that the Methodist wing of the society will
lcok back to the day that we met Peter M. Gideon half way with open
arms and fully restored him to the highest rank in our society, as a sort
of compromise with spiritualism—‘‘a love feast” that augured no good. Be
this as it may, when I grasped that warm hand, that had scattered seeds
to bless mankind so freely, now cold in death, and that of Dr. Porter, who
led him to us, the man who left such strong evidence of his architectural
skill—and bump of location for an agricultural school half way between the
two cities—truly he has been wonderfully successful in erecting unto himself
a proud monument—could such a man have been mistaken in the attempt
to help restore the old soldier to his former rank? He, too, has gone to his
reward. I am unable to communicate with his spirit, but have no fears as
to its safety and happiness. Our records show that the gigantic form of
Geo. P. Peffer was “resurrected” to act with our committee in the restora-
tion to his rank of our brother Gideon. Mr. Peffer’s tabernacle was laid
aside some time since, but we do not believe that his high position among
ba ee
Cd
TRIBUTE TO PETER M. GIDEON. 101
the saints was lowered one iota by his help in the “‘peace conference” with
Peter M. Gideon. Then that grand old member who honestly thought it
“out of order’ for a member to touch so heavy and lengthy on religious
matters, plant breeding, horse racing, etc., was the second man I noted
on the stand to grasp the kind hand of the noted Wealthy-producer—and
to say, “I am happy to see you back in the society.”” Mr. Gideon answered
as he warmly pressed his hand, “I am glad to get back.” His daughter,
Mrs. Webster, paid him a high tribute when she said, “he lived close to na-
ture.” I do like to see children honor their parents.
Prof. S. B. Green, in summing up his able scientific sketch of Peter M.
Gidecn, says, “We have cause to feel proud that he was a son of Muinne-
sota.” I agree with my friend Ex-Prest. Underwood, that nothing in the
shape of a monument would please him like a living one. “In what gardens
of delight rest thy weary feet tonight?”
Who knows more of the life and good works of Peter M. Gideon than
John H. Stevens, from Maine, the founder of the seedling commission, the
man who helped to name Minneapolis. If he says Peter. M. Gideon was a
public benefactor, “so say we all.”
John S. Harris, who continued to hunt for an honest winter seedling
apple for years after the two other members of his commission had passed
away, and their obituaries recorded, says: ““He will be remembered and
honored by future generations.’ Wyman Elliot says: ‘‘No man in the state
can show a better record.” With A. J. Philips, I can say “I feel that no
words than I can command can fully express my admiration for him and the
great work he has accomplished.” Like J. T. Grimes, “I know him well,”
personally, “by his fruits.” And with S. M. Owen, I say, “well done
good and faithful servant.” We read with great interest the eloquent
words of W. W. Pendergast and can say with him “his noble work will live
aiter him.” Mr. O. F. Brand, who knew Mr. Gideon well, says, ‘His
mind was set on producing something good and valuable for humanity and
he accomplished it.’ “So say we all.” Speaking of monuments, I hope
each member's plan will be speedily and faithfully carried out; as for myself
I propose to go below the frost line and plant the eucalyptus gigantea to the
memory of Peter M. Gideon.
Harbor View, Fla., Jan. 19, 1900.
EXPERIMENT GROUNDS AT LAKE MINNETONKA
IN 1899.
ROLLA STUBBS, BEDERWOOD.
The season of 1809 was not favorable for a very large crop of apples.
The long cold winter of 1898-99 did some damage to some young trees, five
to eight years old, no more, however, than killing back the last year’s
growth on some varieties. The Wealthy seemed to be affected as much as
any, except in some localities; the Peerless were nearly entirely killed.
Our old trees, twenty-five years old, failed to bear more than one-fourth
of a crop of fruit last year, those bearing mostly being Wealthy, Duchess,
Patten’s Greening, Peter; crabs, Whitney and Virginia. My seedling trees
bore about half a crop, having borne annually for twenty years four to ten
bushels a year each. Apple tree planting has taken a boom through this
locality in the last three or four years and a number of promising young or-
chards are just coming into bearing.
102 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The small fruit industry, the year of 1899, has increased one-third over
previous years, the Minnetonka Fruit Growers’ Association having sold
$18,500 worth of small fruit for season of 1899, mostly raspberries of the
Marlboro variety, and strawberries. We think the increase of small fruits
here the coming year will be fifty acres, in an area of three miles square.
While the Marlboro is the leading variety, we have many black varieties,
Gregg and Nemaha principally. They did well. The Loudon is being ex-
tensively planted. The Miller is doing well here. All varieties did well here
that were covered. I have the following varieties on my grounds: Marl-
boro, Loudon, Miller, Turner, Nemaha and Gregg, Shaffer’s Colossal,
Golden Queen. All these varieties went into the winter looking healthier
than I ever saw them before.
Strawberries bore a heavy crop here, all beds doing well. The lead-
ing varieties raised here are Bederwood, Crescent and Lovett. I have on
trial Warfield, Glen Mary, Haverland and Parker Earle. Plums were a
light crop owing to heavy rains and chilly weather in the spring while in
bloom, causing the blossoms to drop. My seedling variety, the Eureka, had
one-fourth crop. I have the De Soto, Hawkeye, Rockford and Cheney.
The De Soto was affected some with black rust on the trees. The curculio
were quite bad. I have Early Richmond, English Morello and Wragg
cherries. The Early Richmond are doing the best with me, standing the
winter better.
STORY OF A MINNESOTA GARDEN.
PROF. THOS. SHAW, SCHOOI, OF AGRICULTURE, ST. ANTHONY PARK,
The writer came to Minnesota in the autumn of 1893, and located in St.
Anthony Park. At the rear of the dwelling is a small piece of level ground,
which was covered with a thin sod of grass. Permission was obtained from
the owner to dig up the ground, with a view to turning it into a garden.
It was therefore dug the same autumn. The digging revealed the fact
that it was “made” land; that is to say, that the undersoil was sand and
gravel that had been removed from the cellar, and that the top soil was
black loam, brought in from abroad. Over much of the surface the top
soil was only half a spade in depth, and the undersoil at that season was so
hard that the spade would not penetrate it. The next summer, 1894, was
unprecedentedly dry, and yet the amount of produce obtained from it was
a surprise to the writer. This is was that prompted the idea to ascertain
how much garden produce could be obtained from this little piece of ground
in a normal season; hence, an accurate account of everything that was
grown upon it was kept during the years 1895, 1896, 1897 and 1898, except
what was considered not strictly first-class, and was, therefore, thrown away
amid the superabundance that was produced.
The following is a record of the produce grown during the summers
mentioned above:
In 1895: WGCELUICE,, sPLAINES or cterers cre. ... - iscoe-si-ss a 16
—s 2. = A
STORY OF A MINNESOTA GARDEN. 103
Parsnipsss DlaMtSix is... oe code oceans 24 Potatoes: [quanisy 2.2 ..oh: S5eisa:cnns.< 74
Beets, while yet growing, plants 111 SUCUBYMETSS, ELUNE Yes. ec aces - 565
Carrots, while yet growing, Tomatoes, before harvesting,
PPUTNES Break a ate eee cme at araiaare ss 62 PCUTED fests. Bsc antes eee oe ticlnes 60
eee ATES sea Sek 5 nas toe Bale ne atas 153 Tomatoes, harvested, pecks ...... 3
Summer savory, plants ........... 79 Vegetable oyster, pecks .......... 4
Cress or peppergrass, plants.... 214 Halk CUEHIDS. DOCKS oe enceseeocees eo. 6
Ghichry Planes) secacs se dese sees 103 PUN UMS BPE ULE. ccs sere tincoe Cement 25
Spmach + plants .cc ss. cue ket ccoes 124 Witrons < LrUit foncck eo eta eer ce ee 15
Brussels sprouts, plants .......... 24 SaMaSHeS:, HOUT... cece etic wae ores a
Corn for table use, ears ......... 246 Beans in the pod, quarts.......... 4
Peas, shelled, quarts ‘............- 26 Beans ripe and shelled, quarts.. 3
Potatoes GUATES .2orecdeccccs se ek 18 Beets used while yet growing,
Beans in the pod, quarts ........ 22 POPAIMUS Si Bone ce che as authls ele Rao seek 78
GBA MNAGES a NEAGSS sates). Steve's sinks 12 Beets; harvested, pecks ....:..... 4
AeaHOWEL,, “NEADS, 925.5.s0<05.55,00e- 14 Carrots used while yet growing,
PROTEGE DULG. 45 os wicrig sie njeld ove © se 1,200 NOR CUTIE SS aetole ctw cisjejeie eis opi tele es cjale aie sit acre 102
ROUCUIMDETSREPULE “sve es cnt cen eee. 446 Carrots, harvested, pecks ........ D
PPS) HEU | sicocce Uede Wh 2 bona 25 Peas in the pod, quarts...... pie ee: 61
ROE Rte SS ee ULE iu Siec tha opr ord vim wale nies cre 20 In 1898:
Winter TAGISHES. Dus. .-.c.cecseo.-s 14 RAGES a PlAaAIESt oe ces ok leiten se oe 2.159
Wartter EUErMIDS, DU. .c.ccssceccs ssc 1 Onions while green (early),
ECUS § DUISHEISS sete ce cceis otvels oe 6 Plats te oN ear enc meee ce 1,692
@arrotssHushels! she teses-ws sce dees. 12 Onions while green (late), plants 450
In 1896: Onions, for pickling, piants....... 282
RIAGISHES| IPIANES, -. o/s eaaeons Soe wake 5,D17 Onions, harvested, quarts ........ 88
WICUOIIGES DLATNES eos ccc tices «fo a[tee -relan 231 Onions, harvested, small sets,
Onions from sets, plants ........ 1,394 ATURE CSP e Sees ce ee ene ee 5
Onions when thinning, plants....1,810 Spinachswplants) DART:
TEACH THE KIDS TO PLANT TREES.—You will see by this that I am a poor
stick sixty-seven years old, but I can make humus for the new plants. I want
to help the idea of having our schools teach the kids to set out plants, trees, etc.
I see by my agricultural papers that is the latest fad. I have lately heard that
Governor Lind is much taken up with the idea He said ‘‘ The sand prairie
south of Cannon Falls should be covered with pine trees. If I had the control
of matters, in less than five years the vacant land in this state would be all set
out to trees, and the second generation from now should have to go to grub-
bing. I would convert our school houses into storehouses for agricultural
purposes, I would have lines of trees from one school house to the other, and
the kid who had the most living trees under his control would be the best edu-
cated; the graduate would have at least five acres of land in his care.’’ A hint to
the wise is sufficient. Yours for the fair face of nature,
Cannon Falls, February 24. U. TANNER.
ECHOES FROM FARMERS’ INSTITUTE.—The meetings still continues interest-
ing and largely attended. At Marshall we had the governor of South Dakota
and other state officers in the audience; also the entire State Farmers’ Institute
Corps of that state.
_ I was much pleased to meet Prof. Hanson, horticulturist of the South Dakota
School of Agriculture, who has earned a national reputation for the progressive
work he is doing in the best interests of the dry portion of this northwestern
as oa
158 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
country, the value of which will be much better understood as the years go on.
The matter of more hardy roots for all our fruit trees is a most important
subject to the planter, still one which has been neglected in our search for
hardy stocks until Prof. Hanson got out after them. Now they must come to
us, for the professor will go to the North Pole in his search, if sucha trip is
necessary to accomplish any undertaking placed in his hands. I trust all
growers of nursery stock will aid him in this much needed work.
Luverne, March 6. A. K. BusH.
A VALUABLE DEWBERRY.—I have a dewberry that I believe will do well in
Minnesota with proper winter protection. It has stood twenty degrees below
freezing here without protection, but Ido not know how much more it would
stand. It, however, could be very easily protected from cold, as it lays close
to the ground.
Isee that Prof. Green, of St. Anthony Park, has been experimenting with
the dewberry with poor success, and I want him to try my Texas dewberry. I
also want to test the shipping qualities and am contemplating shipping you a
twenty-four box crate of the fruit about April Ist, with a few plants for Prof.
». BrG@reen:
We are having a very late spring. The dewberries are just beginning to
bloom, and it may be a few days after April 1st before I shall be able to send
the fruit.
I believe I have a good berry and a good shipper, and I want as manr of my
horticultural friends to test it as can take the time and trouble to do so.
Lamarque, Texas, March 6, 1900. A. STEWART.
FRUIT AT SLEEPY EvE.—We had a snowfall of about five inches March 5th
and 7th. This is the first sleighing for this winter. This winter was hard on
winter wheat, and in many places winter rye is damaged to some extent. I
had several foreign plum trees left over from last winter. All are dead now ex-
cept Early Red anda Russian. I received several Early Red from Prof. Budd,
five years ago. They have borne a few plums the last two years. I tried to
acclimate them, and I have grafted them for the last four years. I took scions
every time from my last grafting, and grafted them again on hardy plum seed-
lings. I examined the last grafting a few days ago and found them in good
condition. I have a number of plum trees grafted on sand cherry roots several
years ago; they had a fair crop of healthy plums last year. The rest of my
plums were poor in quality, and many rotted on the trees.
I have several apple trees that were partly damaged last winter, growing
during last summer. They are dead now. Two years ago I top-grafted a few
on Hibernal and Virginia crab. I put on scions of Patten’s Greening, Peerless
and a Repka Malenka,and all made a good growth. They look fresh and healthy.
I received a few Patten’s Greening five years ago. They have borne a few
apples the last few years. The Patten is hardy and a reliable tree to plant;
also an early bearer.
I was in New Ulm a short time ago. I found out that the Horticultural Club
there is dead. I am pleased to learn that so many farmers became members of
the State Horticultural Society in and around Sleepy Eye.
I cut out about an acre in my timber last winter, where the timber was light,
and shall replant this spring. I will plant cottonwood and black walnut. I cut
cottonwood this winter that were planted in 1870; the trees averaged over
one cord of wood.
Sleepy Eye, March 7, 1900. MARTIN PENNING.
.
_ Deeretary’s ( Porner.
HAVE YOU VISITED THE OFFICE AND LIBRARY LATELY?—A list of those
of our membership who have visited the office and library of the society dur-
ing the past month would be a long one—too long for your reading or my
writing. Do not fail to call when in the city and see the society home.
SURPLUS PAPERS FOR DISTRIBUTION.—There is something of an accumula-
tion of agricultural and horticultural papers in this office, which will be’sent to
any applicants without expense, except express charges. First come, first
served. If you do not receive any in response, it is because earlier applicants
have exhausted the supply. :
List oF THOSE SENDING NEW MEMBERS IN MARCH:
J. E. Dodds, 1. G. A. Tracy, 2.
L. R. Moyer, 1. W. S. Higbie, 1.
C. E. Older, 2. H. W. Hinds, 1.
Jas. Ogilvie, 1. Paul P. Klevann, 1.
M. Olson, 1. Thos. Redpath, 1.
J. S.. Harris, 1. A. K. Bush, Farmers’ Institute, 34.
AN APPEAL FOR THE MINNESOTA NATIONAL PARK.—The attention of our
members is called especially to an appeal in the interest of the proposed Nation-
al Park, which it is hoped to locate in northern Minnesota. It isa measure
which commends itself to all who are interested in forest development and pro-
tection. A method by which you may help along this movement is suggested
in this article, which will be found on another page in this number of th®
Horticulturist.
ANOTHER WISCONSIN TRIAL ORCHARD.—At the late annual meeting of
the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, it was decided to establish another
trial orchard, at some point still farther north than Wausau, where the present
one is located. This determination must necessarily interest Minnesota horti-
culturists very much, as any results obtained are of equal value in either
state. President Johnson, Secy. Herbst, Prof. Goff, Mr. L. G. Kellogg and
Henry Worrant have charge of this enterprise.
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE.—B. S. Hoxie and Prof. E. S.
Goff are a committee appointed by the Wisconsin society to prepare a volume
under the above title. An outline of the work given in the ‘‘Wisconsin Horti-
culturist’’ indicates the comprehensiveness of the plan, which, if carried out,
will cover every feature of value in the pomology of the state. In pursuance
of the purpose a large number of circular letters have been addressed to those
informed on the subject. This is a worthy project, and the result is awaited
with interest by the brethren ‘‘over the line.’’
A NATIONAL PARK IN MINNESOTA.—The attention of our readers is called
particularly to an article published in this number entitled, ‘‘An Appeal for a
National Park in Minnesota,’’ issued jointly by a number of popular state
associations interested in the subject. To give this appeal force requires that
160 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
the reader should communicate with his representative in congress. The
opponents of the measure are actively at work, and its friends must give it at-
tention if this timber is ever to be saved for this exceedingly desirable purpose.
Write today.
ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE APPLE.—Who of our society has ever given the Mil-
waukee apple a trial, and what has been the result? When at the Wisconsin
State Fair last fall, we saw the fruit and were much impressed with its appear-
ance and good quality. It is said to be a seedling of the Duchess, and it
certainly looks as much like its reputed parent as child ever resembled its
mother. Same shape, same striping, same expression. But it issaid to bea
true winter apple. Perhaps Father Harris knows all about it,and why we
Minnesota people are not spending much thought on it.
CLARENCE WEDGE.
INFORMATION WANTED ABOUT THE GIDEON SEEDLINGS.— Mr. Elliot has
secured from the late Mr. Gideon’s books. the addresses of several hundred per-
sons to whom he sent apple seedlings for planting at different times. There is
so much promise of valuable results from this distribution, that a communica-
tion is soon to be sent out from this office to those parties to learn the outcome.
Any reader of the Minnesota Horticulturist who can give information about
any of the seedling apple trees now growing in their vicinity that- originally
came from the late Peter M. Gideon, of Excelsior, Minn., will confer a great
favor by sending the secretary, and editor of this journal, a postal card with
the name and address of the parties now owning such trees and other infor-
mation in regard to them.
ARE You INTERESTED IN TREES ?—Owing to the great demand for the pub-
lication ‘‘Forestry in Minnesota,”’ (a 312-page treatise, by Prof. S. B. Green),
the Minnesota State Forestry Association has decided to have the remaining
copies bound in cloth. Until the supply is exhausted it can be had for 25
cents, (cost of binéing and postage); to non-residents, 40 cents. We will
also distribute a limited number of Jack Pine Seedlings, 4 to 6 in. (one of our
hardiest native evergreens), in quantities as desired, at 1 cent each, postpaid.
Every one interested in tree-growth should belong to this association. Per-
manent membership fee is $1, including the above mentioned publication; or,
upon receipt of 40 cents extra, either 50 Jack Pine seedlings, 100 Box Elder
or 50 Laurel Leaf or Russian Golden Willow cuttings will be mailed postpaid.
Correspondence should be directed to
GEO. W. STRAND, Secy.,
Taylor Falls, Minn.
A card from Mr. O. F. Brand announces the death of E. B. Jordan, at North
Ontario, Calif., on March 10, 1900. Mr. Jordan will be well remembered by
all the older members of the society, as very prominent in our work from 1868
to 1886, when he removed from the state. For some years past he has been
engaged in preaching the gospel. We hope to secure soon a suitable biography
of our honored fellow worker.
MY METHOD OF REARING QUEENS. 153
the larvae. Now go to the colony where the queen is you expect to breed
from, and take a frame with larvae from twenty-four to thirty-six hours
old. Transfer the larvae into the cups, and your frame is ready for the bees.
After about four days more go to your queen-rearing colony and shake
all the bees from the combs and again cut off all the natural queen cells,
putting back the two combs as quickly as possible next the cups. Leave out
one comb on the opposite side of the colony and proceed as before, as this
cutting will give you royal jelly for another set of cups. Do not disturb this
colony until the last cups have been in two days. Close watch must be kept
on it, however, in order to be sure that no natural queen cells hatch. The
artificial queen cells can be placed in nuclei when they are nine or ten
days old.
After the brood is all sealed the trouble is over with that colony, as we
keep up the strength with frames of sealed brood which have been put in
an upper story to be sealed, purposely for them.
Later in the season I put fifteen and sometimes eighteen cups on one
stick. Here is a kodak picture of our little daughter holding a frame with a
string of fifteen mature queen cells. In the background is a portion of our
queen rearing apiary. Every one of those cells hatched the next day after
the picture was taken. I prepare a string of cups every two days and some-
times two strings. The same colonies are kept buildings cells, one string
on each side, until they commence to show a lack of interest, when they
are given laying queens, ‘and others selected.
Great care should be taken in selecting queens to breed from. A queen
with all the good qualities combined is none too good. We keep a high
priced imported queen in our yard all the time, and breed from her and
select tested queens. We have had several imported queens, but never a
swarm from any of them. Last summer a two-story ten frame hive would
hardly hold the bees, but no swarm.
Great care should also be taken in the matter of drones. As soon as pos-
sible in spring put some drone comb in the center of your choicest colonies;
and if. you have some which are not so choice, take the drone comb away
if they happen to have any.
I will gladly answer any questions that I can on this subject.
LOCATING SHRUBS FOR EFFECT.
FRANK H. NUTTER, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, MINNEAPOLIS.
Many, and indeed most, of those who enter with enthusiasm on the im-
provement of their home grounds devote both time and money to the se-
curing of trees for this purpose, and frequently too many of them; and
then, deeming their task complete, “retire upon their laurels.” When, how-
ever, the trees begin to shoot upward, and, shedding their lower branches,
open up the grounds again to the searching winds, it is seen that without
the co-operation of their more humble allies, the shrubs and dwarf trees,
their mission is but poorly accomplished.
Much more effective, even as a shelter-belt, will a group of trees become
if its borders be extended somewhat by dwarf willows, dogwoods, thorns,
etc., from the neighboring swamps and thickets.
From the standpoint of scenic effect also these minor additions are of
value, for, however attractive the interior of an open grove may be, it be-
154 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
comes more so when it is screened and partially concealed by well-disposed
groups of shrubs.
To the owner of grounds of limited extent, the shrubs come with
particular value. Very few trees perhaps can be accommodated on the nar-
row lawn, and often they will have to be relegated to the sidewalk row;
one or two smaller and select varieties of tree, as the Wier’s maple, cut-
leaf birch, or weeping mountain ash, or some dwarf evergreen may be
placed upon the lawn, but the principal dependence must be placed upon the
shrubs, and gallantly will they come to the aid of those who put their trust
in them.
How, then, shall they be arranged to give the best effect? The father
of American landscape gardening, in his desire to combat the ideas of
geometrical planting prevailing in his time, suggested that better results
might be obtained if the planter would take the necessary number of pota-
toes, and, throwing them at random in the air, set his trees wherever the
tubers might be found resting on the lawn. Sometimes we find shrubs
dotted all over the grounds in such a way as to indicate that the owner had
literally followed some such advice; but as we contemplate the spottedness
that results and the lack of open lawn space, we feel that the spirit of the
great artist, if present, would add to his former suggestion a clause to the
effect that, when applied to shrubberies, the garden rake should first be
called into use to draw the potatoes into more intimate relationship with
each other and to afford those broad spaces of sunlight so essential to a per-
fect picture.
It is evident then that under ordinary circumstances our shrubberies
should be arranged around the boundaries of our lawns, but other consider-
ations may also influence the special location of them. Many necessary de-
tails of domestic economy, especially in the country, are not always desir-
able features in the landscape and, whether far or near, properly arranged
plantations may entirely screen them, or, with the addition of vines, so drape
the obnoxious object as to change it into a thing of beauty.
The individual taste of the owner will also point to specific effects de-
sirable in these plantings. If he desires the brightest reminders of open-
ing spring, many early-blooming species will serve him, and on through the
calendar of flowers he will find those varieties which will continue the feast
of colors until autumn frosts replace the blasted blossoms with the richer
scarlets and yellows of the dying leaves.
Even in winter their beauty will not flee, for the many-tinted fruits and seeds
of the cranberry bush, the bittersweet, the wild rose and the winter berry,
the crimson wands of dogwood, the golden bark of the willow and the
evergeen of the spruce and pine stand out the more vividly for their drapery
of sparkling frost or fleecy snow.
In obtaining all or any portion of this, some rules, however, may be fol-
lowed to advantage.
While an occasional fine or rare specimen may stand somewhat apart
on the lawn, it is well to keep most of the plantings more compact, though
of course with irregular outline of bed.
In these plantings the different species or kindred species should be
massed, rather than scattered promiscuously throughout the borders; the
latter arrangement would give a spotted effect throughout the season, but
LOCATING SHRUBS FOR EFFECT. 155
massed as suggested, first one section of the shrubberies and then another
will burst into bloom as the season rolls by.
Vividly colored shrubs will appeal forcibly to some planters, and while,
if used cautiously, the effects may be pleasant, they must be used with cau-
tion, and the main reliance placed upon the old standard varieties which
have proved reliable in our climate. The same may be said as to many of
the novelties so much lauded in print at so much per line.
It should be borne in mind that some varieties of strong growing, hardy
perennials, as the asclepias, dicentra, coreopsis, day, wood or tiger lilies,
helianthus, rudbeckia, goldenrod, peonies, etc., may be interspersed with
the shrubs or planted on the borders of the group to great advantage, and
the effects of the bright flowers obtained at times when flowering shrubs are
rare. ,
In places where half-wild thickets are desired, the wild grape, woodbine
or native clematis clambering over the tops of the shrubs will add to their
effect.
In strictly ornamental plantings, where, on the finished lawn, beds of
foliage plants are suggested, the undesirable intrusion on the more valuable
open lawn may be avoided by planting the cannas, caladiums and other ex-
otics in connection with the shrubbery borders.
But, wherever used, whether as specimen plantings on the lawn, around
the borders of the grounds to conceal or enhance the distant view, or around
the foundations of the house and other buildings to blend them more perfect-
ly with their surroundings, we will find that our shrubs will richly repay our
labor and, like many of the humble things of life, to be not only useful,
but absolutely necessary to the satisfactory completion of any scheme of
improvement.
LOCATING AND LAYING OUT THE MINNESOTA
ORCHARD.
Cc. W. MERRITT, HOMER.
In selecting ground for an orchard, I would choose, if I could, that which
slopes to the north or east. The ground on which my orchard is situated
slopes both north and east, sheltered on the west by quite a belt of timber,
being low down in the lap of the hillside. I think I have an ideal situation
for an orchard.
Many years ago when we set trees from the Jewell Nursery, and others,
and, of course, did not know what we wanted—any better than we do now—
we did not have very good luck in making them grow, and if they grew
the first hard winter weeded out the major portion of them, such as Perry
Russet, Golden Russet, Grimes’ Golden, St. Lawrence, Greenings, etc. We
have now and then an old tree of the old stock left to remind us of the good
old times gone by.
My orchard was set by fits and starts, and I have been filling out, as it
were, for thirty years. Part of the apple trees are set twenty feet apart, each
way; part of them sixteen feet. In the rows of the twenty feet orchard, be-
tween the apple trees I have set cherry trees. I thought I could get some-
thing out of the cherries while the apples were growing. The apple trees
in this orchard are for the most part Peerless, an upright grower.
156 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
In the sixteen foot orchard, I have set them in this form: apples,
sixteen feet each way, and in each alternate space between the rows, plums
or cherries, the same distance apart and set opposite to spaces between the
apple trees, leaving each alternate space for a drive way to manure and
otherwise care for the orchard. I reasoned this way: by the time the
apple trees get large enough to reach out much, the plums and cherries will
be ready to come out. It has been my experience that plums in particular
pay best while quite young.
In order to utilize all of the ground in the orchard, between the trees set
twenty feet apart, I have put red raspberries; in the space between the rows
I have blackberries. This leaves room for cultivation either side of the black-
berries, thus cultivating the whole ground. Also I have red raspberries in
the apple tree rows of the sixteen foot orchard.
I want to say right here that I consider the danger from injury to trees
by rabbits very much increased by having raspberries in the tree rows, I
have had some ruined in this way, But in this case they were black rasp-
berries, which afford much better shelter for them in winter. I cut the old
brush out of them, both black and red, in the fall. A point in favor of rasp-
berries in the tree row is that they shade the ground and tend to prevent
tree scald.
A man who has spent a life time in the orchard business has just com-
menced to learn something when he is ready to die.
PUDDLING TREES BEFORE SETTING.
H. E. VAN DEMAN.
One of the most helpful things I ever learned in horticulture was about
puddling trees and all sorts of plants before setting them. The first thing
every transplanted tree or plant must do before it can grow in its new loca-
tion, is to heel the wounds made upon its roots and start new rootlets
through which to absorb moisture and food from the soil. The closer and
more firmly the earth is pressed to them, the more readily they can do this.
It takes time for the particles of the soil to get into as close contact with
the roots as it was before transplanting, no matter how well the work is done.
This is where puddling comes in. The cost is nothing, except a very little
work. It is done thus:
Near where the trees or plants are heeled in, or the place where they are
to be planted, dig a hole about two feet in diameter and one foot deep. Fill
it nearly full of water. Into this put mellow earth that is partly composed
of clay, and stir it until it is a mass of thin sticky mud. As soon as the roots
are trimmed ready for planting, dip them into it bodily. If there is any de-
lay about planting, and the mud dries so that it is not sticky, puddle them
again. When the mellow soil comes in contact with these muddy roots it
will stick to them closely. Those who have never tried this plan can have
no knowledge of the good that follows. I puddle almost every plant that
I set, and find that it always pays. Cabbage and sweet potato plants will
start into new growth almost without wilting, no matter what the weather
may be at the time.
Your orner.
APPLES THAT KEEP.—We have apples that will keep all winter in cellar,
but they do not exactly fill the bill for that $1,000. Last winter we had ap-
ples that we raised, all through the winter, more than we could use, and if we
have a good fruit year hope to raise more this year.
Winnebago City, February 28. S. D. RICHARDSON.
OLD FRIENDS IN THE FAR WES?T.—This winter during my stay at San Diego,
Cal., I called on our old horticultural friends, former President Truman M.
Smith and Secretary I..M. Ford. At Mr. Smith’s I was most agreeably enter-
tained. His love for fruit and the beautiful has not abated and evidently never
will in this life. It did me good to once more look into those manly eyes
and again hear that voice, which for thirty-five years had rung out to the
wide world the possibilities of Minnesota horticulture. Our old friend Ford is,
if possible, a more enthusiastic florist than ever. He says if he could only get a
reliable and competent partner that there is an immense field open for them.
O. F. BRAND.
A NURSERYMEN’S DIRECTORY.—‘‘Every nurseryman should go into the
directory who pretends to be a nurseryman, but no one should go in without
being thoroughly investigated’’ ‘I think our executive committee should ap-
point a nursery inspector, whose duty it should be to visit every snide nursery
in the state and report the exact situation. Nurserymen known to_be reliable
could be interviewed by letter by yourself.’’
“June would be a good time, as snide stock would not be snowed under,
but as it is desirable to get the directory before the people as soon as possible
even winter inspection might be advisable.” ‘Am nearly through grafting
—haye made nearly 2,573 root grafts, of just 150 varieties; will increase to
3,000 and about 175 varieties.’’
Owatonna, February, 1900, FE, Ho, S. DART.
TEACH THE KIDS To PLANT TREES.—You will see by this that I am a poor
stick'sixty-seven years old, but I can make humus for the new plants. I want
to help the idea of having our schools teach the kids to set out plants,,trees, etc.
I see by my agricultural papers that is the latest fad. I have lately heard that
Governor Lind is much taken up with the idea He said ‘‘ The sand prairie
south of Cannon Falls should be covered with pine trees. If I had the control
of matters, in less than five years the vacant land in this state would be all set
out to trees, and the second generation from now should have to go to grub-
bing. I would convert our school houses into storehouses for agricultural
purposes, I would have lines of trees from one school house to the other, and
the kid who had the most living trees under his control would be the best edu-
cated; the graduate would have at least five acres of land in his care.’’ A hint to
the wise is sufficient. Yours for the fair face of nature,
Cannon Falls, February 24. U. TANNER.
ECHOES FROM FARMERS’ INSTITUTE.—The meetings still continues interest-
ing and largely attended. At Marshall we had the governor of South Dakota
and other state officers in the audience; also the entire State Farmers’ Institute
Corps of that state.
I was much pleased to meet Prof. Hanson, horticulturist of the South Dakota
School of Agriculture, who has earned a national reputation for the progressive
work he is doing in the best interests of the dry portion of this northwestern
158 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
country, the value of which will be much better understood as the years go on.
The matter of more hardy roots for all our fruit trees is a most important
subject to the planter, still one which has been neglected in our search for
hardy stocks until Prof. Hanson got out after them. Now they must come to
us, for the professor will go to the North Pole in his search, if sucha trip is
necessary to accomplish any undertaking placed in his hands. I trust all
growers of nursery stock will aid him in this much needed work.
Iuverne, March 6. A. K. BUSH.
A VALUABLE DEWBERRY.—I have a dewberry that I believe will do well in
Minnesota with proper winter protection. It has stood twenty degrees below
freezing here without protection, but Ido not know how much more it would
stand. It, however, could be very easily protected from cold, as it lays close
to the ground.
Isee that Prof. Green, of St. Anthony Park, has been experimenting with
the dewberry with poor success, and I want him to try my Texas dewberry. I
also want to test the shipping qualities and am contemplating shipping you a
twenty-four box crate of the fruit about April 1st, with a few plants for Prof.
S. B. Green.
We are having a very late spring. The dewberries are just beginning to
bloom, and it may be a few days after April Ist before I shall be able to send
the fruit.
I believe I have a good berry and a good shipper, and I want as many of my
horticultural friends to test it as can take the time and trouble to do so.
Lamarque, Texas, March 6, 1900. A. STEWART.
FRUIT AT SLEEPY EYE.—We had a snowfall of about five inches March 5th
and 7th. This is the first sleighing for this winter. This winter was hard on
winter wheat, and in many places winter rye is damaged to some extent. I
had several foreign plum trees left over from last winter. All are dead now ex-
cept Early Red anda Russian. I received several Early Red from Prof. Budd,
five years ago. They have borne a few plums the last two years. I tried to
acclimate them, and I have grafted them for the last four years. I took scions
every time from my last grafting, and grafted them again on hardy plum seed-
lings. I examined the last grafting a few days ago and found them in good
condition. I have a number of plum trees grafted on sand cherry roots several
years ago; they had a fair crop of healthy plums last year. The rest of my
plums were poor in quality, and many rotted on the trees.
I have several apple trees that were partly damaged last winter, growing
during last summer. They are dead now. Two years ago I top-grafted a few
on Hibernal and Virginia crab. I put on scions of Patten’s Greening, Peerless
and a Repka Malenka,and all made a good growth. They look fresh and healthy.
I received a few Patten’s Greening five years ago. They have borne a few
apples the last few years. The Patten is hardy and a reliable tree to plant;
also an early bearer.
I was in New Ulm a short time ago. I found out that the Horticultural Club
there is dead. I am pleased to learn that so many farmers became members of
the State Horticultural Society in and around Sleepy Eye.
I cut out about an acre in my timber last winter, where the timber was light,
and shall replant this spring. I will plant cottonwood and black walnut. I cut
cottonwood this winter that were planted in 1870; the trees averaged over
one cord of wood.
Sleepy Eye, March 7, 1900. MARTIN PENNING.
ecretary’s (Yorner.
HAVE YOU VISITED THE OFFICE AND LIBRARY LATELY?—A list of those
of our membership who have visited the office and library of the society dur-
ing the past month would be a long one—too long for your reading or my
writing. Do not fail to call when in the city and see the society home.
SURPLUS PAPERS FOR DISTRIBUTION.—There is something of an accumula-
tion of agricultural and horticultural papers in this office, which will be’sent to
any applicants without expense, except express charges. First come, first
served. If you do not receive any in response, it is because earlier applicants
have exhausted the supply.
List oF THOSE SENDING NEW MEMBERS IN MARCH:
J. E. Dodds, 1. G. A. Tracy, 2.
L. R. Moyer, 1. W. S. Higbie, 1.
C. EB. Older, 2. H. W. Hinds, 1.
Jas. Ogilvie, 1. Paul P. Klevann, 1.
M. Olson, 1. Thos. Redpath, 1.
hase Harriss 1. A. K. Bush, Farmers’ Institute, 34.
AN APPEAL, FOR THE MINNESOTA NATIONAL PARK.—The attention of our
members is called especially to an appeal in the interest of the proposed Nation-
al Park, which it is hoped to locate in northern Minnesota. It isa measure
which commends itself to all who are interested in forest development and pro-
tection. A method by which you may help along this movement is suggested
in this article, which will be found on another page in this number of th©
Horticulturist.
ANOTHER WISCONSIN TRIAL ORCHARD.—At the late annual meeting of
the Wisconsin State Horticultural Society, it was decided to establish another
trial orchard, at some point still farther north than Wausau, where the present
one is located. ‘This determination must necessarily interest Minnesota horti-
culturists very much, as any results obtained are of equal value in either
state. President Johnson, Secy. Herbst, Prof. Goff, Mr. L. G. Kellogg and
Henry Worrant have charge of this enterprise.
HISTORY OF WISCONSIN HORTICULTURE.—B. S. Hoxie and Prof. E. S.
Goff are a committee appointed by the Wisconsin society to prepare a volume
under the above title. An outline of the work given in the ‘‘Wisconsin Horti-
culturist’? indicates the comprehensiveness of the plan, which, if carried out,
will cover every feature of value in the pomology of the state. In pursuance
of the purpose a large number of circular letters have been addressed to those
informed on the subject. This is a worthy project, and the result is awaited
with interest by the brethren ‘‘over the line.’’
A NATIONAL PARK IN MINNESOTA.—The attention of our readers is called
_ particularly to an article published in this number entitled, ‘‘An Appeal for a
National Park in Minnesota,’ issued jointly by a number of popular state
associations interested in the subject. To give this appeal force requires that
160 - MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
the reader should communicate with his representative in congress. The
opponents of the measure are actively at work, and its friends must give it at-
tention if this timber is ever to be saved for this exceedingly desirable purpose.
Write today.
ABOUT THE MILWAUKEE APPILE.—Who of our society has ever given the Mil-
waukee apple a trial, and what has been the result? When at the Wisconsin
State Fair last fall, we saw the fruit and were much impressed with its appear-
ance and good quality. It is said to be a seedling of the Duchess, and it
certainly looks as much like its reputed parent as child ever resembled its
mother. Same shape, same striping, same expression. But it is said to bea
true winter apple. Perhaps Father Harris knows all about it,and why we
Minnesota people are not spending much thought on it.
CLARENCE WEDGE.
INFORMATION WANTED ABOUT THE GIDEON SEEDLINGS.— Mr. Elliot has
secured from the late Mr. Gideon’s books the addresses of several hundred per-
sons to whom he sent apple seedlings for planting at differenttimes. There is
so much promise of valuable results from this distribution, that a communica-
tion is soon to be sent out from this office to those parties to learn the outcome.
Any reader of the Minnesota Horticulturist who can give information about
any of the seedling apple trees now growing in their vicinity that originally
came from the late Peter M. Gideon, of Excelsior, Minn., will confer a great
favor by sending the secretary, and editor of this journal, a postal card with
the name and address of the parties now owning such trees and other infor-
mation in regard to them.
ARE You INTERESTED IN TREES ?—Owing to the great demand for the pub-
lication ‘‘Forestry in Minnesota,’’ (a 312-page treatise, by Prof. S. B. Green),
the Minnesota State Forestry Association has decided to have the remaining
copies bound in cloth. Until the supply is exhausted it can be had for 25
cents, (cost of binéing and postage); to non-residents, 40 cents. We will
also distribute a limited number of Jack Pine Seedlings, 4 to 6 in. (one of our
hardiest native evergreens), in quantities as desired, at 1 cent each, postpaid.
Every one interested in tree-growth should belong to this association. Per-
manent membership fee is $1, including the above mentioned publication; or,
upon receipt of 40 cents extra, either 50 Jack Pine seedlings, 100 Box Elder
or 50 Laurel Leaf or Russian Golden Willow cuttings will be mailed postpaid.
Correspondence should be directed to
GEO. W. STRAND, Secy.,
Taylor Falls, Minn.
A card from Mr. O. F. Brand announces the death of E. B. Jordan, at North
Ontario, Calif., on March 10, 1900. Mr. Jordan will be well remembered by
all the older members of the society, as very prominent in our work from 1868
to 1886, when he removed from the state. For some years past he has been
engaged in preaching the gospel. We hope to secure soon a suitable biography
of our honored fellow worker.
‘YJBap Jay a10jaq s1v2f OA} pue ‘OBv sivak INO} VTMOS U9HB} SEM ojoyd siyL
‘ginjord ay} JO 19} 9d ay} UI payeas SE aYS “AUT ‘WosmYOINH JO YIAOU Sopjur oay pajytoo’y
ATAMINNOG AINNYV ‘SUN ALVT AHL tO ANOH
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. MAY, 1900. No. 5.
BIOGRAPHY OF MRS. ANNIE BONNIWELL.
W. W. PENDERGAST, HUTCHINSON.
[See frontispiece. ]
Mrs. Annie Bonniwell, who died at Hutchinson, on the 16th of Novem-
ber, 1898, was one of the most valued and respected members of our society.
We had no more faithful, conscientious and earnest worker than she.
Others may have had the advantage of better health, larger facilities and
greater inclination to acquire honors, but no one has been more genuinely
and deeply honored. In her quiet, rural home she led a somewhat sequest-
ered life, giving a large share of her time to her garden, shrubs and flowers,
in which she felt an abiding interest. These things had far greater charm
for: her than the “broad fields of wheat and corn,’ which so many covet
despite the drudgery they bring.
Mrs. Bonniwell was a kind, sympathetic and thoroughly lovable woman,
as all her neighbors will cheerfully testify. Yet she was not one of those
who open their hearts to everybody at first sight. On the other hand, she
had few intimate friends. With her “confidence was a plant of slow growth,”
but her friendships once formed were never broken.
Mrs. Annie Bonniwell (nee Coles), was born in Northampton, Northamp-
tonshire, England, in 1829. Coming to America when she was twenty years
old, she settled in Port Washington, Wis., where she practiced her trade of
milliner and dressmaker till the following year, when she married Mr. Wal-
ter Bonniwell, also of English birth. Their first home was on the shore
of Green Bay, at the mouth of the Oconto river, where Mr. Bonniwell had
been assigned the duty of guarding the government pier. While living
here, Mrs. Bonniwell was the means of saving the lives of the entire crew of
the Lady Elgin, which had been caught by the sudden and unexpected clos-
ing in of winter at Copper Harbor. After a desperate attempt to extricate
the vessel they finally abandoned it to its fate, and set out on foot for the
nearest settlement, nearly one hundred miles away. After two or three
days’ wandering in the unbroken forest, Mrs. Bonniwell found them, be-
numbed with cold and famishing with hunger. She gave them all the care
that her rude surroundings would permit, unselfishly dividing with them her
slender store, and soon had them so far restored that they were able to
start out anew for America and civilization.
The Bonniwells lived here a year and a half, with the great solemn wil-
derness of pines and firs stretching away for unknown miles to the north
and west, in savage grandeur, and the nearest settlers so many miles to the
south that they never penetrated the cheerless wilds of the Oconto. By no
stretch of even a pioneer’s imagination could they be looked upon as neigh-
bors. Month after month passed by, and nothing greeted the sight but wild
162 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
beasts and the same dreary waste of woods. No sound broke upon the ear
but the soughing of wind through the evergreen tops, the howling of
wolves as they prowled around the dwelling and the cry of panthers from
the neighboring trees.
The next three years were spent at Wasso, a lumbering camp far back
in the pineries of northern Wisconsin, Mrs. Bonniwell cooking for forty
men during the winter and for a smaller number in the summer. She saw
no white woman while there, but the Indian squaws came frequently to the
camp, generally bringing something to ‘“Kikishia.”
From the camp just described the Bonniwells moved to Eagle River,
where she was the only white woman within a radius of more than one
hundred miles. When her son William was born, the only help she got
was from an Indian squaw who was at the same time doctor, midwife and
nurse.
Amid all her trials and hardships she never complained, nor did she
even suspect that she was doing anything worthy of special credit, much
less that she was a true heroine. Not so the government, which in recogni-
tion of her great services and heroic acts gave her one hundred and sixty
acres of land, the patent for which was signed by President Buchanan dur-
ing his administration. 2
The following letter from a younger sister who, a mere child at the time,
lived with her through all these trying years will be of interest to all mem-
bers of this society:
Chicago, Jan. 28, 1900.
Mrs. Kennedy,
Dear Friend:—
At one time on Eagle river, the chimney in the shanty caught fire, which
burned one part of the roof. Annie strapped Alfred on my back and took
the baby in her own arms and started for the men who had gone to see
an Indian dance. Oh, it was so bitter cold! In running down the bank,
we met a pack of wolves. We had to run across the lake, about a mile. The
wolves turned and chased us. She first threw her own hood off, and as
we were running she seized my hood and threw to them. Then she took
the baby’s stockings off, and every time we threw something down they
would stop and tear it to pieces. In this way we could gain time. When
we got nearly over the lake, the men heard our screams and came running
toward us. When we got to the Indians’ wigwam, the baby’s feet were
frozen, and Annie’s hands were so badly frozen that there were large sores
on them.
I remember we had a very hard time when Walter went down the river,
just before the rise which took the logs down. He didn’t get back for five
weeks. For the first few weeks we had Indian meal to eat, but after that we
were fed by the Indians. They would bring us fish and wild rice. She
would give them salt for it. The Indians were very kind to us at that time,
but that spring the logging company sent up another woman whose name
was Mrs. J. Fox. She was very unkind to the Indians. When they came,
they brought up a good many canoe-loads of provisions and stored it away
in our dug-out. The Indians didn’t know it was in the hole in the bank.
That night they made a raid on us and drove us out and stole everything
we had in the shanty. When the friendly Indians found out that they were
Annie’s things they brought them back.
BIOGRAPHY OF MRS. ANNIE BONNIWELL. 163
Annie’s Indian name was Kikishia, meaning a deaf man’s wife. About
seven years ago, a friend of mine went up there, and when she spoke the
Indian name, they remembered her well, for she was very kind to them.
A young Frenchman, coming from Lake Superior to Eagle river, lost his
way. The Indians found him sick in the woods and came early in the
morning to tell Annie. She went with them and walked all day and all
night. The Indians came back with her and brought him on two poles.
She paid the Indians by giving them a bag of corn meal. She took care
of the poor boy nearly all winter. The men used to say that the latch-string
always hung out at Bonniwell’s shanty. If they were sick, she always nursed
and cared for them. I think, Mrs. Kennnedy, that I have told all the main
points that I remember about her. I am very glad that you are going to
write up the history of her life, for she certainly deserves it.
; I remain your friend,
Mrs. Celia Duddles.
Mrs. Bonniwell first united with this society in 1890 and there-
after continued her relationship with us up to the time of her death.
She was a regular attendant at the meetings, only missing, I believe,
the one held just prior to her death. As an earnest, quiet worker,
of constant loyalty to the association and its high purposes, she will
always be remembered by all who had the pleasure of knowing her.
—Secretary.
PREPARATION OF THE SOIL BEFORE PLANTING.
IRVING C. SMITH, GREEN BAY, WIS.
Without thorough preparation of the soil it is impossible to get the best
results. How shall we prepare is the point in question.
No close examination of the ordinary field of onions or potatoes is neces-
sary ‘to discover the fact that the first rod on the ends of the beds is fre-
quently not as good as the part farther on. Why? The plowman did not
hold his plow straight to the end, or if the conditions were such as to make
a head land necessary, he did not throw out and start his furrows always on
the same line, making it difficult to properly finish the end of the land.
Again, perhaps you have driven over the ground two or three times after
plowing, to spread manure, and you notice twa, lines of yellowish green
foliage, especially if it be onions. Therefore, for most garden crops plow
deep, pulverize thoroughly, with as little moving of horses and wagons over
the soil as possible.
We will suppose you have planted onions. The seed comes up nicely,
but as the plants grow you notice some places where they are better than
in other places. Why? You got a crop of 600 bushels from the acre, but
on one block of a few square rods there were five bushels to the rod, 800
bushels per acre; on another place only half that amount. Why? The
ground is a little low at the poorer spot, and the water did not drain off
quite clean; then, while applying the last dressing of manure you drove over
. that place three times, which left the ground somewhat hard. The best place
is just as low, but a tile drain passes under that point. The soil was soft and
deep, and the bed a little rounded to give the best of drainage.
Now, if we can grow four rods of onions and get at the rate of 800
164 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
bushels per acre, why can we not grow four acres at the same rate? We
can. Produce the same conditions over the four acres as existed on the four
tods, and the desired crop will be at hand at the time of harvest. To accom-
plish this, study the conditions while the crop is growing. Notice the lay
of the land, the fertility, the subsoil, the drainage. How deep did you plow?
Did you turn up subsoil? Is there a fine, soft seed bed for the young plants
to get started in? Is there enough depth of loose soil to allow the roots
to get down to water if it is a dry season? Is there enough drainage to
allow the roots to get down if it is a wet season? Let me emphasize the
point of drainage, as this is more likely than any other point to be the cause
of the partial failure of the crop. It is not enough that you open ditches
and drain off all surplus water after it has accumulated; it should be done
before the seed is planted. Under-draining gives much the best results.
There is much more in mechanical conditions than we are sometimes willing
to admit.
If I have thrown out some hints that will prompt to more careful study
and more earnest, intelligent effort to comprehend nature, my object will
have been attained.
TOP-WORKING.
CHAS. G. PATTEN, CHARLES CITY, IA.
Marshall P. Wilder once said, ““When we have attained an exact knowl-
edge of the adaptation of the stock to the graft, that will be the perfection
of culture.”
In the above quotation Mr. Wilder very aptly expresses the thought
that has no doubt impressed itself upon the mind of every one who has in-
vestigated this subject to any considerable extent, that beyond and above
any mechanical knowledge or adjustment of scion and stock, there is an un-
definable element in plants, as well as in animal life, that fits one for the
other in varying degrees, and could we adjust it for the highest results we
would come near perfection. This is a work for the experiment stations.
It is too expensive and almost too subtle for the general experimenter.
Time and a large number of trials must be had to meet the requirements.
of this work. That there is great value in it, I do not doubt.
There is a principle in it that has been little heeded or understood. Why
is a given tree or plant adapted or unadapted to the other in the families or
species to which they mutually belong? And why is it that two species, like
our cultivated apple and the Siberian crab and its hybrids, in some cases
utterly fail to unite the cell growth? That they will not we know; that there
is a cause for it we cannot doubt. A microscopic examination of the cells
of the two trees might and probably would reveal one reason and perhaps
the only practical one; but the life element that seems almost akin to the
affinities of the human soul will doubtless never be fathomed.
The putting together of the scion and the graft often unites two seem-
ingly opposing forces, and we call it the “influence of scion and graft,” and
the practical point for us to determine is the equilibrium of influence. In
other words, how much of the stock of a given variety will allow the graft
of another given variety to have an equal balance of influence in the growth
and development of the combined tree? This vital factor in the work of
top-grafting, as before suggested, has been little thought of.
a ae
a «
j
:
,
TOP-WORKING. 165
Top-grafting will never be a reasonable success until it is fully considered
and determined with many, many varieties, and here, as before said, is work
for the experiment stations.
To illustrate: The Fameuse can control successfully so much, and no
more, of the stock of a Virginia crab or Duchess of Oldenburg. Give it
more of the stock, and the top will gradually dwarf and die; give it too little,
and it will gradually starve the root until the tree fails for lack of nourish-
ment.
I wish that the importance of this point might be fully impressed.
Varieties that are too uncongenial should never be used, for they will almost
always produce short lived trees.
The harmonies of plant unions are sometimes wonderful. Oftentimes the
nurseryman notices a single tree in the row that at three or four years old is
two to four times as large as other trees on either side of it, all having had
an equal chance. Whence the difference? Again unite two varieties in
top-working, and they will not unite, only granulate, and finally dwarf and
blow apart.
The writer once budded some of his North Star on two year old Duchess
trees at the collar. They grew very finely for five or six years and then
began to sicken and die, and in a few years more were all dead, while root-
grafts of the same variety continued to flourish and grow with great vigor.
In some cases the stock will over-grow the scion, and after twelve or
fifteen years the side limbs will weaken and die. But in most cases the
graft will not outgrow the stock. If the proper balance has not been se-
cured, the root will be prematurely ripened and starved. In either case the
tree is but short lived and dies, probably by strangulation. In most cases
where top-working is a failure had the scion been inserted in the body of
the tree two to two and one-half feet from the ground the union would have
been perfect, and a good tree the result.
If the graft ultimately overgrows the stock a little it will probably be for
the benefit of the tree, as it wiil tend to thorough maturity of both top and
root.
When trees are top-worked they should be cultivated into a, vigorous
growth, the first year or two especially, as that will insure a smooth union
if stock and scion are at all congenial.
Thrifty young trees are, of course, more successfully worked than old
ones, though the tops on large trees in the orchard can be partially removed
one year and grafted the next.
Transcendent is an excellent stock for Wolf River and Wealthy at two
or three feet from the ground. It is quite probable that this tree has been
overlooked as a stock for the north. The Fall Orange will do finely on this
stock.
I would suggest a thorough trial of the Sweet Russet and Minnesota.
They are both strongly stamped with the apple cross in them. Both are
hardy and free from blight, and the latter is free in wood. Both are likely
to be a success when grafted in the limbs also.
If any apple unites perfectly in the limbs of some hardy sort, it is prob-
ably best to graft there, but in general it makes but little difference in the
_ value of the tree whether it is grafted in the stem or limbs, so that the
equilibrium of influence is maintained. Definite knowledge can only be
reached by actual experiments. To illustrate: On one occasion I grafted
Pink Anis onto about a two foot stem of Hibernal; at the same time this
166 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
same Anis was grafted onto a little less stock of the Virginia crab. The
former grew quite smoothly, while the stock over-grew the latter, and in a
few years the top will be starved out. After nine years’ trial, in neither case
have they been fruitful.
Top-graifting will rarely, if ever, make a shy bearer fruitful. Fruitfulness
is a characteristic.
Willow Twig and large yellow crab, five to six feet in the limbs, is be-
ing choked as in the last case. Had it been grafted in the stock at three feet
from the ground, it would have been a splendid success.
Borsdorf unites exceedingly well on Siberian crabs and would likely work
high up on Virginia, but is a tardy bearer. Yellow Transparent works well
upon Virginia, but it is still inclined to blight. Utter works well on this
stock and is productive. Fameuse is scarcely a success on it, but does fairly
well on Duchess. The latter is far better in the north for a stock than in
central Iowa. Talman Sweet works well on Virginia.
In some cases a variety has been prolific on one stock and not on an-
other. The more blood of the American apple there is in the hybrid
Siberian the better stock it will make, providing it is a hardy, vigorous tree.
Russian and Siberian hybrids are generally too thorny, small and gnarly
in wood, and Russian apples are too nearly a distinct race to be congenial to
most of our American kinds.
We should be looking thoughtfully and earnestly to our American seed-
lings (hybrids) for the highest perfection in stocks. If in this article I have
done more to invite attention to principles than I have in statements of
demonstrated facts, I shall feel fully satisfied.
Mr. Philips, (Wis.): Mr. Patten speaks of a variety that is not
fruitful and that top-working will not make fruitful. My attention
was called to that in the case of the Malinda apple. I was sent by
the Department at Washington to investigate the Malinda apple.
In looking over the old orchard I found some trees that had been
planted twelve to fifteen years before, and every tree was dead, and
ground was used for pasture, but there were four or six Malinda
trees with sprouts growing around them that were bearing those
apples. I found the reason it was discarded was because it was so
long incoming into bearing. I took some scions home, and I found
by top-grafting on the Virginia I got fruit in four years from the
scion, and in four to six years I had a barrel of apples from the tree.
Mr. Lord: Mr. Patten’s paper suggests the question why some
varieties will not assimilate, or why they will not succeed top-grafted
on others. I think Prof. MacMillan’s paper throws some light on
that subject, that the pollen of flowers constitutes the plant, and that
it is the growth of the pollen in the proper vehicle that produces the
plant. I think it is understood that the bud which the scion con-
tains is equivalent to the seed, that is, it will produce the same as
the seed will produce. Prof. MacMillan stated that pollination was
a different process from fecundation, that the plant might be pollen-
ized and not fecundated, or the variety perpetuated. If that is the
case, it shows simply that the bud in the scion being the seed is not
connected with the proper form on the other side that we attempt
to combine it with so that the growth may assimilate. As our presi-
dent remarked, there is food for a good deal of thought in this con-
TOP-WORKING. 167
nection, and I believe Prof. MacMillan’s idea is new to a large body
of horticulturists. It certainly is to me. A study of the question
in that light of pollination may give us some ideas of the difficulties
we meet with in budding different varieties or grafting different
varieties to make them grow.
Mr. Brand: I have devoted considerable thought along that
line that Mr. Lord brings out, and I had concluded that it was the
amount of pollen that affects the character of the plant. Where
there is a very limited amount of pollen applied to the other plant
the breed is produced, but I think it is more likely to counteract all
the characteristics of the mother in the fruit. There was one other
point brought out in the paper, if I understood the language right,
and that is where he says, “the practical part in this work is the
_ congeniality of the varieties.” The idea being to get two varieties
united so that the growth of the grafted variety is so perfect that it
can hardly be told from one on its own roots. That is all right so
far as the tree is concerned, but for the production of fruit a graft
that is not so congenial as to make so well formed a tree and make
so perfect a tree that you can scarcely see where the union is, will
make a tree that will not produce so much fruit. The one that is
perfectly congenial will go to wood, while the other will have a
tendency to produce more fruit. We can make an apple tree grow
without any grafting. If you give it the right degree of moisture
and give your plant something to feed on you can raise an apple
tree without any graft. In that case I do not think it would be as
productive a tree as a grafted tree. I am growing some without
grafts on their own roots. In grafting, and in top-grafting es-
pecially, the tendency is to bring them to fruiting earlier, solely on
account of the obstruction to the sap which causes them to ripen
earlier.
Mr. Dartt: The claim is very often made that top-grafting a variety
on a hardy stock renders that variety more hardy. I have taken consider-
able interest in that, and I have asked some very prominent growers, some
that have top-grafted largely, that question, whether the grafting of a
variety onto a hardy stock made the variety more hardy, and of the most
prominent I have asked, Mr. Tuttle, of Baraboo, Wis., and Prof. Budd, of
Ames, Ia., have answered that it did not. Then why are top-grafted trees
more hardy than those that are not top-grafted? My belief is that it is
simply because you get them up higher from the ground. That trees will
live and stand top-grafting better than they will standing on their own roots.
You get that variety higher from the ground. Mr. Outram in speaking of
the weather the other day gave an illustration of the difference between the
cold at the surface of the ground and at a distance from the ground. I have
read that in basements where the cold air settles it is several degrees colder
than is the temperature even three or four feet higher. The cold settling -
to the ground, it will naturally be colder there, but a little distance from the
ground it is warmer. That is the reason why it is always warmer on top of
the hill than in the valley. I think that is the reason why grafted trees stand
better. I had some experience with grafted Haas a good many years ago,
' grafted in the fork three or four feet from the ground. We had a hard
winter and that Haas graft killed out, and I concluded it was because I put
it up so high. If I had had it down low it would have killed quicker.
\
168 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY:
I am not especially advocating top-grafting. I think it is a fine thing to
top-graft where we want to change the variety; it is a matter of necessity;
but aside from that I do not believe there is any necessity or advantage in
top-grafting. We can just as well grow a stock hardy enough to stand as to
top-graft. Obstructing the sap is the reason why a top-grafted tree bears
quicker than a tree when not grafted. It is exactly the same principle as
girdling, but it is a great deal more expensive to do it. When you can
girdle five trees a minute with my tree girdler, and it takes half an hour to’
top-grafts you soon use up the profits. (
Mr. Philips, (Wis.): It is a mistaken idea that when the graft is high.
from the ground it is less likely to kill. My Virginia that I spoke of yester-
day were grafted closer to the ground than I graft now, and those Wealthy
right beside them were two feet higher than the Virginia. If it does not in-
crease the hardiness with us it keeps those trees bearing. I have been look-
ing over his premises, and [ did not see a good top-worked tree on his
place. If he had listened years ago to the instruction at our place, if he had
paid attention, situated as he was, to what was told him, he would have
been all right, but as far as top-working is concerned he does not know the
first principles. (Laughter.) That is pretty plain talk, but it is the truth.
You go to his place, and you will find limbs cut off and grafts put in two
and a half inches in diameter. I did not see any less than two inches in
diameter, and there is scarcely a good union in the whole outfit. Scions
must be on the smaller limbs so they can heal over and not on large limbs
where they cannot heal over. I asked Prof. Green why it was that a graft
on a smaller limb made a better union and grew three or four feet a year
more than it did if put on a larger limb. He said it was because it heals
over quicker and better.
Prof. Hansen, (S. D.): We attempt in grafting to make a union of the
cambium layer between the bark and the wood. We are always particular
to get the inner barks, or cambium layers, together. If the grafts are of the
same size you get a union that is good and grows quickly, whereas if you
can only put the graft in on one side it will not heal so quickly; or you can
put one in on each side or even three or four to help heal over in large limb,
and then afterwards cut them off to one and in that way heal them over
more quickly. If they are not of one size they do not heal over very readily.
It will do in a moist climate but not in ours.
So far as top-grafting is concerned, all those problems can be reduced to
a very simple principle, the sap that goes up in the spring is worked over
in the leaves, and this sap comes down in the cambium layer. If there is an
obstruction in the way, as for instance a ring of bark is taken away around
the tree, as in girdling, so that the sap is kept back partially, that sap has to
go somewhere, and it has the tendency to change the wood buds into
blossom buds and causes earlier bearing. If you do not want to girdle then
you can top-work it on a stock that is slightly uncongenial, as in the case
of the Malinda on the Virginia crab, where the union is not quite congenial
and the wood buds change into blossom buds. If you want to put it on
dwarfer stock, like the Siberian crab root, which I think would make about
a three-quarter full sized tree, as near as I can judge at present, there is a
difference in the structure of the wood, and it has the same tendency as
girdling; it keeps the sap in the top and causes early bearing. If you do not
want to do that, simply want to force the tree into bearing, you can simply
TOP-WORKING. 169
bend the limb over and bind it down, That is another method of turning the
wood buds into blossom buds; it checks the going down of the sap. If it
does not do something of that kind, it is evident that it is the tendency of
the tree to go to wood altogether instead of going to fruit. That is the
tendency of some varieties, especially such as the Malinda; they get to be
from sixteen to twenty years of age before bearing a good crop of apples;
it all goes to wood, and the tree does not bear fruit.
Mr. Dartt: I suppose I ought to answer my friend Philips. We are al-
ways rather free in critcising each other. Well, he says I don’t know the
first principles of top-grafting. I say that the gentleman from Wisconsin
is quite likely to see things that he wants to see and not to see things that he
does not want to see, and he applied that principle to the grafting on my
place. He claims he did not see a tree that was grafted right. There were
a lot of them there that were grafted two years ago, not as large as he inti-
mated, but say half as large, that are doing admirably well. I sometimes
graft branches larger than I would otherwise graft, except for the purpose
of maintaining a uniformity in the top of the tree. If the tree has a tendency
to grow up high and straight I want to keep it headed so it will spread; then
I graft the side branches so as to make a uniform top in the tree. The ob-
ject was to change the Duchess to the form of the Wealthy. I grafted in
the Wealthy and the Peter, and those varieties are quite congenial to the
Duchess. In regard to his assertion that trees will not do anything grafted
on large limbs or a large top, I have positive proof where I grafted trees
in the forks—grafted some on the Greenwood crab. The trees had grown
up tall and straight, and I cut off some limbs two inches in diameter and
grafted them, and those trees are now grown over, and the grafts are doing
well. I do not think there is a particle of decay there. Now, he says there
is no reason why a tree is hardier grafted a distance up from the ground.
You heard the weather man speak in regard to cold. Down close to the
ground we have the trouble with the snow line. That was made a great
bugaboo of and was largely treated of in the Iowa society, the snow line
trouble, and I think it is often quite serious. The snow towards spring
forms a hard crust and the sun shining on the snow reflects the heat and it
thaws the tree, extending up above the snow a short distance. I have often
felt it on my face so it felt warm. Where the degree of heat is increased a
good deal it is likely to thaw out and injure the trees. I have seen trees
that six inches above the ground were sound, but above that there was a
black ring around the tree, and above that it was sound. I have seen ever-
greens that were four feet high that had a ring killed right around where
the snow line was, eighteen inches from the ground; below it was all right,
and the top was all right. So that I know it is more difficult to get things
to grow a foot from the ground or two feet from the ground than it is
where they are four or five feet above the surface of the ground. I know
what I am talking about, because I have observed it through a lifetime.
Mr. Lyman: There is no question in my mind but what a scion put in
a hardy stock increases in hardiness by top-grafting, especially on the crab.
One reason is that the crab ripens so much earlier than the common apple,
and that has a tendency to ripen the scion earlier. At least that is my
- Opinion.
i ae a
*
'
170 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. ::
BOXING APPLE TREES.
PROF. S. B. GREEN, ST. ANTHONY PARK.
The cut shows a Duchess apple tree, with trunk protected with box to
prevent sunscald and other injuries. A protecting box of this sort may be
made of two six-inch and two eight-inch boards, which will make a box six
inches square. Such boxes may be put on at any time. They should come
A BOXED APPLE TREE.
up above the crotches of the trees if practicable. Where this cannot be
done without the limbs chafing against the top of the box, then a bunch of
hay should be placed in the crotches of the trees on the approach of winter,
as additional protection. I think ita good plan to fill such boxes with earth
when they are put on. In something like eight years’ experience with these
boxes, I have found that there is no necessity of taking them off, but that
they can safely remain on the year round. Occasionally I have found a tree
that hassentafew roots into the earth in the boxes, but this seldom happens.
The advantage of this method of treatment is that it protects from sun- '
scald, from rabbits and mice, and from injury to the trunk by severe cold
weather and in cultivation. Many of our trees that are quite severely injured
in winter will recover if a considerable portion of the trunk is in best con-
;
1
BOXING APPLE TREES. 171
dition for vigorous growth in the spring. While this method of treatment is
not perhaps best where apple§ are raised in favorable locations on a small
scale, yet for the home orchard, and especially for the orchard in severe
locations, I consider it very desirable. It should be better understood by
our people that a dozen trees well cared for will produce far more satisfac-
tory results than fifty trees that are neglected.
GROWING APPLE SEEDLINGS.
H. GUERDSEN, VICTORIA.
The raising of seedling apples seems to me to be of great importance to
all who desire to raise apples in this state and are not already supplied with
the best and hardiest varieties, that can so easily and cheaply be obtained
from any reliable nursery, or do not have the means to purchase them.
Plant apple seeds from apples that are grown in this state. It was in the
year 1866, when the crabs and Duchess were first introduced here, that I
bought several varieties. They grew very well, and in two or three years we
rejoiced to have some apples on our table of our own raising. As those
trees were doing well, I thought the cheapest way to raise some more trees
would be to plant seeds from those apples raised here. I planted the seed in
the fall of the year, and it came up in the spring, doing well. I transplanted
them when large enough, except one tree, which was left standing in the
row. That tree is now bearing annually a good crop of apples of the Trans-
cendent variety and has never blighted. Some of those trees came in bear-
ing quite early and are good eating apples, some were worthless, and in that
dry season many were root-killed. When the Russian apples were intro-
duced and seemed to be very valuable, I requested the late Mr. And. Peter-
son to graft some of my seedlings, as he raised those Russian apples.
When the hard winters of ’84 and ’85 came, nearly all my trees were
killed, except some seedlings and the Russians. I grubbed out the dead trees,
and replanted them with some seedlings and hardy root-grafted trees, from
which we now obtain a fair supply of good eating apples. In those dry sea-
sons I found that seed planted in the fall would not sprout, so I saved the
seed of apples in the winter and soaked it for two days in warm water; then
planted it early in the spring, and it came up nicely. Had it not been for
those seedling trees we should have been again without apples, after those
hard winters. My land is clay subsoil. I mulch all my trees.
My advice is to plant apple seeds.
TOP-GRAFTING THE AMERICAN PLUM.
PROF. E. S. GOFF, STATE EXPERIMENT STATION, MADISON, WIS.
For several seasons past I have done more or less top-working on the
Americana plum, and while I have not yet learned to succeed in every trial,
I have found out some of the conditions that have always failed.
1st. Cions of which the buds are the least swollen or calloused have
invariably failed, no matter how carefully they have been worked. It does
not seem to matter whether the swelling has occurred on fall-cut cions,
or before the cions are cut in the spring. The failure has been equal in both
cases.
2d. Slender cions have always failed. Cions have often been sent to me
as slender as the ordinary fence wire and sometimes even more slender.
172 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
I have worked many such cions as carefully as I could, but not one of them
has ever grown to my knowledge. I infer that plum cions should never be
cut less than one-fourth inch in diameter.
Some of my most successful attempts have been with cleft grafts in-
serted in limbs three-fourths inch or more in diameter. If the branch is so
slender that it does not exert considerable pressure on the inserted cion, I
wrap it tightly with grafting cloth.
Sometimes I have succeeded well with the whip graft, but by no means
always.
I have tried grafting very early in spring, and at various times until the
leaves on the stock have well started, and have succeeded and failed at all
of these periods. I do not regard very early grafting as at all necessary to
success.
I have used both fall-cut and spring-cut cions, and have succeeded and
failed with both. I think fall-cut cions as likely to succeed as any, pro-
vided they are kept so as not to swell or shrivel at all. But as it requires
considerable care to’keep them in this manner, I now prefer to cut them
in the spring.
Several good varieties of the Americana plum are such irregular,
scraggy and drooping growers as the trees acquire age, that it is necessary
to top-work them if we desire respectable looking trees. Certain other
varieties on the other hand make fine and regular trees. One, in particular,
on our grounds, of which I regret to have lost the name, grows almost as
straight and upright as the Tetofsky apple tree. The fruit is a perfect free-
stone, and of good size and quality, but the tree does not appear to be pro-
ductive.—‘‘The Fruitman.”
BEST TWO KINDS OF ONIONS AND HOW TO GROW
THEM.
JOHN ZELLER, NEW ULM.
Onions are the most profitable crop to raise. I give my own experience
for the last two years. In 1898 I planted one acre with onions. I used four
pounds of seed, three of Red Wethersfield, one of Yellow Globe Danvers.
From this one acre I harvested 600 bushels of nice onions. The land had
acrop of oats on the year before. I plowed the land just as early as the
ground was in shape to work good. Two boys followed the plow and raked
all the stubble into the furrow, which was all eight to ten inches deep. I
used a twelve-inch plow. After the land was plowed I spread wood ashes
and slaked lime over the surface. Then I harrowed it thoroughly and hand
raked it very fine. Then I used a Planet, Jr., drill and wheel hoe combined
to sow the seed—the rows sixteen inches apart—at the rate of four pounds
per acre; the rows as straight as possible. Just as soon as the onions were
out of the ground I commenced to work the cultivator between the rows,
continuing this as often as necessary, and when the onions were from six
to eight inches high hand-weeded them. This crop was hand-weeded three
times, and cultivated about eight times.
The crop of 1899 was sowed just as soon as the ground could be worked.
Before so#ving I spread with good rotten manure in place of the ashes and
lime and harrowed it fine; then hand raked it, so I could work the drill. This
crop was only hand-weeded once and cultivated six times; not one-half the
E
4
‘
BEST KINDS OF ONIONS AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 173
work of the first year; but the first crop was 600 bushels, while the last
crop was only 400 bushels. Owing to lack of moisture in July and first part
of August, they ripened up too early, so they did not grow as large, but the
price is better, and I will make more out of this crop than the first year.
The coming year I expect to plant about one acre, and they will be Red
and Yellow Globe Danvers. I like the Globe onions the best, at least I
think they will keep better—will not sprout so much.
In conclusion, will say, select good, clean land and have it rich; use ashes
and lime; work the land good; keep the weeds out, and there will be suc-
cess in Onions.
Prof. Waldron, (N. D.): In regard to varieties, I will say that
we have raised 1371 bushels to the acre of Giant Gibraltar and raised
a little over 900 bushels of the Prize Taker. Under the same condi-
tions the Giant Gibralter has given us some three hundred bushels
more than any other variety. Other onions gave us only about four
or five hundred bushels.
Mr. Reeves: What kind of fertilizer did you use?
Prof. Waldron: We used different fertilizers. There is a great
difference in handling the soil. Handling the soil has more to do
with it than any fertilizer. We transplant the onions entirely. They
are set out very early in the spring and transplanted when as large
as a lead pencil. Dry weather comes in July, and the onions are
not rooted deep enough to withstand the drouth, and they do not
do well. We never grow more than four hundred bushels to the
acres when not transplanted.
The President: Do you try to make the soil compact?
Prof. Waldron: They do not do so well in a compact soil. We
sow them very thick in boxes in hotbeds. Those sets that are
planted which produce the onions are little sets, the tops are about
two inches long, and a good man with a dibble will set ten thousand
a day. The Giant Gibralter will average a diameter of nearly five
inches. No one would believe but what you had sorted them and
selected the biggest. I have taken them to fairs, and they believed
I had taken the biggest. An onion in July ought to have a circum-
ference of ten inches. I would not think of growing onions with-
out transplanting.
Mr. Smith, (Wis): I think if my friend who transplants one-
tenth of an acre would transplant twenty acres he would find that
his profits would not multiply so fast, particularly if he had to keep
those onions a few weeks after harvest. I have yet to see or hear of
those immense onions that were worth shed room in the ordinary
sense of onions to supply the markets of the world. We raised an-
nually for the last two or three years about twenty acres of onions,
and before that from four to six and ten acres. Those onions are
not marketed until October and November, and by that time most
of those Prize Takers are worthless.
Prof. Waldron: What date do you have for marketing your
onions?
Mr. Smith: October, November and December.
Prof. Waldron: I sold some Giant Gibralter as late as that, and
they were just as hard and firm as any variety you could find.
174 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Mr. Smith: Every one who has tried to keep onions knows
that it is a simple matter to keep a few bushels in a very satisfactory
manner, but where you have ten thousand bushels it is an entirely
different matter. We have grown onions by the transplanting
methods, and we did not get big crops, and you want to get a hustle
on you and sell them before the main crop from the seed gets on the
market. There is one grower I know who has grown the Prize
Taker for several years. They were fine, large onions, and he could .
sell them. This year he could not sell them, and he had his stock
on hand, and they did not keep. The usual‘average of a crop of
onions raised by the best growers is from six to seven hundred
bushels per acre for the entire field. On some pieces I have no
doubt raised a score of times as much as one hundred bushels on a
tenth of an acre, although I never reported that amount.
Mr. Grimes: I have a market gardener out on my farm who
is quite an expert in onion growing, and as he is not here I will state
some observations in regard to his work. Last spring he sowed
one pound of onion seed, and from that one pound he raised seven
hundred bushels. In the first place, when his onions are ripe he
pulls them and leaves them on the ground until the tops are dry and
well cured, and then he gathers them up and takes off the tops. He
has crates that hold a bushel each, and he puts these onions in those
crates, and stacks them up out doors, and he leaves them out as
long as the weather will permit. The crates are open so as to per-
mit the air to have free circulation, and they are in that way
thoroughly dried out. Then he puts them in an onion house in the
crates, and they remain there until spring. He does not propose
to sell his onions in the fall, but holds them for the spring market.
Last year the best he could have done with his onions in the fall was
forty cents a bushel, whereas, by holding them until spring he real-
ized seventy cents a bushel when there was a demand for them.
Prof, Waldron: What variety did he raise?
Mr. Grimes: He has raised a number of varieties, but he raises
the Red Globe principally.
Mr. Yahnke: I have had an experience of forty years in grow-
ing onions. I havea patch where I have grown onions for twenty-
five years in succession and had but one failure, but I have never
had such success as this gentleman speaks of, and I have never
transplanted. I raised as high as six and seven hundred bushels to
the acre. I never will raise those large onions, because I cannot sell
them to my customers. For home market I prefer to sell a fine
grained onion and not too large. As far as the last point is con-
cerned, we must raise onions that possess keeping qualities, and I
raise only those varieties that have that quality. Then there is
judicious harvesting. The keeping of onions depends a great deal
upon the harvesting. As soon as the onions are ripe they should
be pulled and thrown on the ground where it is dry, and they should
not be allowed to remain longer on the ground in the sun than until
they are dry, otherwise they will become strong. As soon as they
are dry pull off the tops. If you do not want to cut them off, you
can leave an end two inches long. Then store them in some place
where they will have a good chance to dry out. In Russia where
BEST KINDS OF ONIONS AND HOW TO GROW THEM. 175
they keep onions the year round they have a method of drying them.
They take top and all and braid them together and hang them up
above an oven, you might say, a dry kiln. When the onions are
perfectly dry they can be kept any length of time. Mr. John Gage,
of Waseca—I met him last year—told me that two years ago he
raised several thousand bushels of onions and built extensive build-
ings to store those onions in, and in the spring the larger part of
them were grown. He sent a carload to St. Louis and I don’t re-
member how many dollars he had to send after them to pay the
freight. If he had gone to work and dried them out and sold them,
instead of building his house, he might have made something. Al-
most everybody has the same experience; it never pays to keep
onions over in this country. It does not pay to hold them until
spring, because onions from the south are shipped in here too early.
CELERY.
N. J. JOHNSON.
(Southern Minnesota Horticultural Society.)
I have been experimenting considerably in growing celery. In the first
place I commenced growing celery about seven years ago on high land. I
made big preparations, went to work and dug a well, set out a lot of celery,
and it kept me busy most of the time carrying water; in fact, I spent more
time carrying water than I got for the whole celery crop after it was mar-
keted, to say nothing about the work of hoeing and cleaning for market, etc.
I could not see any money in raising celery; in fact, I was money out of
pocket. The first year I raised no celery. At the same time I was filling
up the slough down on the bottom lands with manure, and I scraped about
two or three inches of dirt on the top of that. This slough was nothing but
mud and water.
By the next spring this manure was pretty well decayed, and I thought
I would again try a little celery; in fact, I did not plant that celery until the
middle of August, and by the middle of October I had the finest celery
that ever was grown. That gave me an entirely new idea. You understand
that manure was fully decayed when I planted the celery, and at the same
time the water was soaking into the manure from the bottom as the river
happened to be high that summer, so the water soaked through the ground
into the manure and into the roots of the celery.
The next year I thought I would try a new experiment. I went to work
and plowed a furrow—plowed twice in one furrow, that is, forward and back.
I struck the furrows about three feet apart and filled them full of manure,
and I had a pipe and hose attached to the spring, so as to let the water run
in the furrow and fill it full. After it was thoroughly soaked, I covered the
manure with about two inches of dirt and then packed it down with my feet
in a straight row. I planted about six inches apart in the row and three feet
the other way. After I had one row planted, I put on the water to let it
soak thoroughly and then changed it from place to place, so as to keep the
celery watered about two or three times a week. The plants will stand a long
time before they commence to grow; in fact, they grow but little till the
’ manure commences to decay. When the celery starts to grow, you can see
it grow from day to day, but it don’t grow much from the time it is planted,
about the middle of April, until .the middle of June, when it takes a start.
176 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. -
About the middle of July it is ready for bleaching, and about a month after
that it is ready for market. The way I bleach celery is to take ten-inch
boards and set one on each side, as close up to the celery as I can, and nail
about three cleats across to hold the boards together. I still keep the water
running in the rows.
It is impossible to try and grow celery in this manner without irriga-
tion. If you have pretty well decayed manure you can grow celery in the
new way for private use with but very little water.
I have heard that you could grow fine celery on black, mucky, low land,
and I have some of that, too. In fact, I have all kinds of soil. I thought last
summer I would try some celery on the black muck. I plowed under a lot of
old manure, and kept the water on it from the spring, just as I did on the
other celery planted the new way, but I got an inferior celery all the same.
In growing celery with manure and water, as you may call it, it grows up so
quick, and that is what makes it so white and tender. It is way ahead of
any other celery, that is what everybody says—and, furthermore, it was the
finest celery exhibited at the state fair.
There is another thing I will say to you about this new way of growing
celery with plenty of water and plenty of manure, you can grow better celery
in clear sand than on any other soil. I have a piece of ground next to the
river where there is nothing but sand, and that is where I raise the very
finest celery.
A year ago this summer I thought I would try another experiment, to
try and kill two birds with one stone; that is, I thought I would see if I
could not grow almost double the amount of celery on the same amount
of ground. I went to work and set out one double row; six inches apart
each way, and by the use of the same amount of water and the same work
with the exception of planiing two rows in place of one. By the time the
celery was ready for market, I had just as good celery on that row as from
the single row. Last summer I planted all of my celery that way, and it is a
great saving of labor, in place of the single row system.
IS A FARM HOUSE ENTITLED TO INCUR THE EX-
TRAVAGANCE OF A LAWN?
MISS LUCIA E. DANFORTH, NORTHFIELD.
In one of the Buddha’s many appearances on earth before he became
the Buddha, he lived as a Brahman and had a wife, named Nauda, and three
daughters. But the future Buddha died and became a golden mallard, and
his wife and daughters were cared for by their charitable neighbors.
The future Buddha, now a golden mallard, taking pity on his family, ap-
peared on the ridge pole, explained that he was their father, and asked them
to sell his golden feathers, one by one. This gave them a comfortable liv-
ing. But after a time the mother said, “There’s no trusting men or animals.
Your father might go away. Let’s pluck him clean!’’ So they did so,
against the protests of the future Buddha. But the feathers had this prop-
erty, that if plucked out against the will of their owner, they became plain
crane’s feathers. So Nauda and her daughters had nothing but a pile of
worthless grey feathers, and the golden mallard never came to them again.
What has this to do with the subject, “Is a Farm Home Entitled to
Incur the Extravagance of a Lawn?’’’ Very much.
THE FARM HOUSE AND LAWN. 177
Country life is the beautiful, beneficent bird with golden feathers; Nauda
is the farmer who is so anxious to become quickly rich that he strips this
beautiful, God-given thing of every lovely, golden feather and leaves it an
unsightly, unresponsive object of pity.
In the first. place, it is not an extravagance. The best land is worth
$50 to $70 an‘acre. Half an acre at the very least can easily be spared for
the lawn proper, or, better than this, an acre.
Happy is the farmer who finds his farm already supplied with oak, elmand
maple, or other indigenous Minnesota trees, but if they are not there already
the expense of securing and planting them is slight. Then, of course, this
yard needs birches and one or two staminate willows, for grace, and some
evergreens on the north and west sides for winter beauty.
One thing, more than all else, marks a lack in American country places
over those in England, and that is shrubbery. In our climate there are
many things which we can not have, but the golden-leafed elder, syringa,
spiraea Van Houtii, purple-leafed and common barberry, lilac, snowball,
roses of all sorts, hydrangea,—these are a few of the many, many beautiful
shrubs to which Minnesota extends a welcome.
For the grassy part—which for ease in its care should be as unbroken as
possible—blue grass and white clover are inexpensive and satisfactory.
As for the care of these things, none of us who have spent hours early
and late in shaking, raking, burning, spraying, to rid our trees of the terri-
ble oak caterpillar, can say it is an easy thing, and if help had to be hired
it might seem an expense if not an extravagance; but none of us count the
hours spent in caring for friends who are ill a hardship, and the pleasure of
saving a tree is reward enough for all the labor expended. The cutting of
the grass is another problem. If the lawn is large and unbroken much can
be done with a field mower, and on much frequented roads it can be partial-
ly solved by fitting it to that other problem—tramps. At least half of them
have been found by experience to be glad to mow the lawn or remove from
it, for the sake of a dinner, the esculent, beautiful but ubiquitious dandelion.
A most charming addition to a lawn, where possible, is water—a pond,
a brook, a fountain or even an artificial aquarium. It is not always feasible
but is so more often than one might suppose.
The apparent size of a lawn or house surroundings may be facaeaeed
by the judicious arrangement of the adjoining parts of the farm. Some
beautiful farm houses, with well kept yards, lose much of their beauty and
general effect by having by their side almost the only unsightly thing a
farm can produce, a hog yard, which, by proper planning can be in some
inconspicuous place.
An orchard is just as beautiful in its way as the most perfectly kept lawn,
and one should always be situated where it can add to the beauty of the
house surroundings. A horse lot or sheep pasture adjoining the lawn may
be effective.
Two things should be kept in mind: what the farmer sees from his win-
dows should be beautiful, and what the passer-by sees in looking at the
house and house surroundings should be beautiful.
And the reason for all this? Who of us has not been filled with right-
eous anger at words of Hamlin Garland, in a recent book, words false in
_ spirit and false in fact, about the drudgery, lack of art, lack of literature,
lack of pleasure in the country. But the most painful thing is that in a few,
a very few instances, it is partly true. What poetry is to prose, that country
178 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
life is to other life. Prose is necessary and sometimes beautiful. Poetry is
just as necessary and should always be beautiful. That which makes coun-
_ try life beautiful to those who live there as well as to those who pass
through it, that which endears it to the children who are brought up in it,
is not an extravagance, but an investment in character.
One who has been brought up in a country home possessing the lawn
where the family have their Sunday night suppers and holiday dinners;
the clover carpet under the low oak, devoted to Shelley and Keats; the se-
cluded nook, where one studied calculus in vacations; the birches, in whose
shelter one shelled peas and dreamed great dreams; the pond, where one
learned to skate; and the brook where trout sported and water cress grew—
such a one will have a heart never to be turned from country love. Is the
price of an acre of land, a lawn mower, a sprayer, some grass seed and a few
shrubs too high to pay?
But the satisfactory thing about this whole subject is, that it is a plea for
what already exists, and that whatever picture of country life is drawn, we
can many, many of us look at our present surroundings or past history and
say: “If only the writer had lived in my home and described it, that would
be.a country home worth telling of.”
MODEL OF CONSTITUTION FOR IMPROVEMENT
CLUB.
1.—This Club shall be called the (c——————_) Improvement Club.
2.—The objects of this Club shall be to cultivate public sentiment in favor
of improving and beautifying the church, cemetery and school and
other public grounds, the streets and roads of the vicinity, and the home
grounds of the residents.
3.—The payment of (——) shall constitute membership during the
current year of the club.
4.—The general officers shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary and
Treasurer. These officers, with three members—all to be elected by bal-
lot—shall constitute a Board of Directors. The appointment of all Com-
mittees shall be made by the President, subject to the approval of the
Board of Directors. The Board of Directors to arrange programs in ad-
vance for the meetings.
5.—Seven members shall constitute a quorum for the transaction of business.
6.—Meetings to be held once a week during the winter; at other times,
twice a month (or once, as seems most convenient.)
Suggested Program for First Meeting.
1.—A song familiar to all present.
2.—Five minute talk by the president (introducing object).
3—A short, appropriate recitation.
4.—Music.
s.—Paper. Topic: Reasons Why the Schoolground Should Be the Most
Beautiful Spot in our Neighborhood. To be followed by general discus-
sion of the subject. (On account of its educational influence, it will
affect the church grounds, the streets and roads, and also the homes.)
CONSTITUTION FOR IMPROVEMENT CLUB. og
6.—Fifteen minutes for social converse.
7,—Music—tamiliar song.
8.—Five minute paper: Subject—My Favorite Tree.
g.—Recitation.
Meeting not to be over one and one-half hour in length, giving some
time for those who have leisure for sociability after the meeting. Begin
promptly on time.
- IMPRESSIONS FROM THE FARMERS’ INSTITUTE.
C. E. OLDER, LUVERNE.
The first thought is that the time for old-time methods in farming and
husbandry, as well as in horticulture, has passed, and new, up-to-date meth-
ods must prevail if we would succeed in our undertakings. Times have
changed, and change we must if we keep up with the times.
We must raise more to the acre and use less acres, less help, less ex-
pense, raise our living on our farms, and farm for a living ,and give up
raising large acreage of wheat with the object to make money to buy our
living.
We should finish off our stock on the farm ready for market, and uti-
lize all of our coarse feed as well. We should grow clover to make the
land richer, to raise more corn, to feed more hogs, cattle and sheep, to raise
more fruit for the family, so they will be more contented and happy on the
farm, to set out groves and windbreaks, evergreens for shelter and orna-
ment about the home—and to do the latter you must get your nursery stock
just as near your home as possible, of your local nursery if possible, in fact
must use as good common sense about this branch of farming as any other.
We must have up-to-date machinery, that will do with one man and team
what five or six men could do without it.
Mr. Terry, of Ohio, told how he built up an old, worn out farm in Ohio,
so he could grow as high as fifty bushels of wheat per acre.
Mr. Bush, on raising fruits and shelter belts, told of the great change
in conditions in Freeborn county, from what it was before evergreens were
so extensively planted out, and of the absence of the hot southwest winds
they used to experience. Great good will come from his talk on this subject.
Mr. Greeley’s talk was sheep. Well, you can hardly tell what a man
won’t say who is an enthusiast on sheep. The only wonder is that every
farmer does not keep some of them.
Mr. Trow is at the head of butter making, and his methods as explained
gave good food for thought and effort in that line.
But, however, it makes no difference how nice butter, meat, vegetables
or other foods come into the house if it is spoiled in cooking, and Mrs.
Laws brought this matter out as no other one could do. Her remarks, al-
though “all too short,’ were good and are remembered by some people
every time they cook a meal or sit down to the table.
In some respects we were short of our expectations, especially on the
horse question, which was not touched upon, owing to the absence of Dr.
Currier; but on the whole we had a very profitable institute. May they
come oftener!
180 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
RULES GOVERNING EXHIBITS OF FRUITS AND FLOW-
ERS AT MINNESOTA STATE FAIR, 1900.
(Extract from Premium List.)
Superintendents are required to have their exhibits in position by the Sat-
urday night before the fair opens.
1. To be entitled to compete for premiums and receive awards, exhibits
must be in place by the Saturday night, Sept. 1st, before the fair opens.
Small exhibits from a distance will be put in place by the superintendent
where previous notice has been given and the necessary entry made by the
exhibitor.
2. All the exhibits of fruit in each class will be placed together, under
the direction of the superintendent. No one can exhibit in both the amateur
and professional classes at the same fair.
3. All articles competing for premiums must have been grown in Min-
nesota or made from Minnesota products, and by the person in whose name
they are entered, except as otherwise noted. Any deviation from this rule
shall work a forfeiture of any premiums awarded thereon.
When required, a statement to the judges must certify that they were so
grown or made.
4. A collection shall consist of three or more named varieties, and they
must be placed together, and a list of all the varieties included therein must
accompany the collection. Any variety may be exhibited in a collection ex-
cept a seedling, the original tree, bush or vine producing which is the prop-
erty of the exhibitor. The latter part of this rule does not apply to collec-
tions of seedlings.
5. A plate of apples, pears and peaches should consist of exactly four
specimens; grapes, four bunches; crabs, hybrids and plums, ten specimens;
blackberries, gooseberries and sand cherries, one pint.
6. Each article must be correctly labeled with its name, or, if an un-
named seedling, it must be so stated; labels and pins of a uniform size for
this purpose will be furnished exhibitors by the superintendent and must
be used by them.
7. Each exhibitor must place his name and address conspicuously on his
exhibit.
8. Separate articles must be furnished for each entry. Not more than
one plate of any variety will be permitted in any exhibit, nor can any va-
riety be shown under synonymous names. Apples of the same type, such as
Borovinka and Anisette, of the Duchess type, and Silken Leaf, Romna,
Lieby, etc., of the Hibernal type, will be considered as duplicates in collec-
tive exhibits. The report of the La Crosse Commission, appointed by the
Minnesota State Horticultural Society, will be recognized authority in mat-
ters of Russian nomenclature.
9. Exhibitors may replace with fresh fruit any specimens that show a
tendency to spot or decay at any time during the fair, except when the judge
is working upon the class to which it belongs.
Decayed, injured or inferior specimens must not be exhibited, and when
such specimens appear in a collection, not only will they not be counted,
but they will be considered by the judges as lowering the comparative stand-
RULES GOVERNING EXHIBITS AT MINN. STATE FAIR. 181
ing of the exhibit. Taste in arrangement and neatness in the keeping of
the exhibit will also be considered by the judges in making awards.
10. Seedlings—
(a) The exhibitor of a seedling must be the owner of the original tree,
bush or vine producing the same, or his sole authorized representative.
(b) The exhibitor of a seedling which receives an award, except in a
collection, is required before receiving the premium money to furnish a
written description of the tree, bush or vine producing such seedling, its lo-
cation, age and history, and the owner’s and originator’s names and ad-
dresses.
(c) Seedlings, to receive awards, must be characterized by excellence at
least equal to that of an established variety.
(d) A seedling that has received an award at any former Minnesota
State Fair will not be awarded a premium, except as part of a collection.
11. Fruits may be exhibited that have been preserved in cold storage
but not by any other process, except as otherwise stated.
12. Where the number of competitors in any lot is less than the number
of awards offered, the judges may, at their discretion, award the lower
prizes, omitting the higher ones, but premiums will not be awarded on in-
ferior collections or specimens, even if there is no competition.
13. Exhibitors are requested to make entries with Secretary E. W.
Randall, Hamline, at least one week before the opening of the fair, and pos-
itively no entries will be received after Saturday, September Ist.
14. The above regulations will be rigidly enforced.
The following score card will serve as a general guide to exhibitors in
making up their exhibit, and will be placed in the hands of the judges to
be used, so far as seems convenient and practical, in making their awards.
SCORE CARD.
1. NUMBER OF VARIETIES.—The collection containing the larg-
est number of varieties will be marked 30; others in proportion.
Varicties whose deficiency in size, quality or form would debar them from
a place on the standard list will not be considered.
2. SIZE.—The collection containing fruit of the largest average size
will be marked 20; others in proportion.
3. CONDITION.—The collection containing fruit in the best condition
will be marked 20,
Fruit should be sound and free from disease, blemish or deformity of any
kind. Stem should be present, and calyx, when natural to the variety.
4. COLOR —The collection containing fruit of the highest average
color will be marked Io.
5. UNIFORMITY—Best collection in this respect to be marked -1o.
Plates should be composed of specimens similar in size, form and color.
6. NEATNESS AND TASTE IN ARRANGEMENT.—Best collection
in this respect to be marked Io.
Anything that adds to the attractiveness of the exhibit to be considered
under this head.
N. B.—The premium list will appear in the June number.
182 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
EXHIBITING FRUIT AT THE MINN. STATE FAIR—FROM
THE JUDGES STANDPOINT.
PROF. S. B. GREEN, ST. ANTHONY PARK.
From the standpoint of the judge of fruit at our exhibitions, it seems to
me that the most important thing for the exhibitor to remember is that he
should abide by the rules which have been laid down. He should get a set
of the rules and study them carefully and their application to his case.
These rules have been made with the idea of protecting the exhibitor and
also giving him every opportunity to make a good display. One of the
most annoying things to the judge is to have the exhibits not quite in place
at the time the fruit is to be judged, or to have the entry cards mixed up,
as is frequently the case with some exhibitors. No judge wishes to enforce
a rule without regard to the spirit in which it was passed, nor to rule out
an exhibitor from the fact that he has not complied with some small matter,
but it may delay his work very much in waiting for some exhibitor that
could just as well have been on hand as the others. I know well, from a
wide experience, that there are some exhibitors whom I expect always to
find a little behindhand in getting their exhibits in place, and who are pretty
sure to have their cards mixed up.
The exhibitors should understand what good fruit is. I know too often
the idea prevails that size only is the thing on which the award is decided,
and, may I say it? I have seen judges who awarded premiums to the larg-
est fruit, without regard to many other qualities. It seems to me that ex-
hibitors should be given clearly to understand that what is considered the
best fruit are normal specimens, free from injury by fungi or insects, that
have the proper color for that season of the year for that particular variety,
and are clean and have the stem on. All things considered, the most nor-
mal specimens should receive the premiums.
Occasionally we meet dishonest exhibitors, but they are the exception
rather than the rule; but almost every year I have noticed efforts to substi-
tute one variety for another, with the evident hope that the judge would over-
look the substitution, and that they would receive the premium. I know one
exhibitor who seems quite inclined, so that I have come to look for it for
the last few years, to substitute small Wealthy for Snow apples. Some ex-
hibitors will exhibit large specimens with rotten spots on one side, and turn
the spot down so that the judge will not see it. All things considered, a
rotten apple should always take second place to a sound apple of the same
variety of medium size, no matter how large the wormy or rotten specimen
is. ;
Try and keep the collection separate. Do not have the collection of
crabs, etc., mixed with the general collection of apples, nor the apples mixed
with the general collection of crabs, etc.
If you think you are not fairly treated by the judge, and that there has
been some mistake in the award, do not go to the judge about it. Go to the
superintendent of the department. He can do more to make the matter
right, and do it more easily, than the judge can. Judges, as a rule, intend
to do what is right; but they are mortal and not perfect men, and there is no
use of expecting them to do perfect work. If they make mistakes, they are
generally willing to rectify them. The tricky professional exhibitor is the
EXHIBITING FRUIT AT MINN. STATE FAIR. 183
one whom judges abhor. But of all others, I know of no place where the
true moral fiber of a man is shown more completely than in competing for
premiums. The man of weak veracity is soon conspicuous by his weakness.
EXHIBITING FRUIT AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR.
—FROM THE EXHIBITOR’S STANDPOINT.
CLARENCE WEDGE, ALBERT LEA,
The labor involved in making an exhibit of fruit at the state fair, whether
it be a single plate or a large collection, naturally resolves itself into three
separate undertakings, viz: selection, transportation and arrangement. The
beauty, usefulness and premium winning capacity of the exhibit when it
is finally displayed upon the tables will all depend upon the thought and
skill that has been put upon each of these matters of preparation. Let us
consider them in their proper order.
First. Selection. It requires considerable judgment and watchfulness in
order to have the early fruit picked at the time that will secure as much as
possible of the natural color and before it has become too soft to endure
handling and exposure. The common fault is to let the early varieties stay
on the tree or vine too long. An under-ripe fruit, if about up to its full size,
and plump and sound makes a much better appearance on the tables than a
fully colored specimen that has lost its freshness and begun to “go the way
of all the earth,” and I have repeatedly noticed that over-ripe Tetofsky and
Transparent apples that made a passable show during the first day of the
fair quickly became black and disgusting when exposed but a few hours
to the trying air of the hall, while those of the same varieties picked before
they had lost their firmness made a creditable if not a handsome plate to
the end of the show. For a plate of such early and perishable varieties I
always select about double the number required, so that when the fruit is
opened up on the grounds there will be quite a number to select from, as
it frequently happens that the specimens that we expected to keep best prove
for some unknown reason to have been the most perishable. In picking this
early fruit we always carry our packages and paper wrappers to the orchard,
and try to do all our work with the least and gentlest handling possible.
Perhaps the most common mistake made in selecting specimens of fruit
for exhibition is that of picking out the largest of each variety and ignoring
the equally important points of beauty, soundness and perfection of form.
The true way is to gather a number of specimens of the largest and hand-
somest of each variety as they appear upon the tree or vine, and placing
them upon a table before you, where they can be critically examined, first
throw out all that are deformed, wormy, diseased or decayed, and then make
up the plates from the largest and highest colored specimens that remain.
This is the quickest and surest method of arriving at the best in hand, and
if in the straits of a light crop and a bad season there is strong temptation
and almost a necessity of admitting some defective specimens, have a care
that the blemishes you admit are such as may be most conveniently hidden
and not such as will openly disgrace the exhibit.
The most inexcusable mistake that can be made is that of padding out
a collection with plates of inferior fruit. Don’t do it! It is an insult to
the public, an eyesore to the superintendent, and a disgrace to the horti-
cultural fraternity. People take their time and pay admission to ‘the fairs
to see something attractive, and there is no more attraction in a plate of
184 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY, ©
misshapen, wormy or rotten fruit than there is in a lame horse, a hump-
backed pig, or a tuberculous cow. Stock men have the good sense to keep
that grade of stock at home, and if we would retain the interest of the public
in our fruit exhibits we must show an equal appreciation of the tastes and
feelings of that public and begin to realize that the day when an apple was a
novelty, simply because it was grown in Minnesota, has passed and will never
return. It is far better to cut down a collection to very narrow proportions
than to admit anything that flagrantly offends the eye of the average fair
goer.
Each plate should be labeled carefully as it is packed away. We have a
system of labeling each apple that we have found very convenient. Having
prepared a complete list of all the varieties we propose to exhibit, we number
them on that list 1, 2, 3, etc., from top to bottom, and having this list with
us as we select the plates of each variety we write its number with common
ink and smooth gold pen in the cavity of each apple as close to the base of
the stem as it is convenient to reach. We thus have each apple safely
labeled, however far it may happen to stray from its proper fellowship. It
may be well to state that apples should be shown with full natural stem
and with as much calyx as naturally belongs to the variety.
Second. Transporation. This is a matter that should be carefully pro-
vided for, or fruit of the highest excellence may be so bruised that it will
be hard to make it look presentable. For the small exhibit, that ought
to be sent to the fair by hundreds of amateurs all over the state, no package
is better than the common splint market basket, with the usual handle that
makes it easy for expressmen to move it about and prevents anything being
piled on top of it. Each specimen should be wrapped with one or two
thicknesses of newspaper, and the sides and bottom of the basket padded
slightly with excelsior, hay or crumpled paper, and when filled a piece of
stout express paper or decent looking cloth should be tied over the top of
the basket. Mark the package plainly with your name and address, and
send it, express prepaid, to the “Superintendent of the Horticultural Build-
ing, State Fair Grounds, Hamline, Minn.” If the fruit has been properly
entered the premiums that it receives will duly be returned. Such fruit
should reach the grounds during the latter half of the week before the fair.
If the exhibit is a large one, and it is not thought best to take the trouble
to prepare special packages for it, we would still prefer handled baskets of
some kind rather than boxes, as they are so much less likely to be rolled
about and the fruit within bruised. There is, however, no package that we
have seen that is quite so satisfactory for a large exhibit of apples as com-
mon egg crates, fitted with home made fillers. They are very cheap and
light, and the expressmen, having already formed the habit of handling them
“like eggs,” we may expect the most decent treatment to be accorded our
fruit while in their hands. We use fillers of two sizes, each 234 inches deep,
one holding sixteen medium sized apples, and the other nine large sized
apples. These fillers are made from common building paper, and any bright
boy can arrange a pattern and make them if he be furnished with a sample
of the common egg filler as a guide. Living over a hundred miles from the
fair, we have never had any trouble with bruised fruit since using this pack-
age, and as the crates are so light, and are returned to us by the express
company at a cost of only ten cents each, we feel that it is not only the best
but the cheapest package we can use.
EXHIBITING FRUIT AT MINN. STATE FAIR. 185
Third. Arrangement. This matter will be very easy if the fruit is on
hand in perfect condition and plainly labeled. Do not be tempted to put
more than four apples on a plate, or to slip in a specimen of any similar
variety to make up a plate that may for some reason be short the required
number. Neatness, honesty and good temper are the three cardinal virtues
of a good exhibitor. Arrange the collection so that sizes and colors will
be somewhat contrasted. A plate of bright yellow,- medium sized apples
will set off a plate of large red apples to excellent advantage; so also will
the red and white grapes contrast and make distinct and interesting a some-
what monotonous collection of blacks.
After the exhibit is in place as you wish it to stand, go over the apples
with a soft cotton rag and wiping off all dust polish them till they take on
that brilliant finish that catches the popular eye. When everything is as
clean and bright and pretty as can be, label each plate with the labels
furnished by the association.
Finally, by cultivating the feeling that the rules and regulations are in-
tended to promote fairness between exhibitors as well as the general success
of the fair, and by being courteous and quick to respond to any suggestions
or requirements of the superintendent of your division, there will be small
chance of your being found among that gloomy minority that never fails
to. complain of the partiality of the judges and the arbitrary measures of the
officers.
It may be well to mention the fact that the rules of the fair now require
all fruit to be entered and on the tables the Saturday night before the fair
opens, and that it is a safe and good plan to enter whatever fruit you are
likely to exhibit as soon as you receive the premium list, which is sometimes
a month or more before it is possible to know just what the season will
bring forth. However, as there is no penalty for failing to fill all that we
have entered we always make out this “blanket” list as soon as the premium
list is received and thus avoid the danger of forgetting the important matter
of making entries.
Mr. Dartt: Iam sorry I did not hear all of Mr. Wedge’s paper,
but I want to say something on that subject of exhibiting at our
fairs. Now we may ask the question, what are fairs for? You
will say they are for the purpose of educating our people and to
encourage the production of fruit and its exhibition. What do they
look to be like? They look to be like an effort to bring out the
biggest show possible without having to grow it. The man makes
a grand show on the tables with his sweepstakes entry, and he walks
proudly up and down before his grand exhibit, while the fellow who
raises his own fruit, who has got something good for the country,
he should have the premium. In competition with those big sweep-
stakes premiums it discourages him. I am not going to take my
little batch there to be sneered at.
Then those rigid rules. What are they for? They are to ac-
commodate the judges. Who ought to be accommodated? The
man who is appointed judge to look over the fruit or the man who
raises the fruit? I claim it is the producer who should be accom-
modated every time. I might say that I have been a judge at fairs,
186 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
and I have been an exhibitor at fairs; I do not remember the last
time I exhibited at the state fair, and I think I am through with the
fairs, practically speaking. I was not so mighty hard up for the
amount of money I would get as a premium that that was an in-
ducement for me to exhibit, but I wanted to make a practical exhibit
for our section of the country, particularly: of Steele county. When I
got to the fair with. my exhibit they said, ‘““Now your single plates
must go in such and such a place; your winter varieties must go in
another place; your crab apples must go in another place,” and so
on through the list, and my exhibit was all divided up. My friend
Harris was there with his sweepstakes, and he had a grand exhibit.
A man asked me where my exhibit was. I told him part of them
were here, and part of them were over yonder, and a part were
in another place. I was ashamed of my exhibit, and I never made
another entry at the state fair. I believe there should be a radical
change; I do not believe you should offer a sweepstakes premium
atall. You should not offer a premium for anything that a man did
not grow. How would the stock raisers like it to have a sweep-
stakes premium offered and have a fellow go here and there getting
the best stock and taking the biggest money? They would not
like it.
I believe those rigid rules should be done away with. They
should make a rule to accommodate the exhibitors. If one judge
thinks it is too much trouble, get some one else; they will find some
one who will do it without having those rigid rules.
Now, in regard to the rule compelling exhibitors to have their
exhibits in place on Saturday night before the fair opens. It would
do all right for those near by, but it would discourage the general
exhibitor. I think I have said enough to give you an idea of how
I feel about this matter.
Mr. Underwood: As I have had the misfortune or the good
fortune, as you might term it, of being connected with the fair
management for three years it is very interesting for me to listen to
these criticisms of the management, and I hope I shall be able to
show in some way that the management is not so much at fault as
set forth by both of the speakers on that subject. I wish to com-
pliment Mr. Wedge on the very excellent instructions he has given
to exhibitors regarding the preparation of their exhibits at the fair,
and I hope that all of the exhibitors, including Friend Dartt, will
study those instructions and profit thereby.
Now so far as the criticisms are concerned—I do not know
whether I can refer to them all, there are so many. In the first
place, touching Mr. Wedge’s paper, I think his only criticism was
that exhibitors were asked to place their exhibits and have them
complete the Saturday night before the fair opens. You will bear
me out that the state fair is not infringing on Sunday in any way
if you get the exhibits ready Saturday night, and you will have the
whole week to get ready. If exhibitors-are so chary of their time
that they cannot finish Saturday night we cannot help it. Why do
we have that rule? We advertise to the world that the Minnesota
state fair will be open on Monday, Sept. 4th. Mr. Dartt and some
other exhibitors want us to wait until about Tuesday before any
EXHIBITING FRUIT AT MINN. STATE FAIR. 187
one can go there and find the horticultural department ready. Is
it not an insult to the people who pay their admission to the state
fair to come there on Monday morning and find Mr. Dartt with his
boxes and baskets all in disorder and his exhibit not ready? For
that reason we should insist that exhibitors should have their ex-
hibits ready by the time the fair opens. If we cannot have the ex-
hibits ready until Monday or Tuesday we will have to start the fair
on Wednesday, and that is just what we are talking of doing. That
is what we are talking of doing and having a ten days’ fair. It is not
businesslike to open the fair and not have the exhibits in place. If
you should have a position on the fair board and come in actual
contact with the work there you would agree with me in what I say.
With regard to sweepstakes. We have liberal premiums offered
by the State Agricultural Society that are proposed and arranged
for by the State Horticultural Society, under their advice and direc-
tion, and there are now liberal premiums offered entirely outside
of that source. Some good friends of the state fair. took it upon
themselves to see if they could not hold out still greater induce-
ments to make the Minnesota state fair in a horticultural way the
greatest fair in the United States. Our friend Mr. Elliot, with his
usual loyalty to the State Agricultural Society, went out of his way
to induce Mr. Thomas to give this sweepstakes premium. Now, I
do not see why any one should get up here-and criticize Mr. Elliot,
who got Mr. Thomas to offer one hundred dollars for the best show
of apples in Minnesota. Has he not a right to do what he pleases
with his money? There are liberal premiums offered if this sweep-
stakes premium were not offered, and that is outside of the pre-
miums offered by the State Agricultural Society. What good does
that sweepstakes premium do? It does this, it gets up the finest ex-
hibition of fruits and apples that we can possibly bring together in
the, state. Is that of any advantage to horticulturists? I think
that is a good advertisement of the fact that Minnesota has got
some good fruit that can be gotten up, and we would like to have
enough sweepstakes premiums offered to fill that whole building.
I do not think it is necessary to be so critical of those things. Let
each one go ahead and do his part. If Mr. Dartt will come in and
do his part and not be so critical of what other people are doing,
he will have a good time’and will have justice done him, and I do
not see any reason for his staying away because his apples were put
in one place and his crabs in another, and he has nothing to show
because they were separate. He wants to run the state fair and
every other exhibitor. Suppose every exhibitor should say to the
superintendent, “I want to put my apples just where I want to.”
When the judges come around here is Mr. Dartt’s plate of Wealthy,
over yonder is Mr. Philips’ plate, then they have to go somewhere
else to look at my plate, and so they have to hunt all over the build-
ing for the Wealthys, and the same with every other variety, and
keep the fact in their mtnds how each plate looks and judge which
is the best. There is no reason in such an argument. The rules
that govern the state fair are the result of long years of experience
of the most practical horticulturists we have, including such men
188 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
as Mr. Elliot, Mr. Harris, Mr. Latham, Mr. Philips and a number
of others I might mention, that have had this matter in charge. I
can speak freely of this subject because I have not had anything
to do with it, but I can see no use in these criticisms of the man-
agement of the state fair, and the best thing Mr. Dartt can do, or
anybody else for that matter, is to come in and make the best ex-
hibit possible and have a good time, and start long enough ahead
so as to have the exhibit in place and ready on Monday morning
when the fair opens. As superintendent of that division this year
I insisted that the horticultural department must be ready on Mon-
day morning, and it was ready on Monday morning, and so far as
the horticultural exhibit was concerned people got their half dollar’s
worth.
Mr. Harris: Mr. President, I must confess I did grumble a little about
one of the rules, and that was in regard to putting up the cold storage fruit
on Friday and Saturday. Before the week is gone it is all used up. For
those big exhibits it is all right. I would suggest that they allow fruit to
come in until Monday noon. Instead of objecting to those stringent rules
I think we will make them still more stringent, and we will learn by ex-
perience where we can better them.
Mr. Philips, (Wis.): As one of the judges in the fruit department at
the state fair last fall I noticed some things that I thought could be bettered,
and being an outsider, of course, I may speak of it. Of those rigid rules
that Mr. Underwood speaks of, compelling every one to have his fruit
there ready for exhibition on Saturday night, ready for the opening on
Monday morning, I have just this to say: I received that notice and tried
to live up to it. I brought my fruit and put it up Saturday afternoon. The
trouble with your fair last fall was—and I looked the fruit over every day—
that while there were some men who brought their fruit in from a distance,
there were others bringing in fruit until Wednesday, and that makes an in-
justice to the man who comes a long distance with his fruit. If you are
going to have that rule, enforce it, and every man who is not there on
Monday morning with his fruit rule him out. There were plates of apples
there on Tuesday that became a little soft, and on Wednesday they had a
better plate in place of them. I don’t know how it happened, but then I
am not supposed to know anything about what happens in Minnesota. If
you make a rule live up to it. ri
In regard to this large show for the sweepstakes premium. In Wisconsin
years ago we did not have this wide open policy. We obliged a man to
show his own fruit, and if a man was honest he did not bring in a big show.
But Mr. Dartt intimated that years ago the other fellows were dishonest and
showed fruit that they did not raise themselves. In order to do away with
this, this premium is offered, and a man can get his fruit for this entry any-
where in Minnesota.
Mr. Harris: Couldn’t get anything in Wisconsin. (Laughter.)
Mr. Philips: Don’t say too much, young man. The outcome of offer-
ing that premium is to make the best show ofvany state in the union. It
makes a magnificent show, and I cannot agree with my friend Dartt in his
conclusions. That sweepstakes premium is all right. I have heard it in-
timated that horticulturists borrow freely of their neighbors. It gives a
man license to work in things that he cannot raise himself. If Mr. Harris
EXHIBITING FRUIT AT MINN. STATE FAIR. 189
was gathering fruit all over the state, and he was gathering fruit for this
sweepstakes exhibit, when he came to make his own exhibit if he had found
some Wealthys that were finer than his own he would put them in; I would
be very likely to do it myself. (Laughter.)
In regard to these rigid rules, if you make one man live up to them,
make every one live up to them, and there will be less criticism, and I
would also advise my neighbors here to pray that they may not fall into
temptation and steal their neighbors’ apples. (Laughter.)
Mr. Dartt: As usual I am against the crowd, but I am right, and the
crowd is wrong. (Laughter.) This sweepstakes exhibit is the biggest
show you have got, and what is the use of bothering with those little in-
dividual exhibits? You make your sweepstakes large enough and divide
it up so a big lot can get in, and you will have a big show. I am not going
to try to argue this crowd out of their coveted object.
I don’t believe I said anything as mean about Mr. Underwood as he said
about me, but I want to say that he made the finest exhibit at our last state
fair I ever saw in my life; I did not see anything nearly so fine at the World’s
Fair. I never saw anything to equal the exhibit of the Jewell Nursery Com-
pany, and if we can get exhibits like that without sweepstakes premiums I
will go right in for them every time.
Mr. Harris: The man who makes such a sweepstakes exhibit is re-
quired to give the name of the variety, the name of the man who grew it,
with his postoffice address, his own name and have a label of that kind on
each plate. There were about forty men credited with the finest fruit there.
It gives a man a pretty good opportunity to go there and see who raises the
finest fruit in the state.
Mr. Wheaton: I agree with what has been said, for I have had a little
experience in the agricultural department, having had charge for seven
years. It is not right to have a rule requiring exhibits to be in place Satur-
day night, and then not have them ready until Monday night. It does not
give a fair show to those that are on hand promptly, and I believe those
rules should be lived up to more strictly than they are at the present time,
and I do not see why they should not be lived up to in the horticultural de-
partment as well as in other departments.
Mr. Lord: I think the language of the premium list is sometimes a
little obscure. There is a rule which says: “No fruit shall be duplicated.”
I supposed that was meant to cover the case Mr. Philips mentioned, in case
some fruit was entered and then changed for something better before the
committee came around. However the committee said that was not what
was meant by that rule; it is said no fruit should be duplicated. I would like
to have Mr. Underwood explain what that means.
Mr. Underwood: I should interpret it to mean that you should not
have two plates of the same variety. I understand the word “duplicate”
to mean in this case more than one plate of the same variety. I never had
occasion to look up that point, but that would be my interpretation.
Mr. Lord: It seems to me the language might be changed so it would
be a little more explicit, that no fruit should be duplicated; perhaps the
case that Mr. Philips mentioned might be construed as coming under that
rule. I think it means that no exhibitor shall exhibit the same variety of
fruit for two premiums. That is, for instance, he can exhibit the best
Wealthy for the first premium, but not for the second and third premiums
190 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Mr. Underwood: I do not know that I understand Mr. Lord exactly.
I understand the rule to mean that no single plate of apples shall be dupli-
cated for the same premium. If it was for the best plate of Wealthys, for
instance, they could not enter another plate for the same premium, but I do
not understand that they could not enter Wealthys in another collection.
It all hinges on the premium that is offered.
Mr. Harris: Mr. Latham has just come in and perhaps he can give us
some light on the matter.
Mr. Latham: The rule means that no two plates of.the same variety
shall go into any one entry. For instance, you have an entry for a collection
of apples and should you have two plates of Duchess (or two plates of any
other variety) you could not put them both into this collection.
Mr. Lord: I think it would be a very good thing if the rule could be
construed to apply to the case Mr. Philips mentioned.
SETTING TREES.
EDSON GAYLORD, NORA SPRINGS, IOWA.
Yes, set a tree on your lawn,
It will blossom when you're gone.
Different soils, varieties, conditions and locations all often have an im-
portant bearing on the future success of the tree you are setting. Setting a
tree in a deep, rich soil where the ground has been recently plowed deep and
cultivated thoroughly is a short and easy matter; a little scooping out just
where the tree is to set, and you are ready to set. But the many trees that
are and will be set are in old ground to fill vacancies or to add beauty to
some sod-bound, grassy lawn. It is a common remark that it is little use
to set new trees in places where others have failed. I have long been con-
vinced there is less truth than poetry in this old saying. My experience
and observation has convinced me that there need be no failure in setting
trees in uncultivated fields or in grassy lawns. To make such a success
one needs put on his thinking cap and study conditions necessary to success.
First, dig the hole deep, and if an apple tree at least seven inches deeper than
the tree stood in nursery, unless the soil is cold and heavy; in this case I set
only three inches deeper and raise one inch when filled above the level.
Evergreen trees and shrubs I set only two or three inches deeper. Our
greatest failures come in digging post holes in hard ground to set trees or
shrubs. A hole with perpendicular banks left solid is all wrong. No hole
when ready to set either tree or shrub should be bounded on either side by
hard. banks, which is almost always the case in setting trees in old ground.
No hole should be less than four to five feet broad. If an apple tree the hole
should be (on the bottom) sloping to one o’clock. This will aid much in
holding the tree in the right position to be self protecting from the sun.
Then spread a half bushel of the richest dirt you can get handy and put under
where the roots are to set; then pick up your tree, examine and cut off from
the under side all injured roots, and you better clip some of the longer
roots than to bend them too much. Do not put too much stress on retaining
and preserving all the fine fibrous roots; they are often of little if any value.
Place your hopes much more on the larger and stronger roots. The Ger-
mans have demonstrated this thoroughly, that the small fibrous roots that
SETTING TREES. 191
we have formally held so valuable in setting trees are usless. There is one
other point I deem important before setting any tree that has been started
on tender roots. I examine close for the tender root at the bottom, which,
as a rule, appears dark and dull. Then I cut off all the tender roots, unless
it takes them all. This lets the tree down deeper and secures its own hardy
roots. I have practiced this for years.
Next place your tree in position to make it self-protecting against sun
scald, that many claim has killed half of our bearing apple trees. This is
not a difficult matter if your tree is straight, but if its trunk has two or three
slight crooks you will often find it very difficult to hold your breath long
enough to determine just which way to turn it so as to best prevent the
dreaded sun killing. The stem and principal branches should all point as
near to one o’clock as possible—by no means vary over a half hour either
to the right or to the left. The instructions commonly given by our best
writers to set to the southwest is dangerous in the extreme, as I have demon-
strated over and over. Never set either to the southeast or southwest, but just
a little to the west of south. As soon as you have determined on the exact
position to have the tree stand, have two inches of the rich earth thrown
over the roots:and then get up and stamp the earth thoroughly down, not
only over the roots but over the bottom of the hole and particularly against
the sides of the hole. Then if I have any sides or upright banks anywhere
on either side I take a spade or grub hoe and slash down the bank on all
sides stamping thoroughly at the same time till I get the entire hole within
three inches of level; then hold your breath again and fill the hole even. If
dry, leave a little sloping to the tree, but see that you fill this last three
inches with as fine and as loose earth as possible, and fine manure on top
of this will be all the better—but never round it up about the base of the
thee, never.
To ensure a successful growth the first season (and you want it then if
ever), you must do one thing with care: Cultivate the three inches of
surface thoroughly and keep the ground fine, light, and smooth in August—
and if the soil is still dry keep up a thorough cultivation through August;
if still very dry keep on till it freezes up, when the frozen surface will shut
out the wind and the sun, and the roots will soon be supplied with moisture
by capillary attraction from many feet below. I take very little stock in this
cry of fall watering trees by some of our wise teachers who ought to know
better—just before the ground freezes they advise watering—but follow my
suggestions and rake the surface with a steel garden rake about every ten
days, and, I care not how dry it may be, on good soil you need no
water. If you are close over rock, heavy blue clay or hard pan then water
often or better run and halloo fire or murder. Another point not to be over-
looked: if you .rake or cultivate the surface thoroughly today, and it rains
a fine shower tonight, and the ground is in need of more moisture, as soon
as the surface dries a little go over it again with the rake in a few hours,
and you hold nearly all the shower, but if you let it go a number of days
you lose nearly all the shower you thought to save.
Now while your tree is set, there is another fine point for serious consid-
eration. Setting trees, in spite of all you can or have done, will often show
when set openings on the sun side, and if not closed up before it comes in
bearing the tree will be injured, often ruined. This by a very little care can
be easily avoided. Soon after I set my trees I step to the sun side, and if I
192 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
find an opening I catch each twig that is near the opening and find the bud
that points the most directly towards the opening and cut each twig off just
above such bud. I go all around the opening and if the opening is likely to
prove serious I go over the same the next spring. One will be surprised to
see how rapidly he can close these openings. To aid this work and insure
a tree’s self protection, as soon as the tree is set I cut off smooth to the
trunk all limbs or shoots that appear to be growing to the northeast, which
forces the sap into the branches on the sun side and builds it up in a way to
make it safe from sun scald, which is death to many trees sooner or later
unless aided by some kind of protection. Then clip the twigs on the sun
side to thicken the top on the sun side, but never head in, as is often recom-
mended, on the northeast side to make the sap build up the sunny side; if
you do you will fail, for every twig you head in will immediately send out
two shoots in place of the one headed in. Always cut close to the stem all
limbs or shoots that appear growing to the northeast. Heading in on the
northeast side, as often advised, only adds fuel to fire or insult to injury; but
cutting all the shoots from the northeast side close to the stem forces the
sap to build up the sunny side. Follow this training till the tree comes in
bearing, when from some cause (not fully known to me) the tree ceases its
former inclination to grow to the northeast. This one-sided training is often
objected to, but here I deem it of very great importance.
When once in fashion nothing to me appears nearer perfection than to
see a fine young orchard with every tree standing to the one o'clock sun,
with all openings closed up on the sun side, with a slight opening on the
northeast corner which furnishes a much needed place to get into each tree
in time of picking, trimming or hunting worms.
Boys ask why I advise stamping the earth so firm when refilling the hole
in setting a tree. I do this to connect the loose earth thrown back solid
against the bottom and sides. If the earth is left light and loose on the sides
and bottom I get little or no benefit from the moisture that would otherwise
rise in a dry time from below by capillary attraction. I have
removed trees after being set two or three weeks in a dry time,
and where loosely set I have found the earth on the bottom
and sides of the hole much more moist than the earth that had
been replaced in the hole in setting. This securing special aid from capillary
attraction in a severe drought is, as a rule, little thought of, but it is an
unseen power of inestimable value to all new set trees here in our long con-
tinued seasons of drought. Were it not for this aid our entire forest would
scarcely survive one season here, in our dry, hot air. If these be facts, we
need not argue the vast importance of securing the most perfect capillary at-
traction. To secure the best results there appears two important ends to be
gained. First, how to raise the moisture from the earth below and not have
it stop just as it reaches the bottom roots but keep on till above all roots;
but here comes the second fine point, how to stop it and hold it just below
the surface and among the roots. Satan never worked with any more per-
sistency to induce Eve to eat the forbidden fruit than does both the sun and
wind to induce the moisture to break out from the surface and escape from
the roots to the atmosphere. The best known remedy I can give is to keep
the surface loose from setting till rains in the fall.
SS 2 = —_
ADULTERATION OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 193
ADULTERATION OF EXTRACTED HONEY, AND HOW
CAN IT BE PREVENTED?
EUGENE SECOR, FOREST CITY, IA.
This is an age of shoddy and deceit. Competition in business has be-
come so sharp, and the profits so meager, the temptation is to cheapen the
article in order to cut the price of honest goods. And the blame is not
altogether on the shoulders of the seller. The ambition to ape one’s neigh-
bors when one hasn’t the means to do it is at the bottom of a good deal of
this cheap-John business. It leads one to buy the counterfeit at a lower
figure in order to appear as well-to-do as some one else with more wealth.
When the price of an article is the chief inducement to purchase, it is
not to be wondered at that the merchant and manufacturer should try to
make the price right by substituting an inferior article. If they can make
it look just as nice as a better quality of goods they satisfy, in some degree,
the almost universal desire to get something for nothing or to appear to be
what we are not.
The purchaser wants cheap goods because he isn’t honest, because he
wants the producer’s and dealer’s legitimate profits, or he wants to pass
as a wealthier man than he really is; and the manufacturer and merchant
supply the cheap counterfeit goods because they are not honest, for they
rarely admit the truth of the fraud practiced.
There is no denying the fact of the widespread adulteration of foods,
medicines and condiments. Matters that affect the health of a community
are of vital importance; and since it is the province of law to compel people
to do right, or at least to be honest in their dealings with others, the
necessity is plain that some adequate measures ought to be enacted to pro-
tect the health of the innocent public. While I admit that some people
ought to and do know better than they practice in buying, there are thou-
sands too young to protect themselves from the wiles of modern trade.
The present age has not gotten beyond the need of the ten command-
ments, but the decalogue might be modernized by the additional injunction:
Thou shalt not fool thy neighbor’s stomach.
Buckwheat flour three-fourths wheat or rye middlings—or -satienheees
worse; maple syrup as innocent of maple as the moon is of the weather;
so-called butter from Armour’s packing houses, and liquid honey from the
fruitful cornfields of Iowa or Illinois, are only samples of the nefarious
practices in vogue to deceive a confiding public.
No matter whether all these food frauds are injurious to health or not,
we have a right to demand that things be called by their right names. If
I am blind and ask for a violin, no man has a right to take my money and
deliver me a corn-stalk fiddle; and if my palate craves butter and honey I
am defrauded if I get a mixture of lard and cotton seed oil for the one
or pure glucose for the other.
Legislators have long recognized the need of pure food laws, but they
are slow to vitalize the enactments with proper methods of enforcement.
Laws never did and never will enforce themselves. Every law which is of
public benefit ought to have a public officer whose duty it is to enforce it.
The state not only has the right, but it is the state’s duty to protect its
people. It asserts this right in the attempt to prevent the spread of con-
tagious diseases, and the duty of looking after such matters is not left to
194 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
individual effort or interest but is placed on public officials who are sup-
posed to regard the interests of the whole community.
In many states the laws against adulteration are good enough, but
they lack the vitality of a public prosecutor whose official duty it is to
enforce them. What, think you, would the law against oleomargarine and
butterine amount to if left to individual and isolated effort to enforce it? I
am sure it would be violated every day in the year. But where a dairy
commissioner is on the alert, backed by a live dairy association, the state
of affairs is quite different. The laws against the adulteration of all foods,
medicines and drugs ought to be enforced in the same manner, through
a food commissioner, who, if efficient and honest, can drive adulteration out
of the market.
If any one prefers to buy oleo for butter, or glucose for honey, he
should be permitted to do so, for I believe in the largest liberty of the
citizen consistent with the public good; but every article put upon the
market for food or medicine should be branded truthfully, and any mis-
branding or misrepresentation ought to be made a crime and punished ac-
cordingly.
No legitimate industry can live against the competition of fraud and
deceit, and I am sure you will agree with me that honey can not be pro-
duced and sold at a profit in competition with glucose, if the latter is per-
mitted to sail under the flag of ‘““Pure White Clover Honey.” Glucose is a
legitimate article of commerce, and if it is healthful as claimed, why can’t it
stand on its own merits? Why must it be labeled what it is not? Why be
palmed off for some higher priced luxury, with which it can never com-
pete except under an assumed name
I know of no way to successfully combat the evil tendencies of modern
trade in the direction of adulteration and misbranding, than for all or-
ganizations interested in the purity of foods, medicines or beverages to unite
in the demand for proper remedial state legislation and to urge also upon
congress the passage of a bill regulating the interstate feature of com-
merce protecting states which have adequate pure food laws from being
flooded, under the original package idea, with adulterated goods from the
outside.
The United States Bee-Keepers’ Association has stood and will stand
for the enactment of such measures as shall place all food interests on an
equal footing. No one interested party can bring the necessary pressure to
bear upon congress, but where all organizations that prefer honesty to de-
ceit unite there can be no such word as fail. No manufacturers’ association
dare go before a legislative body or committee and object to the branding
of any article designed for human consumption other than in a truthful
manner. .
The National Association of Bee-Keepers, after having given the mat-
ter of adulterations a good deal of study, recommends the passage, by
congress, of the Brosius Bill, H. R. 12,190, introduced February 27, 1899,
and it urges upon all bee-keepers the importance of active co-operation.
A word to your congressman asking his support of this meritorious meas-
ure will do good. This act covers the inter-state feature.
You appear to have adequate state legislation and supervision in Min-
nesota, and if the enforcement of pure food laws is difficult or impracticable
here, I apprehend it is for the want of proper national enactments to supple-
ment your own efforts.
4
|
ADULTERATION OF EXTRACTED HONEY. 195
I hope you will unite your efforts with ours, and aid in the passage of
the above named measure, and then take an active interest in urging and as-
sisting your dairy and food commissioner to enforce the law.
We are surely behind many countries in this matter of inspecting and
regulating food products. There is such a thing as abusing liberty. I hope
the time may soon come when equal rights shall be so sacred that no one
shall dare to deceive his neighbor.
THE MILWAUKEE APPLE.
J. S. HARRIS, LA CRESCENT.
Replying to the query of Clarence Wedge, in April “Minnesota Horti-
culturist,” will say that I do not think that it has been fruited in this state.
Nursery trees that were two years old in the nursery came through the
winter of ’98 and ’99 without injury or more discoloration than the Duchess
of Oldenburg.
The variety had its origin from seed of the Duchess of Oldenburg,
planted by George Jeffry, at Milwaukee, Wis. He writes that the tree is
MILWAUKEE APPLE.
very hardy and productive, and that the fruit keeps well until after mid-win-
ter. It was propagated at Nursery, IIl., by the late John V. Cotta, and I
think that he rated it about with the Patten’s Greening for hardiness.
The following is a description of a specimen from the original tree, made
Oct. 11, 1898: Size 8; weight 9% oz.; form, round oblate, slightly angular;
color, greenish yellow and brownish red striped; stalk, short and rather
stout, set in a broad, deep, funnel shaped cavity, russeted at the bottom;
calyx open, in a deep, abrupt, nearly smooth basin, The flesh is about half
fine, tender and juicy; flavor, a pleasant acid; use, cooking; core, small and
closed; season, early winter; tree, fairly vigorous grower.
196 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
DARTT’S PARK AT OWATONNA.
A new institution has been added to the list of Owatonna’s attractions.
On the banks of Maple Creek, at a point some distance above the Mineral
Springs avenue bridge, has been laid out a park-like resort, which a consid-
erable number of both young and old persons may be found enjoying on any
pleasant day. This place is called by the unpretentious name of “Dartt’s
Park.” It is located on property owned by E. H. S. Dartt, and the im-
provements and conveniences of the resort have been provided by Mr. Dartt.
A VIEW IN DARTT’S PARK.
Mr. Dartt has constructed two dams in the creek, which at one place main-
tain the water at such a depth as to make a pleasant and safe place for bath-
ing and swimming. On the banks near this “swimming hole” he has erected
two enclosures to serve as bath houses, one for each sex. From within them
daily come forth lads and lasses attired in various sorts of bathing suits, and
disport in the waters of what has been jokingly named “Lake Dartt.” Mr.
Dartt has also provided rafts and foot bridges, and the place is reached by
a roadway over the upper dam. There are also a shed in which to tie horses,
and a well, sixty-nine feet deep, which supplies excellent water. Benches
and tables for picnic parties stand about the grounds.
The plot at present includes about thirty acres of land. Mr. Dartt is
planning to build another dam lower down, which will give the park a still
larger water area. He has other improvements also in mind, among them some
to be made on the bath-houses, which are at present in a crude condition,
though they serve the purpose well, and no one complains.
Your (orner.
While I have not examined things very closely, everything so far indi-
cates that we shall have a good fruit crop in this section.—J. P. Andrews,
Faribault, April 19, 1900.
In regard to the fruit prospect, I think it is first rate. Everything
seems to be loaded with fruit-buds, and if no bad frosts or blighting winds
or anything else happens we will have a fruit crop.——C. E. Older, Luverne,
April 16, 1900.
The outlook for a fruit crop is very promising. The apple trees are
sound in top and roots and are full of blossom buds. Plums and cherries
look well. The raspberries and strawberries wintered well, whether they
were protected or not.—Frank Yahnke, Winona, April 17.
Owatonna is doing a smashing business. One nurseryman packed two
big car loads of trees yesterday, about the same amount the day before, and
will repeat today. Two other nursery firms are doing a similar amount of
business. If you beat Owatonna in serving the Lord or serving the devil
you must hustle early and late-——E. H. S. Dartt, April ro.
Apple and plum trees are full of fruit buds, and prospects at this writing
are good for a full crop. Raspberries not covered are injured, but where
they were covered they are in fine condition. Strawberries where mulched
are looking well and promise a good crop. Young apple trees in nursery
row are injured to some extent, but not killed—W. E. Fryer, Mantorville,
April 17, Igoo.
Apple fruit buds are now swelling, and there is an unusually large quan-
tity on the trees. Prospect is for a large crop of apples. Strawberries win-
tered good in spite of the fact that there was no snow until the latter part
of March. Raspberries winter-killed more than common. I expect there
has been the usual amount of root-killing of fruit trees in young orchards.
Buffalo berry in bloom.—Dewain Cook, Windom, April 20, 1900.
The prospect for a good crop of fruit in my orchard is very encouraging
and very promising; the fruit buds on apple, plumand cherry are very prom-
inent and in good condition. Everything has come through the winter in
excellent shape. All of last year’s planting looks very good. Am going
to plant about 200 fruit trees—E.W. Mayman, Sauk Rapids, Minn.,
April 19, 1900.
The fruit trees, bushes and plants on my farm have come through the
winter in excellent condition with promise of an abundant harvest. Our
plum orchard, the pride oi the farm, is looking exceptionally well and is full
of fruit buds, regardless of the heavy crop it bore last season. I find no
injury to the apple trees in root or branch. They, too, are full of fruit
spurs, especially the Wealthy, in my young orchard. No injury from mice
where the trees were banked. Our small fruits appear to be all right.
—A. K. Bush, Dover, April 17.
I have visited several orchards, both apple and plum, and found them
coming out of winter in splendid condition and set very full of fruit-buds.
198 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Currants and gooseberries will bloom very full; can’t say as to raspberries
and strawberries, as they are yet in winter quarters, also grapes. I have
Seek-no-iurther, Jonathan, Grime’s Golden, Minkler, Northwestern Green-
ing, Ben Davis, all top-worked, that are full of fruit-buds and perfect in
every way; and Gakovaska pear on Tetofsky that every bud to all appear-
ance is perfect. I found in an orchard near here Baldwin and Rhode Island
Greening, grafted onto Virginia crab two years ago, that are set full of
fruit-buds. Every orchard that I have visited that has had proper care and
attention. is in perfect condition. I find in nine cases out of ten, it is the
owner that winter-kills—J. C. Hawkins, Austin, Minn., April 19, 1900.
I have taken some time to look over the situation and discover that all
fruit trees that were not seriously injured the previous winter have come
through the past one in good condition and are well supplied with fruit-
buds, and present indications point toward a reasonably good crop of apples,
plums and cherries. While grapes had not quite recovered their normal vig-
or after the injury of 1898-99, they have wintered well, and those even that
were not given protection are uninjured. Without later unfavorable condi-
tions the crop will be an average one. Raspberries have suffered more here
than the other fruits. The injury appears to have occurred with the first frost
in the fall, which caught them with a new growth started. Present indica-
tions point to little more than a half crop. Strawberries have generally
wintered well, but the crop of this vicinity is not expected to be more than
two-thirds of that of last year, owing to the damage done to the new plan-
tations by the floods of last June and the drouth of late summer causing a
scant rooting of plants.
We had too much snow during the winter, the last of the drifts disap-
peared yesterday, and we have just had thirty hours of rain. The soil is so
wet that we have not yet been able to start in on spring work.—J. S. Harris,
La Crescent, April 17.
_ Secretary's mie
T. T. Lyon, South Haven, Michigan, died in February, 87 years old. No
Michigan horticulturist stood higher, or has been more useful in his day and
generation.
A TRIPLE JOINTED MEETING.—It is interesting to note a joint meeting of
the state horticultural societies of Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas, at the
Texas Agricultural College Station, July 3, 4,5 and6. A four days’ session
in the summer! This must be the dullest season for fruit growers in that
region. Is there a hint in this for us?
List OF THOSE SENDING NEW MEMBERS IN APRIL.—
Rolla Stubbs, 1. J. P. Andrews, 4
C. E. Older, 3. Rev. R. Vallquist, 4.
T. T. Bacheller, 1. E. H. S. Dartt, 2.
John Zellar, 1. C. R. Johnson, 1.
SECRETARY’S CORNER. 199
To APPLICANTS FOR PREMIUMS.—The plant premiums have now been sent
out, and it is too late to make further applications for this spring. Those
coming in from now on will be held for delivery in the spring of 1901.
_A MINNESOTA BOTANICAL, SOCIETY.—Such an association was formed early
this month by the botanists of the state, in convention assembled at the state
university. We notice among the first list of members the names of several
familiar to us as workers in the horticultural society. We extend to this new
organization most cordial greeting.
RESIGNATION OF PRoF. H. W. BREWSTER.—After twelve years service with
the Minnesota Agricultural School, Prof. Brewster has severed his connection
therewith, with great regret on the part of the management and all others in-
terested. Ill] healthin the family madea change necessary. As a friend, fellow
member and co-worker, he will carry with him the sympathy and best wishes
of the members of our organization.
STRINGFELLOW PLANTS TREES IN THE Sop.—Many of our readers are
familiar with Mr. Stringfellow’s hobby of planting trees without the usual
lateral roots or preparation of the soil He has just planted, to demonstrate
his theory, an orchard of 3,000 fruit trees in the tough sod of a Texas prairie
by shoving down into an inch and a half hole the main root of the tree, with
the side roots all removed. This is a heroic test of his theory, and should go
far to settle the point in dispute between him and other southern fruit growers,
who stick to the good old way.
MINNESOTA FRUIT CROP IN 1900.—The outlook for the fruit crop, as it
appears to our contributors in the ‘‘Your Corner’’ of this number, is most en-
couraging, as far as can be judged by present appearances—at least above
ground. Few of these writers speak of the condition of the roots, and there
is liable to be some trouble from this cause after this very open winter. Some
of the grape growers at Minnetonka have found many frozen roots in their
vineyards and fear considerable injury. Safety from this danger lies along
the line of mulching with some suitable material. Perhaps the dust mulch
would. be enough ordinarily.
BULLETIN ON SAN JOSE SCALE.—The Ontario Department of Agriculture
(Toronto, Canada) has just issued a very comprehensive bulletin on the above
subject, treating also of other scale insects. After giving a very complete
illustrated life history of the insect, it details the various methods of control-
ling and exterminating it with results. Without expecting to eradicate it, it is
evidently the belief of the writer that it can be held in check by proper inspec-
tion and fumigation of nursery stock, destruction of badly infested stock and
orchard trees and spraying with kerosene and water emulsion (one part of oil
to four of water) and other preparations.
ANOTHER ‘“‘HORTICULTURAL HAND BOook.’’—Prof. J. L. Budd, the well
known horticulturist and for many years, until recently, in charge of the horti-
cultural department of the Iowa Agricultural College and State Experiment
Station, is the author of this new book. The work is not to be considered as a
consecutive treatise, either upon general horticulture or any branch of the
subject, but, rather as a gathering together of practical thoughts on the general
subject covering a wide range, probably the result of his own observation
200 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
and experience in the northwest. Some attention is given to the subject of
propagation and top-working, orchard management, varieties of fruits adapted
to the northwest, etc. .The ornamental is not overlooked, as the book begins
with a chapter on home grounds and farther along shrubs and flowering plants
receive some attention, as also the subject of nut growing. A chapter on hy-
bridizing and crossing, with practical directions to guide the novice, will be
found especially valuable. The book lacks an index and table of contents,
which will not be noticed so much, however, as in a volume of larger size. It
contains 160 small sized pages of coarse type and is issued by the Wallace
Publishing Co., Des Moines, Ia., as one of their Farm Library Series. Price,
35 cents.
PRoF. S. B. GREEN GOES TO EUROPE.—Accompanied by his wife, Prof.
Green, well known to all our readers as now for ten years having been at the
head of the horticultural department of the Minnesota Agricultural College
and State Experiment Station, is about to leave for Europe for a trip to cover
the entire summer. The primary object of this journey is to study the horti-
cultural conditions of the old world and gather such things as he can find that
will be of assistance to him in prosecuting his work with us here in the north-
west. With a training of six years in the horticultural schools of Massachusetts,
of ten years in the field with some of the best nurserymen and experimenters
in the east, and now twelve years as teacher and experimenter in our own
state, the professor carries with him a training and experience admirably fitting
him for the work he is about to undertake. We shall hear from him occasion-
ally while abroad, and our readers will have opportunity to share liberally in
whatever good results he attains.
They sail from New York May 8th on the steamer Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse,
expecting to be at home again before September Ist.
HINTS TO EXHIBITORS AT THE STATE FariR.—In this issue is published a
copy of the regulations of the horticultural department of the next Minnesota
state fair and two articles pertaining to the exhibition of fruits in that depart-
ment. Intending exhibitors at the coming fair are urged to give all those
articles very careful reading. The rules should be carefully studied as never
before, as it is the intention of the management to enforce them strictly. There
is nothing in them with which exhibitors cannot easily comply if they become
once familiar with them, and their close enforcement will add greatly to the
attractiveness of the fair and the convenience of all concerned. The articles
by Prof. Green, for many years judge of apples, and by Mr. Clarence Wedge,
one of our most successful exhibitors, are full of valuable practical suggestions
that can easily be put into use. Shall we all work together to make this the
best fair, in the truest sense, Minnesota has ever seen ?
RRR SOS ED I TRE ETA NTE:
We are pained to announce the death of Miss Sarah M. Manning, for many
years an honorary life member of this society, which occurred at her home in
Lake City, Minn., Saturday, April 7th. She had been gradually failing for
some time, and her death was not unexpected. A suitable biography will
appear in an early 1.umber.
E. B. JORDAN,
LATE OF NORTH ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA.
[See biography. |
xX
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. JUNE, 1900. No. 6.
In Memoriam,
EUGENE B. JORDAN,
ONTARIO, CALIFORNIA.
Died March 10, 1900, aged 62 years.
(See Frontispiece.)
Of the early life of Mr. E. B. Jordan little is known to the writer be-
yond the fact that he graduated from Beloit College, Wisconsin. He re-
moved to Rochester, Minn., in 1865, and the following year engaged in the
nursery and fruit business on the place now occupied by Mr: R. C. Keel, on
the hills two miles east of Rochester. With great faith in the future of fruit
growing in his adopted state-he proceeded to plant large orchards on the
hill sides of his farm, which intelligent care soon brought into profitable
bearing. The exact figures as to the size of these orchards are not at this
moment available, but they covered a large portion of the farm and were
greater in extent than any similar plantings at that time, and perhaps they
have not yet been surpassed in our state.
Mr. Jordan was a man of great energy, with large ideas, and the force
and: system needed to carry them out successfully. As such he impressed
himself very forcefully upon the horticulture of the state during the eighteen
years he remained in Minnesota. Upon the organization of this’ society he
allied himself with it, his name appearing on the rolls first in the year 1868,
its third year. From that time on to 1887 he was almost continuously a
member and one of the most active of its workers, as becomes at once ap-
parent in looking through the reports covering the intervening years.
An increasing interest in horticultural pursuits in 1887 took him out of
the state to Florida, where he remained some years growing and shipping
orange trees in great quantities to California, until at length he removed to
southern California, still continuing in the nursery business.
His business operations proving successful financially he was enabled
to retire from active work some years since and care for his declining
health.
After eight years of invalidism he closed a useful life March 10, 1900,
leaving behind him a wife, one son and two daughters, who all live in the
near vicinity.
There are many others to recall his excellent qualities and mourn his
loss.
202 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
FRUITS AND FLOWERS IN THE
PREMIUM LIST, MINNESOTA STATE FAIR, 1900.
(For rules see May Horticulturist.)
CLASS 62—APPLES.
Open to all.
Lot. Ist 2nd 3rd
Prem. Prem. Prem.
I. Sweepstakes collection. Open to all competi-
tors and subject to all the foregoing rules,
with the following modifications: Ist. The
fruit need not have been grown by the
exhibitor. 2nd. The collection may _ in-
clude any variety, seedling or otherwise,
grown in Minnesota. 3rd. Each plate
shown must be plainly labeled with the
name of its grower. Printed cards for this
purpose will be furnished on application to
the sSuUpenintendeimtra-+ steer eet ees ces eases $25.00 15.00 10.00
John W. Thomas & Co.’s Special Sweepstakes Premium ............ $100.00
John W. Thomas & Co., dry goods merchants, 500-506 Nicollet avenue,
Minneapolis, offer $100.00, as a special sweepstakes premium, to be pro-
rated, according to merit, among all competitors in the above competition
(@lass=62;. Lop 1.)-
Ist 2nd 3rd
No. Prem. Prem. Prem.
2 SPecksonewWiealthys appless. sinters .j-nisice ace cee $5.00 $3.00 $2.00
3. Collection of 10 varieties of apples, to be
judged with special reference to the size,
beauty and perfection of the fruit (crabs
and hybrids excepted). Premium......... $25.00
To be divided pro rata among all the exhibitors in this lot.
CLASS 63—APPLES. For Professionals.
Lot Ist. 2nd 3rd 4th Sth.
Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem.
4. Collection, hybrids and crabs
EX CEPLEG che spieecikantc 2 925.00. 20.005 t- B5700: erarataceein e eecko) aero 2, 1.50 1.00 50:
1327 ACOA 2.6. oak cre Re ong aus EOE os 1.50 1.00 .50
470 Campbells: Marly. loess oe. sou cen eeeeemins 1.50 1.00 50:
TA oe Dela wanes wes wre grace wes pos, oe wee geen 1.50 1.00 .50
Ae 1 Pal B |i Col 6h = CSc eee Race Ne ee a nen nears Sev cphT 6 1.50 1.00 .50
TRO se arlyeVACtOna. ten. cn. SR ace Gitmo SIO 1.50 1.00 .50
1372 AG OEAGO pees Sess Sais oo ce ose Seat mre aE 1.50 I.00 50:
T 38. eo MIDIES SEAGE Sess ae uke = See fal ws oto d cee ae 1.50 1.00 50
130, Grech OUNtANL sects o sn arcs (1s Sa nite ae 1.50 1.00 .50
140, -Hlerbert4 Roger's No.144) oo 24 sce ae 1.50 1.00 .50
PREMIUM LIST, MINN. STATE FAIR, 1900. 205
Ist 2nd ard
Lot. Prem. Prem. Prem.
PUAN CGAL BL SES df tana Cig tacit nabs Ok aes 0 8 ok eat ee 1.50 1.00 .50
iS see PILES VLG. ors Gite Waal cals Bin aikn sca oc cseee 1.50 1.00 .50
ieee Mey (ROGCT.S MNO) ere Nose cake kes te pecs 1.50 1.00 .50
RBs OA RALLY >. ce.c. < Cievavere teem See caier ce aihictebere 6 SSS so op Dae 1.50 1.00 .50
ye tpe ght Ey gal oe eee ae ae ee oa a eae 1.50 1.00 .50
Tiba ViaSSasOlts (ROE S INGOs 93). sass teas scien 8 1.50 1.00 .50
Big WOOT S: Li amMONGs Nat haces -nudcn wes 0p ce 1.50 1.00 .50
RoR OOLE SMkUARIY fos rasit 5 Cena loie grid koe wid iy ts 1.50 I.00 .50
en Ma aeeRT ie ser antes mR aa Se te ok ote Sa oyran sb: 1.50 I .00 .50
Mes oy ay Ot WELLER oe. Gog ooe me A TW W.gieth aes sbi ew oe wee Fee 1.50 1.00 .50
Metee rE ODEO SIG mR CU cio ia «Ss weet Pome e tee a 1.50 1.00 .50
Beret GUC MEDI 2° ne tat oe ch Woah alae ee 1.50 1.00 .50
Boa evvilnder* (Rogers Nos 4) o.tie owe ene se ce oe 1.50 1.00 .50
Hee aN GOUT > IROG. s,s asthe otis enn le he ee aks okek 1.50 1.00 .50
Tepes NV OR UCTI I Fi ticcs atte at a eee Co ewes 1.50 1.00 .50
rat WY VOMUINE 2 TWEU oes eee htars Rah ee ue ee ee 1.50 1.00 .50
Pgs Ol CLE AV ATIELY, Goto tars gecdt eo eee ce ar eee e ees 1.50 1.00 -50
CLASS 67.—PLUMS. Open to All.
Lot 158. Sweepstakes collection. Open to all competitors and subject
to all the foregoing rules, with the following modifications: First, the fruit
need not have been grown by the exhibitor; second, the collection may in-
clude any variety, seedling or otherwise, grown in Minnesota; third, each
plate shown must be plainly labeled with the name and ‘address of its
grower. Printed cards for this purpose will be furnished on application to
the superintendent. $50.00—to be divided pro rata among all exhibitors in
this lot.
Ist 2nd 3rd
ot Prem. Prem. Prem.
159. Collection (not to exceed 15 varieties) in uni-
form one-pint glass jars. To be accom-
panied by a statement of the method used
imAPUttiticon VHeND.UP «cosa oe wes va ce ee eee ee $10.00 8.00 6.00
The following recipes may be used: For the thick-skinned varieties: 2
per cent formaline and 10 per cent alcohol, 88 per cent distilled water. The
thinner the skins, the more alcohol should be used.
_ Another: Fill jar with plums and fresh water, and to one pint of water
add one-half teaspoonful of salicylic acid.
Ist 2nd 3rd 4th
Lot Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem.
160. Collection, not to exceed I5 varieties
(not in glass; fruit of early ripening
varieties may be kept in cold stor-
VEN Sey Wert ar Ml asa afm sie ia isl SoU eee $5.00 4.00 3.00 2.00
BURR LNCEA* SN giicncctys oss via sid 'S o vin, SOROS RROD 1.00 Bf .50
M2 eew AC EN a W Koos ics =f ic dese ase aoe R oka eats 1.00 Ro 50
MA UBIETIEY cardi See cic (co. oes be Bee Be Te 1.00 Vis 50
BOMm IES OLOL sane ks betka se) shanamte caer 1.00 75 50
NGSnepioneste Gardenics,cciarccas ccororsclnt cuerenescrin 1.00 75 50
EO sare awk Ver arse sist nate os nc heb cGleueetebe ses 1.00 75 50
RE AUR ALO Scns me cas So) eine pees 1.00 75 50
Goel ivaral Uh ht een aa aCe erie = 1.00 78 50
ULSD E TG Sink) seas. ot tee een 3.00 2.00 1.00
106). _Collection ole carnations -lascde1-< reir eet 3.00 2.00 1.00
107. \Gollection *OL FGSeS... 5. cy «fae ok een mitts eaaters 3.00 2.00 1.00
198. Collection of petunias ............0.2eeeee-- 2.00 1.00 .50
PREMIUM LIST, MINN. STATE FAIR, 1900. 207
BASKETS AND BOUQUETS.
To be placed on exhibition Tuesday morning, the second day of the
fair.
Ist _. 2nd 3rd 4th
Lot Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem.
199. Floral design, Gates Ajar, 30-inch... 15.00 10.00 6.00 4.00
200. Twelve-inch basket of flowers....... 5.00 3.00 2.00 1.00
201. = Pyramid —bOudtels -.. a's. + sci. ack dec 3.00 2.00 1.00 ',50
202. Hand bouquet, nine inches across.... 3.00 2.00 1.00 .50
263. Bridal bouquet, white flowers ...... 3.00 2.00 1.00 50
CLASS 70—FLOWERS.
For Amateurs.
PLEANTS:
Ist and 3rd
Lot Prem. Prem. Prem.
204, Single sword fern ......:..; PON See Sods eee 1.50 1.00 .50
Loca sinolet foliage: planty eis esceaiaarae ven & tees deere eve 1.50 1.00 .50
ZOO ONS EAS Chiaimu DI GOM 2526 veak.c rw ool wi clotele-ce 1.50 1.00 .50
20752 OI les SeLaMIMIne tl, DIOOMs . s s..carr Morelesae sscae 6 1.50 1.00 .50
2052 oineles=besonia-im DlOOMi. cc. «sek oe toe een 1.50 1.00 .50
209. Single hanging basket ......... Peas we dtaitns TO 1.00 .50
Me Se Mid eal Miler sates oo rem merece Gala siete wste Sale Be. 1.50 1.00 .50
CUT FLOWERS.
To be placed on exhibition Tuesday, a. m., the second day of the fair.
Ist 2nd 3rd
Lot Prem. Prem. Prem.
aur Collection. of asters: vo. .a'e oes 6 Sictsca bis hastaralete ease 2.00 1.00 .50
B12. COllectiOnvOl:COLneOpsis ~... ss ces es.0 Saajomstserous 2.00 1.00 .50
ieee GOUSELION. Ole GALNIaS naps a'as ss 6 oie ccs ates sis : 2.00 1.00 -50
214. Collection. of everlasting flowers............ 2.00 1.00 .50
2s COMechONn-ObanastuGtilimls m. aasriee cei cs crete oe 2.00 1.00 .50
Die MEOH Asani aie AhPageabonde om oooS ‘ 2.00 1.00 .50
217. Collection of marguerite carnations....... ashe 2.00 1.00 .50
Porn OMECHONE Of VEL DEM AStesrre veces cise otelete sane are 2:00)" 1); 00 .50
PTO a COME Ct One ObeziininlaSecmtseisie a qerncrere Sais hiath 2.00 1.00 =5lo)
CLASS—MUSHROOMS.
Lot 220. To be placed on exhibition Tuesday morning, the second day
of the fair, and renewed from day to day up to and including the Friday
following. The exhibits will be judged daily.
Premium, $30.00, to be divided pro rata among the exhibitors.
Fill in Under the Newly Planted Tree.—It is very important when you
have your trees set that there be no loose or open spaces under the stem.
When you have your tree partially set, the outer ends of the roots made firm,
in very many cases directly under the center of the stem there is more or
less open space for air, which should be thoroughly filled before filling the
hole any more. There are two ways of doing this. If dry I prefer filling in
around the tree on the outside the hole, till when it is stamped down it
will be lower near the stem; then turn in water and fine earth and see that
the water settles the fine earth or thin mud down and under the center of
the stem. This properly done will firm the earth about and under the stem
better than can be done with fingers.—Edson Gaylord.
208 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
HARVESTING THE BLACKBERRY CROP.
G. E. WIDGER, CHATFIELD.
The subject assigned to me I consider a very important one. I have
had a great deal of experience in the work of harvesting and marketing the
blackberry crop. I have always had a home and near-by market, so I have
never had to ship many berries.
Important factors for the consideration of berry growers are the pick-
ing, packing and marketing of the berries; this work very often determines
the success or failure of the business.
In picking we employ mostly grown people, and no small children.
Each picker is supplied with a four-quart picking stand, and two persons
work, one on each side of the row. I have always made it a rule to have
the boxes well rounded up, and never have any over-ripe or soft berries
put in the box.
Each picker is furnished with a ticket. The person employed in the
packing house is supplied with a conductor’s punch, and when the pickers
come to the packing house he punches the ticket to correspond with the
number of full boxes which they have. The person employed in the pack-
ing house looks over all berries picked by inexperienced workers.
I never use old or second hand boxes or cases, as I think the sale of a
package depends almost entirely on its appearance. I do not think a per-
son can be too strict in picking and handling the blackberry crop. I always
have experienced people in the berry patch to see that the picking is done
properly. We generally pick every other day, but sometimes we pick every
third day.
I warrant all my berries to be first-class or money refunded, so I have
no trouble in disposing of them, and they always bring a good price. My
greatest trouble is that I cannot supply the demand. We supply several
different towns with berries, and I keep two teams on the road nearly all the
time during the picking season. I never sell to dealers. I fix my own
price and the dealers sell on commission.
Mr. Wright: How many acres of blackberries have you?
Mr. Widger: Four acres.
Mr. Elliot: What do your blackberries average you.
Mr. Widger: Well, they average—I could hardly say. I sold
them for ten cents, and a few for a shilling. I did not sell any for
less than ten cents.
Mr. Wright: Was that this year?
Mr. Widger: Yes, that was this year; last year I sold them
for eight.
Mr. Haggard: What do you pay for picking?
Mr. Widger: A cent and a half.
Mr. Haggard: How do you have them sorted?
Mr. Widger: We have a person in the packing house, and if
we have boxes come in and do not know what kind of berries they
contain, we have them emptied out into other boxes and pick out the
poor berries, and in that way we keep watch of the poor pickers.
HARVESTING THE BLABKBERRY CROP, 209
Mr. Haggard: What do you do with the inferior berries? Do
you leave them on the vines?
Mr. Widger: Yes, we leave them on the vines.
Mr. Beardsley: How many cases did you get?
Mr. Widger: We picked something over eight thousand boxes.
Mr. Beardsley: How long have you been growing black-
berries?
Mr. Widger: I have been raising blackberries for eight or ten
years. We also raise strawberries and raspberries. We had some-
thing over eight thousand boxes.
Mr. Beardsley: What variety of blackberries do you raise?
Mr. Widger: Ancient Briton, Snyder and Stone’s Hardy.
Mr. Latham: What is the character of your soil?
Mr. Widger: It is timber land; it is new land, all of it.
Mr. Yahnke: How old is your plantation?
Mr. Widger: My oldest is about nine or ten years alae and
there are parts of it not so old.
Mr. Yahnke: Did you ever manure it?
Mr. Widger: Yes, I manured part of it, but I never mulch
my blackberries. I don’t think it is necessary to mulch.
Mr. Smith, (Wis.): Do you consider eight thousand boxes a
good crop?
Mr. Widger: Yes, sir, | consider that a good crop.
Mr. Smith: How far apart are your rows?
Mr. Widger: Eight feet apart, and three feet in the row.
Mr. Elliot: He spoke of the quantity of berries raised per acre.
I want to call your attention to a little piece of ground, about a
quarter of an acre, on which this year were picked seventy-one and
a half crates, which marketed for $106.75. That is at the rate of
about 4,576 quarts per acre. The method raising those blackberries
is like this: In the fall of the year they are laid down and covered
with soil (it is a clay soil). Then there is a mulch put on top of that,
which acts as an extra protection for winter. In the spring this
mulch is pulled out into the middle of the row, and when the vines
are uncovered the soil is put on top of this mulch and as the weeds
start the cultivator is run over the top, but the mulch is so rotten
it does not interfere with cultivation. It is kept thoroughly culti-
vated until berry picking begins. The fruit is turned over to an
association that has made arrangements for shipping their berries
to Dakota.
Mr. Wright: You can take a small piece of ground in a very
superior location and make it yield much better in proportion than
several acres, as arule. From my experience on my own place, I
210 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
can say that I have a little corner of blackberries that has done
better than anything else on the place. From one-fifth of an acre
I picked sixty-two crates, which is at the rate of 4,960 quarts per
acre, but the whole plantation does not do that well, although it has
the same care.
The President: You do better with your corner of blackberries
than Joe Lieter did with his corner in wheat. (Laughter.) There
is one thing very evident. When we are speaking of those small
patches that are giving such wonderful yields the man that grows
those berries has to buy them and pay for them, otherwise he would
put the rest of his farm into blackberries. But when he comes to
pay all the expenses he finds there is not very much left to the credit
of the blackberry patch after all, so he does not enlarge it to four or
five acres.
Mr. Latham: The reason Mr. Wright does not enlarge is be-
cause he has not got the land, but he is about buying another piece
of land and will now, no doubt, enlarge.
The President: That is pretty good evidence.
THE PRACTICAL VALUE OF ORNAMENTATION ABOUT
THE HOME.
PROF. W. W. PENDERGAST, HUTCHINSON.
In order to make this subject presentable at all we must modify
our ideas of what practical means. We have generally looked upon
the word practical as belonging to something that is directly or in-
directly connected with money getting. Now in gold mining, for
instance, we are at work directly for money, for there is nothing to:
be done to the pure gold we get out of the mine but to give it the
proper amount of alloy and then touch it with the stamp of Uncle
Sam’s mint. In our manufactures and in the products of the soil
we indirectly get at the money. We raise something we can sell
for money, but we do not see how we can make use of shrubbery
around the home for any of those purposes. The seeds are worth
nothing as food for either man or beast. You might turn in a few
goats and let them eat the shrubs themselves; they probably would
do it, but it would not be a paying operation to raise shrubs for the
goats to eat and sell the goats. So I have put a different meaning
upon the word, and say that:
Whatever adds, or, by its proper use, may add to one’s comfort or con-
venience, or which, in the last analysis, amounts to the same thing,—what-
ever is of use in increasing the enjoyment of others, has a practical value.
It may not add material wealth, but will enrich the mind. A fat pocketbook,
full stomach and fertile acres joined with barren aims, crude ideals and low
= ee
fd
ORNAMENTATION ABOUT THE HOME. 21
. desires make a bad combination. Some of the soul-destroying moil of
money-making must be eliminated. There may be gold untold buried deep
in the frozen heart of Alaska, but the life spent in finding and unearthing it
must be a joyless and comparatively useless one. So the man who owns a
little piece of mother earth, but is spending all his time endeavoring to lay
- -—s« up wealth against a time of need, lets pass the real “time of need” without
2 an effort to meet its demands. Where one fails to secure bread enough to
keep soul and body together, a hundred are so morally starved that a divorce
of soul and body could hardly be deemed a misfortune, either to the man
himself or to the community which he did nothing to benefit. Better set
' apart a portion of that land for improvement during his leisure hours, while
he is at the same time improving and developing his own higher nature.
The owner of a home may make that home a thing of beauty and a
source of joy to himself and others by ornamenting it with well-chosen
shrubbery, tastefully arranged, and giving it proper care. It is fortunate
that in this favored land every young man of sound health and intellectual
vigor may confidently look forward to the possession of such a home and
all the happiness the name suggests. The greatest pleasure comes from
giving pleasure to others, and these inexpensive adornments, which delight
the eye of the passer-by, are silent but efficient teachers of the practical value
of esthetics and the benign influence of beauty upon life and character.
Moreover, the occupants of such a home will soon begin to take an inter-
est in living in harmony with their environments, and if we can conceive of
their being low and brutish by instinct can we imagine them so stupid as not
to perceive the difference between the discord within and the harmony with-
out? They will, perhaps unconsciously and with little will power at first,
endeavor to make the different portions of their abiding place more nearly
correspond to one another. They will see the present condition is as outre
as a patch of royal satin purple on a jacket of linsey-woolsey. It would be
like using Neptune’s trident for a pike pole or the spear of Ithuriel for a
dung-fork.
Carpets and costly furniture are constantly growing worse with even the
most careful usage. With similar care the shrubs and vines ate, year by
year, growing into beauty, and the little patch of ground around the home
becomes more: and more attractive. People, going by, admiring, say,
“What a pleasant place to live!” Touched by the appreciation of what has
: already been done, the family are inspired to do something more towards
making home brighter, and when neighbors, quickened by their example,
begin to think of utilizing the waste, weedy spots about their homes and
come, as they surely will, to those who have had successful experience for
advice, and, now and then, ask for a slip or a root of something that has
particularly struck their fancy, the groveling souls that started this good
work become more conscious of its merit°and are lifted up a step higher.
In the short space of five minutes, one can but glance at a few of the
advantages that spring from the cultivation of flowering shrubs and climb-
ing vines about our doors, but that one glance should be enough to con-
vince the thoughtful that nothing is more practically useful than to increase
one’s appreciation of the beautiful.
Mr. I. M. Smith, (Wis.): The paper that interested me most
was the president’s paper in the way he put forth the idea of the
212 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
practical value of trees and shrubs about the home. A few weeks
ago, with one of our men to help me, I put into winter quarters a
number of tubs of water lilies. I made some remark about them,
and the man said they were pretty to look at but of not much practi-
cal value. I said, what do you do with your money? Is not the
most we can do with our money to make people happy? That is
what these water lilies help to do, make some one happy. It seems
to me that is the right way to look at it. We may dig gold or
raise potatoes, corn or apples, but the end of it all is to make our-
selves happy. Perhaps that comes indirectly from making some
one else happy. Some years ago we had a farmers’ meeting at our
place, while mother and father were still alive, an annual festival
where a number of city folks also gathered together, and the roses
were simply a mass of bloom. We had not gathered them for a
few days because we wanted to keep them for that particular oc-
casion, and at night when the company went away you could hardly
pick a button-hole bouquet. I said to mother, “We seem never to
have gotten so much out of our flowers as we did today.” There
was a company of perhaps two hundred pecple on the place, and
when they went away there was a large number of them that had
either a bunch of roses or something else that might be in bloom
at that time. It was a pleasure to them to take those flowers home,
and it was a continual joy to them to look back upon that occasion.
We should not look upon everything as simply producing so much
money. We cannot eat money; if we did not have a place to spend
money it would be as worthless as so much sand. (Applause.)
The President: What Mr. Smith says reminds me of an in-
cident that happened in Montana. A few years ago a friend of
mine, in fact, an old student of mine, went out there and engaged
in the cattle business, owning a large cattle ranch. One day a
buffalo cow and calf became separated from the herd and mixed
with his herd of cattle. He was very anxious to secure that cow
and calf, and he got all his men out with their lassos trying to lasso
the cow and bring her into his corral. After a while he gave it up,
she would tear away and unhorse the cow boys, and they could do
nothing with her. They gavesup trying to bring in the cow, but he
told his men if they could not get the cow they should make sure of
the calf. They had but little difficulty in lassoing the calf and
bringing it into the corral, and when he went into the gate the cow
went in beside him. That is to show what Mr. Smith was speaking
about, a great many things can be brought about indirectly when
it is impossible to bring them about directly. A great many cases
I have noticed in my life were just like this, showing that the great
<
y .
nme tte (ean eee
ORNAMENTATION ABOUT THE HOME. 213
end of life being happiness, the way tg secure it is by the indirect
way of working to make it as pleasant for other people as possible,
and making yourself as useful to them as it is possible to do, and it
will have a reflex influence on your own life. What Mr. Smith said
was this, that the great mistake we all make is in working too much
for ourselves; we have too much egoism and not enough altruism.
HOW | MANAGE MY BEES.
C. THIELMANN, THIELMANTON.
I hardly know where to commence, in the spring, summer or fall, as it is
a continual routine of manipulations to obtain the best results for surplus
honey and also have the bees in the best possible condition for winter when
the honey harvest is over. I will say that I work my bees mostly for comb
honey, for which I find ready sale. For producing comb honey we must
have our colonies strong in bees when the honey harvest comes, but as we
can not foretell when that will be, I try to raise as many young bees as pos-
sible from the time I set them out of the bee cellar until a flow of honey
comes, if ever, though I never have had a failure in thirty years, except once
(in 1890). Most of the honey flows come at irregular times of the seasons,
all the way from June until September. In order to get my bees strong, in
the spring I see that they have sufficient food, (I find honey far better for
breeding than the best of sugar) and keep them as warm as I can, until
warm weather sets in.
I do not put supers on the hives until honey is coming in freely, when
the bees begin to put new wax along the top bars of the frames. If the
supers are put on before a honey flow, they sometimes gnaw and multilate
the foundation and spoil it by sticking it full of propolis, which they dislike
to clean up again, and when a flow does come such sections do not sell for
the best price.
I let my bees swarm naturally, but have the queens clipped, and when
the swarm comes out I cage the queen and lay her at the entrance and let the
-swarm come back to their old stand. On the seventh or eighth day after, I
cut all queen cells from the combs. If there is not a young queen hatched
I lay two or three of the best cells in the entrance, which the bees will pro-
tect until they hatch. The first hatched will go into the hive and will reign
and kill those that enter the hive after her. In this way I re-queen most all
the colonies that swarm. The old queen is subdued or made use of other-
wise—I do not wish any increase; and in this way I can keep my colonies
strong.
I cut out all the larger patches of drone comb and replace them with
worker comb, sometime in May, when the weather gets warm. If these
patches are not replaced with worker comb, the bees will rebuild them with
drone comb again. I manipulate my supers on the tiering up plan, which
you all know; sections not filled when the harvest is over are extracted as
soon as possible and given back to the bees to clean them out thoroughly,
when they are stored away clean for next season’s use. There is great value
in them, especially in scanty seasons.
The fore part of October I weigh all my colonies and mark the weight
on the honey board of each hive, and those that have less than thirty pounds
~
214 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
net of honey are fed enough to make that. This, I find, as a rule, will last
them to some timein May. I do not bother with packing cushions, paper,bur-
lap, or anything else; nothing but the honeyboard over the frames is shoved
forward so a little crack or opening is made, about one-sixteenth inch the
whole width of the hive, for a little upward ventilation. This is done when
the bees are put in the cellar. The entrances are left open the whole width
while in the cellar. In this way I have had good success wintering my bees
for the past twenty years. There are many other minor points in the man-
agement of bees to get the best results, but this essay would get too long to
mention them all here.
TOMATOES IN THE HOME GARDEN.
REV. T. H. YOUNGMAN, MITCHELL, S. D.
(Read before the State Horticultural Society at Parker, S. D., Jan. 17, 1900.)
For South Dakota, where land is cheap and seasons short, the prime
necessity is an early kind of tomato. We can afford to sacrifice, if need be,
quantity and quality in the interest of earliness. One ripe tomato is of more
value than two that are not ripe. With this in mind, I set myself the task,
fifteen years ago, of increasing the earliness of an early tomato by saving
the seed from the first ripe tomato, and am continuing the effort, in hope of
getting ripe tomatoes in my garden, without the help of a greenhouse, for
the 4th of July.
The kind selected, the next thing is plants. I have always grown my
own plants. I sow in a box, six inches wide, three inches deep and as long
as the window is wide. Sow the seeds thinly, so that the plants will not
come up in bunches. Put a toothpick against those that are first to break
the ground. The quickest to start will be the first to ripen, providing you
change them around every day; otherwise if there is but little sunshine the
plants will come up first on the side furtherest away from the window. The
reason is manifest, this being the warmest side of the box.
As soon as the plants begin to show the second leaf, I transplant these
that I have marked with the toothpick for my pedigree, early stock. I never
knew the others to overtake these. There will be a difference of from one-
to two weeks in the time of maturity of fruit from the same box and seed.
I am very careful to air my plants so that they will not grow long and
slim. I have had fruit set when the plant was not over a foot high, and have
seen them in full bloom when the plant was not over seven inches high.
For earliness, I prefer the poorest soil there is in my garden, providing
always that it is where the plants will get the morning sun and be protected
from the northwest winds.
I pull off the leaves up to the last pair, close to the bottom, make a cut
in the soil and a perpendicular hole at one end of the cut, or trench; put the
root into this hole, and bend the plants into the trench; cover with soil, and
firm it with my feet. You will think you have lost your great stocky plants,
but you have not. Roots will start at every joint that is covered with soil
and be feeders to the blossom you left out. The roots are to a plant what
the base of supply is to an army.
There is special advantage in the manner of planting, if your plants have
been grown in a greenhouse, or crowded. In this case, they are so tender,
_—~—'s TOMATOES IN THE HOME GARDEN. 215
that if they are not thus planted, the wind will whip them to a bare stalk,
-and what the wind will not do toward killing them the hot sun may be trust-
ed to perform. Also, if you plant as herein recommended, you can cover the
plants with strawberry boxes or a handful of hay to protect from late frosts.
Keep free from weeds by frequent working of the soil; this also con-
serves moisture. Use no poles or supports of any kind, as they give undue
advantage to the wind. Let the plants fall over on the ground. Cut out
suckers as fast as they grow, and you will have ripe tomatoes to sell when
they are worth $4 a bushel and to eat when they are worth six to ten cents
a pound.
For the general crop plant in better soil, but in Dakota do not put to-
matoes on very rich ground.
THE LOUDON RASPBERRY.
PROF. S. B. GREEN, ST. ANTHONY PARK.
As a general purpose raspberry, I know of none better for the average
grower than the Loudon. It is of very vigorous growth, and produces a
large number of bright red, firm berries for a long season. No other rasp-
LOUDON RASPBERRY.
berry on our grounds seems to have so many desirable qualities; but our
soil is not first-class fruit land, as it is underlaid with sand at a depth of from
four to ten feet. Some of our best raspberry growers have objected to it
on the ground that the berries were so hard to pull off the plants until they
were fully ripened, but this has not been especially noticeable with us.
f
216 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
WHAT | SAW OF FORESTRY IN EUROPE.
HON. S. M. OWEN, MINNEAPOLIS.
It was my privilege to visit Europe, where forestry is a great question.
Being naturally much interested in it, I tried to get all the information I
could in regard to the administration of forests in the countries I visited, and
where I could get no special information, or where circumstances did not
enable me to investigate forests or learn methods of administration, I ob-
served carefully while traveling in private or public conveyances. In Ger-
many my observations were confined almost entirely to those of the latter
character. I traveled through much of the forest area of Germany, but
about all I did there was to observe the marvelous and beautiful condition
of the forests. I could see that non-agricultural lands had been devoted to
forests, with trees now ten to twelve inches in diameter and larger, and kept
wonderfully clean and looking charmingly thrifty. Pine is growing on rocky
hillsides very much as we see them in New England; the surroundings are
much the same; but not only in such localities, but on what seemed to be
good agricultural lands, and where I was told forests had previously existed
and had been destroyed, and it had been found necessary to restore them by
replanting, on account of climatic and other conditions. German forests are
now great sources of profit, besides being highly advantageous in other
ways.
I had the best opportunity of studying forestry while in Switzerland. I
was really more interested in the subject in Switzerland, by reason of the ap-
parent difficulty of growing forests there, and because it is a smaller com-
munity, with more resemblance to Minnesota as to population than is Ger-
many. The population of Swizterland is something like three millions,
and its area is about one-fifth that of Minnesota.
The forests are under government control, and so are many other of
her public interests. It is, perhaps, the best example of state socialism on
earth today. The cutting of timber is regulated entirely by government
officials. Even the man who owns his timber is restricted as to the timber
he can cut. Each resident is assigned the amount and kind of timber he may
cut for fuel during the year, and all of the timber so cut must be used for
fuel. If he wants trees for building, he cuts whatever is deemed sufficient for
that purpose, but all of the branches, even down to the small twigs, must
be used, and that is applied to his quota of fuel for that year. It is the finest
system for the conservation of timber imaginable. You will see in going
through Switzerland not the gross waste of wood that we are so familiar
with in this‘country, but will find little piles of fire wood cut stove length,
piled up snugly under wide eaves of the cottage, and there are little twigs
often not larger than lead pencil, all tied up in little bundles ready for the
stove. There is much timber used in Switzerland for building -purposes,
more than in other parts of Europe I visited, and, as it is populated ten times
more densely than Minnesota, the free use of timber makes it necessary to
look carefully to the re-growing of forests as well as to the conservation of
what they now have. It is a rule that for all the trees cut in a commune in
any one year there must be planted an equal number, and this is done under
the supervision of government officials.
One will see, sometimes on mountain sides, and often at giddy heights.
little patches of young timber, which represent in part the trees cut in that
locality the year these youngsters were planted. These embryo forest
WHAT I SAW OF FORESTRY IN EUROPE. 217
patches are of widely varying ages, some of them nearly large enough to be-
gin to contribute to the demand for fuel or building.
I wondered why the people of Switzerland so willingly submit to such
supervision and control of their own property. I asked: “Do you own these
lands?” “Yes. All the agricultural lands of Switzerland are owned by the
men who work them.” There are no landlords there, and all farms are
small. Then I remarked: “Individuals must own the timbér lands not
owned by the government, yet they allow government officers to dictate to
them just what timber to cut from their own lands; it seems to me you are
submitting to an interference with private rights by the state that we in
America would not tolerate.” “How so?” was asked, surprised at a sug-
gestion of that kind. “We would call it a violation of the rights of owner-
ship to have the state come in and dictate to us where and how we could
cut our timber,” I.replied. Said they, “We do not look upon it in that way.
Timber belongs to the state; is under state control, and we are the state.
Hence we control the timber. Do we not?”
I confess that conception of the relation of the citizen to the state, so
different from ours, thrilled me. Here we consider the state something
outside of and in a sense antagonistic to the individual, and any function of
the individual surrendered to the state we consider a misfortune, necessary,
perhaps, but very deplorable. If we had the conception of the relation of
the individual to the government that obtains in Switzerland, there would
be no trouble in having a state administration of forestry that would change
existing conditions for the better to an incalculable degree. If we could feel
when we put an interest into the hands of the state that it is yet in our hands
because we are the state, then it would be easy to get an administration of
forestry that would look to the conservation of forests we now have, and
that would in time reforest denuded areas.
We have been absolutely criminal in our treatment of forests. Starting
on the Atlantic, in those mighty forests of Maine, almost incomparable for
extent and quality of timber, the work of devastation began, the cruel
despoliation following the sun to the westward. Everything of the forest
kind, pine, oak, walnut, all went down before the thoughtless‘ax of the
woodman, and with never a thought of the importance of having the gent-
ler planter or conservator heal the awful wounds made by the greed-inspired
ax and sawmill. Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Michigan, in turn rich
treasure houses of magnificent timber, and each in turn great centers of lum-
bering, have now passed out of that realm of usefulness and profit, their for-
ests gone, mills abandoned or removed. The Saginaw valley, of Michigan,
only a few years ago the chief lumbering district of the nation, has now
reached the point where the comparatively few logs it now cuts are brought
from Canada, and where hitherto busy mill yards are given over to desola-
tion and decay.
In Minnesota and Wisconsin notice is already served that in a few years
more, five or ten at the furthest, the obsequies of dead forests will be cele-
brated by the removal cr abandonment of saw mills, lumber yards and fac-
tories. Already great companies and syndicates from the last named states.
are buying huge areas of timber lands on the Pacific coast, there to repeat,
amidst our last remaining forest treasures the vandalism of timber devasta-
tion that has disgraced our age, nation and name,
Cutting merchantable timber, that which is matured and ready for the
harvest, is both necessary and right; but over thousands of acres not needed
See eee eo
218 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
for cultivation or unsuitable to it, the cutting should have been so con-
trolled that restoration would have followed, and now we might be getting
supplies of timber from areas cut over a half a century ago or less.
It is high time that we set about following the example of Europe in
preserving and restoring forests. The methods are before us, the experiences
are there to inspire us, and we are not worthy of our age or country if we
do not arise to the importance of the occasion and treat it as becomes in-
telligent, provident, far-seeing citizens. Let us realize that we owe duties to
posterity that it is criminal to neglect! Let us take counsel of the intelli-
gent citizens of Switzerland! Let us realize that we are the state, and in
that sense let us take up the work of forestry administration and prosecute
it in a manner that will insure an ample timber supply for the future, and in
doing that we will bless those who are to come after us, and they will rise up
and call us blessed.
Prof. Hays: To what size do they grow their trees in Switzer-
land before harvesting?
Mr. Owen: I saw none less than about eight inches.
Prof. Hays: They are cut between that and twelve inches.
Mr. Owen: Yes, about that. By the way, I took a walk oné
day for several miles in a valley, and there were little mills where a
stream of water comes down from the mountain, a little rivulet,
but sufficient to run a mill capable of turning out two or three thou-
sand feet of lumber a day. The lumberein Switzerland all seems
to be cut in that way. There are no great, greedy corporations
owning all the land and slaughtering timber without regard to
present or future effect.
Prof. Green: What were the logs?
Mr. Owen: A good deal of white pine, birch, fir, and a sort
much like Georgia pine.
Prof. Green: Scotch pine?
Mr. Owen: It is yellower than our pine.
Prof. Green: Any larch?
Mr. Owen: I do not remember seeing any.
The President: Did you learn whether they planted the white
pine on the ground from which pine had been cut?
"Mr. Owen: Yes.
Prof. Hays: What is a commune and a canton? What is the
size?
Mr. Owen: The canton is to the Swiss confederation what our
state is to the United States. Cantons vary much in size. The
commune is what we would call a township. It is a small area.
Switzerland is'a thoroughly self-governed country, a pure democ-
racy. Every measure of importance is passed upon by the people,
through the referendum. Getting possession of the railroads was
not a matter that was. worked up in trying to get representatives
WHAT I SAW OF FORESTRY IN EUROPE. 219
of the legislature and congress to work for or against it, but the peo-
ple voted on it directly and settled it. I asked if there was no legal
objection or obstruction thrown in the way of the state acquiring
possession of the railroad. They looked at’me with astonishment.
“What do you mean?” Ireplied: “In our country when the people
pass on a matter we have a court that sometimes declares that a
law is not good, and the will of the people is overruled.” “What 1s
this court? Where does it come from? Do the people make the
court?” “Yes.” “And yet the court overrides the will of the people
as expressed by their representatives?’ “Yes.” “Well, we have
nothing of that kind here; the people are their own courts.” (Ap-
plause.)
Mr. Underwood: In your estimation how great a figure does
the conservation of the timber or the growing of timber cut in the
conservation of moisture?
Mr. Owen:s As to the annual rainfall it does not seem to cut
much of a figure. But in the distribution and control of rainfall
forests exert a powerful influence for good. There are great forests
in Switzerland that must remain there because they are absolutely
inaccessible. So that it must be sufficiently well forested to have a
favorable influence on rainfall. I was traveling through a valley
one day and saw trees that must be large, though from the distance
they were above me they seemed small, and it seemed they were
growing right against the face of a perpendicular wall. I asked:
“Must that timber be assigned by an official to be cut if anybody
wants it?” “No,” was the reply, “if one wants to cut that he is
welcome to it.”’ If it is cut it will fall into a bottomless abyss below
or lodge against other trees, or must be hauled by ropes to the top
of the cliff after cutting if it is secured. I said, “You say under
these circumstances the timber is free?” “Yes.” Then never tell
me again that republics are ungrateful! (Laughter.)
Mr. Underwood: I asked what part those conditions would
play in regard to the rainfall in our state?
Mr. Owen: That is pretty well settled. The presence of
forests, judged by the records we have, do not seem to have an im-
portant influence on the total annual rainfall, but with the distribu-
tion of rainfall they have much to do, We know that countries
are much better off with forests than without, and we do know that
deforested regions have proven so disastrous that reforesting was
absolutely necessary.
Mr. Sargent: What distance apart do they plant their trees?
Mr. Owen: They don’t care much about that, unless it is to plant
irregularly, or more as trees grow naturally. You see little farms,
220 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
half an acre in size, little vineyards, little patches of garden, bits of
timber way up there on the mountain side; it makes one feel weak in
the knees to look at them, and you are too busy looking at the
grandeur of the scene to care much about whether rows are straight
or not. The farms are so high up and so steep that if a farmer stubs
his toe he may fall into the next county. (Laughter.)
Prof. Hays: I just want to say a word in encouragement. Mr.
Owen has brought out one thing that I believe should be taken to
give us new courage. We have here a republic that is even more
communistic than we are. Why are we not American enough to do
this thing, to ask our legislature and congress for bigger appropria-
tions and show them our faith, and to have some faith ourselves?
GROWING APPLE SEEDLINGS.
FRANK YANKHE, WINONA.
The art of growing apple seedlings for the purpose of few varieties rests
upon the same principles that the stock breeder follows to improve his stock.
The horticulturist who wants to grow seedling apple trees to get a new
variety of apples must have a clear conception as to what kind of an apple
and tree he would like to produce. If a long keeping apple, red in color,
tart in taste, a hardy and prolific bearing tree is the aim of the grower, he
must select a tree which is a prolific bearer of long keeping apples, and if
possible, apples having the desired color and taste. Then he must select
another tree which has the full hardiness desired and other good qualities,
as good as can be gotten with the hardiness. When these apple trees are
in bloom, pollenize the blossom of the former tree with the pollen of the
blossom of the latter tree. The pollenization must be done by hand. The
blossoms you want to use for pollenization, of either tree, must be covered
with mosquito netting from the beginning of bloom to the end, in order to
keep the bees from them. If the bees have free access to the blossoms they
may pollenize them from trees not desirable.
When the apples are ripe select the best ones for seed and plant this seed
the same fall. When the seed comes up in the spring take good care of the
sprouts until they are two or three years old. Then select the thriftiest and
apparently the hardiest, having the least thorns, and transplant them for
trial in the orchard.
The horticulturist may not reach his desired end in the first generation,
and, therefore, he must follow it up with these seedlings until he has the
desired apple and tree. With the many seedlings we have already and with
good care he may succeed in obtaining the desired fruit and tree in the first
generation. /
To raise apple seedlings from the old American standard varieties is not
advisable. I have experimented with them for twenty-five years without any
satisfactory result. The Duchess and other Russian varieties are superior
to them.
I believe the best result can be obtained by crossing our hardy seedlings
with the best American varieties. I would advise to take a good American
variety which drives its roots deep into the ground, free from blight, and
GROWING APPLE SEEDLINGS. 221
whose fruit hangs fast to the tree, and cross-fertilize it with one of our good
hardy seedlings which bears large apples.
Before I close this paper I would like to emphasize that we have to con-
sider the roots of a tree as much as the top. A tree which drives its roots
deep into the ground like an oak will stand the hard winter better than those
with spreading roots. We see this on the Russian crabs, which all drive
their roots deep into the ground. On the contrary, the Russets, which
spread their roots, are very easily winter-killed.
Mr. Wedge: I feel like endorsing what Mr, Yahnke has said
in every particular. My predecessors have experimented a great
many years with the eastern type of apple and very little has re-
sulted from it; possibly the Wealthy may be an exception. By tak-
ing the hardiness of the Russian varieties and combining it with
the qualities of the American apple by cross-fertilization, it seems
to me we cannot possibly fail to get what we want, if we simply plant
enough seed.
Mr. Harris: A considerable number of years ago Mr. Peter
M. Gideon said he had gone as far towards getting the apple we
want as he could go with the material at hand, and he said if the
state had a station a little further south where he could mature some
varieties and cross-fertilize them with those here, he would soon
have the apple we were looking for. At the time I did not think
much about it, but now I think Mr. Gideon was right, and if we
would secure that large sized and good keeping apple that we want,
if we could have it cross-fertilized with such varieties as they are
raising in the south, in southwestern Iowa and Arkansas, I think
it would solve the problem. I have no doubt there are some apples
that could be top-worked on Mr. Gideon’s trees and live long
enough to produce fruit in the natural way. If we can mature some
_of those choicest large varieties that are sopopular on the market,
the first thing we know we will have it.
Mr. Sherman, (Iowa): I would like to know what the objection
would be to gathering the pollen in the south and sending it here?
Mr. Harris: Our average farmers and horticulturists have not
the time to do that. Our experiment station might do it and get
good results. But after all the best things we have man did not
make. The wind and insects and the atmosphere surrounding us
all have their share in that work, and nature has a way of doing
things that man cannot do. When we think of the progress that
strawberry culture has made it is almost beyond conception. Many
of us remember when there were only a few varieties that were
cultivated, and now they run up into the thousands.
Mr. Burnap, (Iowa): It is nearly time when it is necessary for
me to take the train, but before going I feel that I must thank this
=
/
222 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
society for the cordial manner in which I have been received here.
I have been especially interested in the discussion that you have
had this afternoon. I believe your success in apple growing will
be right along that line. I do not know how long it will take, I
do not know how many difficulties will interpose between us and
success, but I believe success is at the other end of the line.
Furthermore, I want to say that you must get a hustle on you or
Iowa will get that thousand dollar premium. I want to make an
agreement with you, that for every desirable seedling that you will
send down to northeastern Iowa, we will send you a desirable seed-
ling back. (Applause.)
I want to say a word in addition to what Mr. Sherman said this
morning. As a member of the Northeastern Iowa Society I want
to thank you for the action you took in regard to Mr. Patten this
morning. I think that is one of the cases where you builded better
than you knew. Knowing Mr. Patten as closely as I do, and know-
ing that with him money is always a secondary consideration, and
knowing his sensitive feeling as regards his work, I believe this
action taken by the society will come to him with a very great pleas-
ure, and in his name and in the name of the society I thank you for
it.
Prof. Green: I had the pleasure of spending parts of three days
with Luther Burbank, and in talking over the crosses he said this:
that formerly he made many crosses in order to get variations, but
continuing this work over a long series of years he found most of
the stock grown on his ground is mixed; so he resorted to hand
crossing and keeps the true seedlings from his cross stock, from
which he gets the best result two or three generations from the
crosses. Many of his best seedlings are the result of careful hand
made crosses. Now he largely depends upon the work of insects.
He started with hand crossed seedlings, the work of insects and so
on and crosses things as much as he can. There is practically no
certainty in the matter of seedling plants, and they do this crossing
so as to get them mixed up and raise an immense number of seed-
lings to select from.
Mr. Sherman: He depends upon cross fertilization to get varia-
tion?
Prot, Greenz— Thatus it exactly,
Mr. Harris: Mr. Gideon’s practice was to mix everything to-
gether, but we still lacked something to keep all winter, and he
proposed to try to get some of these things in the south where both
would mature, where he could get them fertilized that way.
GROWING APPLE SEEDLINGS. ; 223
The President: It seems to me the more mixing up there is
the more likely the plants will have a tendency to throw sports, and
a great many of our best varieties of plants and flowers of every
kind have come from sports that are distinctly different from any-
thing allied to them.
SOME DESIRABLE THINGS FOR PRAIRIE PLANTING.
IL. R. MOYER, MONTEVIDEO.
“Jock, when ye hae naething else to do, you may aye be sticking in a
tree; it will be growing, Jock, when ye are sleeping.’”’—Scott.
One needs to travel but a little way in the prairie portion of our state to
see that a general knowledge of the trees and shrubs adapted to prairie
planting is still deplorably lacking. The weary, monotonous succession of
Box Elder and Cottonwood groves, alternating with Willow windbreaks, seems
to indicate that the average prairie planter has not as yet heard of the great
wealth of native and introduced trees and shrubs so well adapted to his
wants. It is true that the graceful Elm and the shining leafed Green Ash are
sometimes planted; but these trees on the prairie are so exceptionally rare as
to make it seem probable that the prairie tree planter has never fully realized
their adaptibility to his needs.
Speaking of the Elm family, there is probably no tree better adapted
to deep, rich prairie lands than our native White Elm (Ulmus americana).
Where the soil is drier and thinner no tree seems to be more at home than
our sturdy native Cork Elm (Ulmus racemosa). This tree does not exhibit
the pendulous grace of the White Elm, but shows a somewhat rugged, al-
most stiff top, similar to a Bur Oak. The leaves are large, and when the’
tree is in its full summer foliage it makes a grand appearance. The Slip-
pery Elm (Ulmus pubescens) may be also grown with success on the prai-
ries but should be treated as a large shrub. Perhaps the Elm family does not
possess a finer tree nor one better adapted to prairie planting than the
Hackberry (Celtis occidentalis). This is a common tree in all the native
groves throughout the prairie regions of our state. When grown in the
open it makes one of the most graceful of trees. Its summer foliage is very
dense and luxuriant, almost tropical in its profusion. In the winter no de-
ciduous -tree presents a finer spray. Seen against a winter sky, few trees
have a finer appearance. The many-divided, slender branchlets possess a
grace and beauty all their own, scarcely equalled by any other tree.
The Oak family gives us the Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa). This tree,
one of the grandest oaks, grows on bluff sides and in deep ravines through-
out the prairie region. No tree that can be planted on the prairies will be
less likely to disappoint the tree planter.
The Ash family gives us the Green Ash (Fraxinus lanceolata), a tree
that nowhere flourishes in so great a degree as on the prairies. Had the
-groves on the dry prairies of Minnesota been planted with Green Ash in-
stead of Cottonwood there would not have been so many discouraged tree
planters in that region.- The Ash family, too, gives us the Lilac, a shrub of
foreign origin, that is nowhere more at home than on the prairies. The
common Lilac (Syringa vulgaris), in both its purple and white forms, as
well as in its several garden varieties, is very valuable for windbreaks and
224 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
screens, as well as for ornamental planting in the shrub border. The Persian
Lilac (Syringa persica), is somewhat smaller in its habit and is propagated
in both its white and purple forms. It is equally hardy, and in planting the
shrub border it should by no means be overlooked. The Japan Lilac (Sy-
ringa japonica) is quite distinct in its habits and grows to be a small tree.
It produces immense clusters of beautiful white flowers late in June, long
after the common Lilac has ceased to bloom. The Chinese Lilac (Syringa
villosa) is also very distinct and blooms very late, about two weeks after
the common Lilacs are gone. It is quite robust in its habits and will need
plenty of room when planted in the shrub border. Lady Josika’s Lilac (Sy-
ringa josikea), appears to be hardy at Montevideo.
The Barberry family gives us the common Barberry (Berberis vulgaris),
in its ordinary and in its purple leafed form, and also in the form known as
the Amur Barberry, all very desirable for prairie planting from an orna-
mental point of view. The fruit is especially showy and attractive, and the
plant is very hardy. It is said, however, that the Barberry serves as a host
for the rust plant, so that its propagation near wheat fields cannot be
recommended.
The Saxifrage family gives us:the Philadelphus in several species and
varieties, nearly all of which are well adapted to prairie planting. It is
probable that Philadelphus Coronarius is not quite so hardy as the others,
but it does very well on the prairies at Montevideo. In the prairie shrub border
the Philadelphus is one of the shrubs that we must have. The Golden Cur-
rant (Ribes aureum) is another very useful shrub for prairie planting—abso-
lutely hardy everywhere, and adapted to the most trying locations.
The Rose family gives the Nine-Bark (Opulaster opulifolius), very showy
in flower and even more so in fruit, and quite hardy. The Spiraea, too, is a
most valuable subject in the shrub border. The variety Van Houtii is said
by some to be our best all-around shrub. Spiraea Hypericifolia is very hardy,
too, and blooms quite early in the spring. Our native Willow-Leafed
Spiraea (S. salicifolia) when transplanted to the garden is a valuable adjunct
to the shrub border. The Shrubby Cinquefoil (Potentilla fruticosa) does
well in the shrub border, producing its yellow flowers for a long time in
summer. The Yellow Rose and the Scotch Rose are both very desirable,
and may be grown without protection. The Japan Rose (Rosa rugosa) is
one of the grandest shrubs for prairie planting, and ought to be grown
everywhere.
The Apple family gives us the’ Mountain Ash, not quite hardy on the
prairies, but it may be grown quite successfully by allowing it to sprout
freely from the ground and treating it as a shrub. The Juneberry is at
home on the prairies, the dwarf Juneberry being indigenous to the prairie
regions. It is of the easiest culture and ought to be in every shrub border
for its early spring flowers. Its fruit is not to be despised and is eagerly
sought after by the birds. A native thorn (probably Crataegus Punctata)
does well in the shrub border. It can usually be found along the strips of
native timber throughout the prairie region.
The Plum family gives us our American Plums, valuable in the shrub
border and indispensable in the fruit garden; the two Sand Cherries (Prunus
pumila and Prunus besseyi); the wild Red Cherry (Prunus pennsylvanica) ;
the two Choke Cherries (Prunus virginiana and Prunus demissa)—all na-
tives and valuable. Europe has sent us the Bird Cherry (Prunus padus)
SOME DESIRABLE THINGS FOR PRAIRIE PLANTING. 225
and Prunus Maakii, a very early flowering shrub from Russia, both very
hardy and well adapted to prairie planting. The Dwarf Almond (Amygdalus
nana), from Russia, is a very beautiful early flowering shrub that ought to
be generally planted. Its bright pink flowers are very showy, and it is easi-
ly propagated from sprouts and root cuttings.
The Pea family gives us the Coffee Tree (Gymnocladus dioica), a native
tree of almost tropical appearance, and the Siberian Pea shrubs (Caragana
‘arborescens, C. chamalagu, C. frutescens and C. pigmaea). The Caraganas
come from the steppes of Siberia, and find a congenial home on the prai-
ries of Minnesota. They are sure to give satisfaction in the most trying
locations.
The Rue family gives us the Prickly Ash (Xanthoxylum americanum)
and the Hop Tree (Ptelia trifoliata), the one a common native and the other
ranging from Minnesota southward. The Hop Tree promises well at Mon-
tevideo.
The Shumac family gives us Rhus glabra, the smooth Shumac, a very
ornamental native shrub found on the borders of woodland throughout the
prairie regions. It is a picturesque and valuable addition to any prairie
shrubbery.
The Staff Tree family gives us the Burning Bush (Euonymus atropurpu-
reus), a native shrub on river bottoms, and the climbing Bittersweet (Ce-
lastrus scandens). The Burning Bush behaves well in the prairie shrubbery
and ought to be generally planted. Its bright red fruit is very attractive.
The Bittersweet has similar showy fruit and is one of our best climbing
vines.
At the head of Maple family for prairie planting in rather moist locations
is the Silver Maple (Acer saccharinum) and after that the omnipresent Box
Elder (Acer negundo), the characteristic pioneer prairie tree. The Silver
Maple does not do well on very dry land, and the Box Elder is short lived
anywhere, although it grows rapidly when young. In planting the shrub
border about the lawn of the prairie home, one should not forget the Man-
churian Maple (Acer tartaricum ginnalo), a very graceful shrub with bright
colored fruit and striking foliage.
The Buckthorn family may be represented in the prairie shrub border by
the Buckthorn (Rhamnus cathartica), a very hardy shrub well adapted to
screens and hedges.
The Grape family may be exemplified on the prairie Jawn by planting a
wild Grape so as to cover a rustic arbor, and by planting the Virginia
Creeper (Pathenocissus quinquefolia) so as to overrun the porches and
gables of the prairie home.
The Linden family may be represented by the Basswood (Tilia ameri-
cana), but it is a difficult tree to transplant from its native river bottoms to
the open prairie. It is well to let it sprout freely from the ground and treat
it as a shrub.
The Oleaster family furnishes two of the very best silver leafed shrubs for
prairie planting, the Russian Olive (Eleganus angustifolia) and the Buffalo-
Berry (Lepargyraea argentea). The flowers of the Russian Olive are very
fragrant in early spring, but the “olives’” are rather insipid. The Buffalo-
Berry produces an abundant supply of very sour, red fruit, useful for making
jelly when currants are scarce.
The Dogwood family furnishes, as desirable material for the prairie
shrubbery, our native Cornels (Cornus stolonifera, C. Amonum and C.
226 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY:
alternifolia). These shrubs produce in summer attractive white flowers, and
the first two, by reason of the bright red color of the young branchlets, light
up the winter landscape with a glowing red.
The Honeysuckle family furnishes much valuable shrubbery for the prai-
rie planter. At the head of the list is the Red-Berried Elder (Sambucus
pubens), a rank, vigorous native, sure to please when given plenty of room
in a rich location. The native Sheep-berry (Viburnum lentago), with its
thick, wax-like leaves, its large flat cymes of white flowers and its dark
purple fruit, is a most attractive shrub. The Cranberry tree (Viburnum
opulus) may be grown with good results, as well as its garden variety, the
common Snowball. The Snowball should be in every prairie shrubbery.
The native smooth-leafed Honeysuckle (Lonicera dioica) when transplanted
to the shrub border and given good cultivation is sure to please. It should
be kept tied up to a stake. The several varieties of Bush Honeysuckles are
very valuable on the prairies. The old pink and white forms of the Tarta-
rian Honeysuckle never disappoint the prairie planter. The varieties sent
out by the Iowa Agricultural College as Lonicera Splendens and Lonicera
Elegans are especially desirable. It is probable that the Splendens is the best
all-around prairie shrub.
The Composite family gives us the Russian Artemisia, a very hardy shrub
and one that does well on dry, sterile banks, where little else will grow. It
should be pruned frequently during the summer to prevent fruiting.
With this great wealth of absolutely hardy material at hand, it is unwise
for the average planter of the home grounds to experiment with anything of
doubtful hardiness. Plant things that will grow without coaxing, and your
garden and shrubberies will give you far more happiness.
Mr. Taylor: Mr. Moyer said the barberry was a good thing
to plant except for the reason that it causes rust in wheat. I would
like to know whether that is true. If it is true we ought to get rid
of it.
Mr. Moyer: I have taken some pains to look up the matter,
and wherever we find the barberry we find the black rust in wheat.
The President: My brother had a field of wheat that was com-
pletely destroyed by the rust. Within a dozen rods of that field
was a little row of barberries. I told Dr. Lugger about the black
rust, but I did not tell him about this particular case, and he said in
every case it comes from the barberries. He said he went into the
Red River Valley where he found rust in wheat, which he ascribed
to the presence of barberries, but nobody knew anything about bar-
berries, but afterwards he got a letter saying there were several
lots of barberries in that vicinity. Then I told him the experience
of my brother. He said it was always so, wherever the barberry
exists the black rust exists.
Mr. Jewett: In a conversation I had yesterday with Prof. Lug-
ger he brought out those same facts. There is another matter in
regard to the rust that should claim our attention, and that is the
rust on the apple tree. I read a short time ago in one of our eastern
SOME DESIRABLE THINGS FOR PRAIRIE PLANTING. 227
agricultural papers a question that some one addressed to Mr. Van
Deman, asking what caused apple rust, and the reply was that we
would not find apple rust except where there was red cedar. We
are free from it yet, but in the east where they have red cedar near
their apple orchards they are troubled with the rust. If this is a
fact ought we not to sound a note of warning against planting the
red cedar?
Mr. Dartt: I suppose if I wereenot on the off side there would not be an
off side. (Laughter.) The fact is that you have the black rust, and in look-
ing over the country, you find some barberry bushes. There is no proof
whatever that the barberry transmits the black rust. Here a gentleman says
they found some rust on apple trees, and they found some red cedar, and so
the red cedar caused the rust; there are most always red cedar where there
are apple trees, therefore you must dig out your red cedar. That kind of
argument does not go with me. I suppose I am against the crowd, as usual.
Mr. Jewett: I think, with all due respect to Friend Dartt, the opinion
of Mr. Van Deman has as much weight as that of Mr. Dartt. I had planned
to surround my orchard with red cedar, but I do not want to do it if it
causes rust.
Mr. Dartt: The red cedar gets the rust from the apple trees. (Laughter.)
The President: Dr. Lugger said that in examining the fungus on the
wheat it was found to be identically the same as that on the barberry, and
then they began to investigate, and they found that there was invariably
this condition, a field of wheat infected with the rust and barberries close
by. I think my friend Dartt will admit that always where there is a field
of wheat beside the barberry there is the black rust, and never under any
other condition. I think it is best to get the barberry out of the way.
Mr. Dartt: That would be all right if you could prove that the rust
comes from the barberry instead of going from the wheat to the barberry.
Prof. Green: Thirty-five years ago James Gregory, of Massachusetts,
warned the farmers of the northwest and the United States generally that
the barberry planted in the vicinity of wheat would produce black rust, and
he put that in his catalogue year after year, so it is no new thing at all.
Mr. Jewett: Our esteemed professor of horticulture is a pupil of Mr.
Gregory, and Gregory is reliable.
Mr. Wedge: I would like to hear a little more upon this question of the
red cedar and the apple. You all know I am an apple crank, and the red
cedar has been my hobby for several years, and I hope you will be able to
return a verdict that the red cedar is not guilty. There is one mistaken
statement, and that is that the red cedar is not general throughout the
country.
Mr. Jewett: There are barriers intervening between those ranges of red
cedar, so it is not general throughout. We now have prairies between us
and the red cedar, but when the apple becomes general over those prairies
the rust will run over our orchards like wild fire.
Col. Daniels: I remember years ago in traveling over Wisconsin, per-
haps in 1858—wheat growing was the great industry in Wisconsin. A large
number of people in Wisconsin were from New England, and they liked bar-
berries. They could not obtain them of nurserymen, so a good many sent
back to their friends and obtained them. The nurserymen then began to
228 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
propagate them, and we had good success in growing barberry hedges. It
was a very popular shrub, but a rumor soon came about of the kind such as
has been started here again. The matter was generally discussed at that
time, and I think it was considered that the barberry was unsafe to plant, See
and it fell into general disuse. I think it would be difficult to find many bar-
berries there now. As to this red cedar apple. Down on one of the old
plantations I bought years ago in Virginia, the red cedar is one of the most
common trees. I have seen orchards growing with great success along the
valley of the Potomac, and I have seen as high as two thousand trees grow-
ing in the orchard successfully, and I know that the blight is very common.
I know without spraying in that state nobody can keep fine fresh foliage
on the trees. There are some few trees that seem to be rust proof among
some two hundred varieties I have tried. There is one that is called the
Early Morgan. I have never seen any blight on that apple, although I know
it is completely surrounded by red cedar. Now that is a state of facts.
Mr. Dartt: After the barberry bushes were destroyed in Wisconsin did
they raise better wheat?
Col. Daniels: I cannot say, as I did not remain there, but it was generally
admitted that people would not take the chances of raising the barberry,
The President: When I left New Hampshire the barberry was every-
where, and the wheat was nowhere. Nobody ever thought of trying to raise
wheat. I never saw a field of wheat growing that was not in the woods
away from everybody.
Mr. Nutter: It seems to me there may be scme misunderstanding in
regard to this matter, in regard to the influence of trees and shrubs on the
rust question. It seems to me you perhaps misunderstand the claims that
scientists make. As I understand it, if the barberry is there the wheat will
be rusted, and in regard to the red cedar the same is true; but there are two
phases in the life of this fungus, and it requires the presence of both of
them to complete its life. The tadpole must have the water to develop it,
and it is the same in this, if we have the water we shall be troubled with the
frogs, but if we do not have the water we shall not have the frogs. The one
is necessary to complete the life circuit of the other. So the rust may start,
I do not say where it originated, but in order that it may be propagated it
must be necessary to have some plant to serve as a nursery for it.
Mr. Jewett: I presume there are hundreds of people throughout the
state that are in the same condition I was in figuring to plant a shelter belt
for the orchard. I thought of setting out the red cedar, but those who wish
to set out evergreens should set out something equally as good as red cedar
in preference to that, for if there is anything in this claim we will suffer for
it hereafter.
Mr. Harris: I do not think our red cedar in this northern climate is
found with those apples that have been mentioned. I think it is something
like the San Jose scale. But the first thing you know that red cedar apple will
be here, and you will get the rust. I know they have got it in Missouri and
Arkansas.
Mr. Jewett: I regret that Prof. Lugger is not here, but he made the
same statement as Mr. Harris, that this rust may come here later.
Mr. Clark: I want to say something about this barberry. I want to say
this. I have had a farm in North Dakota for a number of years, and for the
last twelve years especially I have been trying to get out of the wheat busi-
SOME DESIRABLE THINGS FOR PRAIRIE PLANTING. 229
ness. I feel today as though I wanted to plant this barberry all around my
place. (Laughter.) I wonder if it would not be a good idea for farmers to
plant barberries all around their farms. They have got wheat down to fifty
cents a bushel, and I think it is time to stop it in some way. (Laughter and
applause.)
SEEDLINGS AT THE WISCONSIN EXPERIMENT
STATION.
A. J. PHILIPS, SECRETARY WIS. HORT. SOCIETY.
I have been asked about the planting of seedlings.
When we decided to locate our new trial station or orchard, Prof. Goff
and myself were appointed to select site. We went into northern Wiscon-
sin, but did not find anything to suit us. As Prof. Goff was called away
I notified President Kellogg to meet me at Wausau, and we located it there,
because it was like much of the land in northeastern Minnesota where the
pine had been cut off, and trees that would grow well on such land in our
state would grow well on similar land in your state. After the ground was
selected, at our winter méeting I was appointed to select the trees to plant,
but that was a greater responsibility than I cared to assume. I declined to
do it and offered a resolution that the president appoint three of our oldest
orchardists to select varieties that they thought would answer for that
climate. The president appointed Geo. J. Kellogg, J. C. Plumb and Mr.
Hirschinger, the latter a man who raises some years as high as five thou-
sand bushels of apples, and they made the selection for the commercial
orchard. I was surprised after the statement Prof. Taylor made about the
seedlings that originated in the north not being worth fifteen cents, that we
had over two-thirds that were seedlings from either Minnesota or Wiscon-
sin, and I spoke of that in our meeting afterwards, which was told to Prof.
Taylor, and he modified it by saying that the originator did not make fifteen
cents out of them. There was one thing certain, that those men who had
grown gray in the work had either spent their lives in vain, or Mr. Taylor
was. mistaken.
The first row in the trial orchard on the west is set with Virginia crabs,
top-worked with Wealthy, Malinda and Wolf River. Next are two rows of
Hibernal, then two of Duchess, then the Northwestern Greening (of which
I have fifty-four trees), then the Newell, a Wisconsin seedling; next the
Longfield; then the Wealthy and then the Dudley Winter, which originated
in Maine; then the Okabena, one row. Mr. Underwood sent me some seed-
lings, very nice trees, the Alma. They are a new seedling and are growing
very nicely. He said it originated at Alma. Then we have the Hoadley
from Baraboo, that Mr. Hirschinger originated, and the Dominion Winter
from Canada. That constitutes the commercial orchard. There are only
two or three varieties that are not seedlings. I carried to our meeting last
summer the new growth of every variety we have there. Our people, of
course, have but little chance to visit the orchard, and in order to show the
growth of those trees I cut some new growth from all of them. I had a
committee appointed, with Prof. Goff as chairman, to examine that growth
and compare it with the growth in other parts of the state; it was quite an
object lesson to them, There was only one variety that blighted, and that
was the Newell, and I thought they would have to be reset, but when I went
there late in the fall I found them well recovered so that there are only five
in the row that will have to be reset.
230 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Mr. Brand: Have you the Milwaukee?
Mr. Philips: Yes, we have the Milwaukee and the Windsor.
In the trial orchard we have the Okabena, we have the Patten’s
Greening, the Wealthy, the Tetofsky and several other varieties
sent by Mr. Patten to see how they would do by the side of northern
grown trees. Next I set some Okabena root grafts and grafted it
also on the Virginia crab; then I took the Newell and Wealthy and
grafted them also. I have there three specimens of each variety.
Now, if you go there in five or six years and find the trees fruiting
you can see just what is the best way to set those varieties in that
climate; as, for instance, the Okabena apple, whether it is best to
set the root graft or whether it is best top-worked on the Virginia,
or to grow it on its own stock. I have those experiments going on
there on the Wealthy in the same way. I am conducting a series
of experiments through three years, and if people will avail them-
selves of the opportunity they can go there and see which is the
best way to grow those varieties. I think I know, for I have found
at home that the Wealthy will last longer and be a better tree on the
Virginia than any other way.
In the commercial orchard, I set thirty-six Hibernal trees.
Nine of them came from the southern part of the state, nine from
Sturgeon Bay, nine from Baraboo and nine from Janesville. They
are all grown on different soils. If people go there and study those
trees they will know where the best place is to buy trees, and the
best soil to grow them on for soil that is similar to that. This is
just a little outline of the work.
SWEET PEA CULTURE FROM A COMMERCIAL
STANDPOINT.
MRS. HARRIET K. EVES, MINNEAPOLIS.
The past season has been a very unfavorable one to the sweet pea grow-
er. While the crop in this vicinity has been far from a failure, it has been
quite as far from satisfactory. :
With me California seed, seed grown here one year from California seed,
and seed grown many years in Minnesota, were alike in results. Peas
planted in the same trench the fourth year, the third year one foot away from
last year’s planting and twenty feet from where legumes of any kind had
ever been grown, were undistinguishable. I planted 1,500 feet of double row,
and a month before frost came, the usual limit of our crop, scarcely a dozen
good blossoms could be found on our place.
To raise sweet peas for the market with any probability of fair returns for
your labor, you must have them early enough to get greenhouse prices for
a while, must have long stems and good blossoms in something like equal
quantities, whether the weather be favorable or not, and must keep up fair
length of stem and quality of flower until frost comes, making as near a
four months’ season as possible, and, most important of all, must have a
market for them.
SWEET PEA CULTURE FROM A COMMERCIAL STANDPOINT. 231
Early sweet peas, though requiring a good deal of labor, are not difficult
to raise. We start them in the house or under glass early enough to get
good growth. The vines, unless the weather after planting out is unusual-
ly favorable, are of no value, but a good root ready for work eight to twelve
inches deep in good soil will soon furnish vines, buds and blossoms. These
’. transplanted peas are in no danger from the first pest of the sweet pea
grower, the cutworm, but it is on these that the red spider, or rather the
grey mite, begins its ravages when the hot weather begins. Perhaps we take
them from the house. I know they flourish there, and I do not know if they
survive our winters outside. Early and deep planting, rich soil and plenty of
water seem to be the requisites for long stems and free blossoming, that is
necessary for the market pea. We trench deep, eighteen inches or more, put
several inches of manure in the bottom of the trench, plant so the seed will
be six inches deep when the trench is filled, but do not cover so deep until
it is up, filling in as it grows; trellis, seven feet high, higher if they need it.
I like tall vines. They are not so easy to pick but better in every other
sense.
With the hot weather come plenty of blossoms, and soon our troubles be-
gin, Blasted buds, mildew and neck drop are the most difficult to gvercome.
Two or three scorching days will open a whole week’s blossoms at one time,
and lucky are we if it culminates on Saturday, when everything will sell,
for we must take short stems and scant flowers for several days.
Dry weather we can meet with water, or if warm as well as dry you can
scarcely give too much; but hot weather, especially if windy, is ruin.
But little land is required for sweet peas, but the labor is endless. During
the blossoming season our work begins with daylight, and we pick as many
as possible before the sun is hot, rarely picking after ten o’clock except on
Saturday, when we make two pickings. Then hoeing, watering, spraying,
take the rest of the day. The spring is fully occupied in planting, trellising
and cultivating, and the fall is never long enough to clear up, open trenches
and get ready for spring.
When I began to sell sweet peas four years ago, the Blanche Ferry
was the popular pea here, outselling three to one all other varieties; next
year less than a third of my peas will be Ferrys, and my list will contain
every good one I know of, probably thirty varieties.
The market here is limited, easily over-stocked, but its worst element is
one of our largest growers who sets the price for all the rest, and whose
idea of the proper retail price seems to be ten cents a hundred. Her flowers
are sold by boys on the streets, and I never know them to ask more than
twenty cents per hundred for the first. When we are getting fifty or even
twenty-five at wholesale, we naturally dread the appearance of these boys.
Now I have some questions to ask, and hope to get an answer to at least
a part of them.
Why do my vines grow best by the stakes that support the trellis? Is it
air or water or both? Can TI prevent mildew? What causes a whole crop
of buds to turn yellow and drop? We expect some blasted buds early when
the weather is extremely varicble and just after the first full blossoming,
but last year I had three rows, about fifteen feet long, of the finest peas
I ever saw, bright, clean, thrifty vines, plenty of long stemmed flowers and
full of buds. One afternoon I saw that the buds did not look just right, and
next morning when picking was finished three-fourths of the buds were
on the ground, and the rest nearly all dropped that day. They went right on
ME
232 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
forming buds, but for nearly two weeks we picked two bunches a day where
we had been getting twenty or more.
What is neck drop? Less than half an inch of the stem, just at the bend,
wilts, while the rest stands straight and stiff as ever. Vines that at night
promised a fine cut show in the morning sometimes a few, sometimes one-
half or three-fourths of the opened or opening blossoms hanging lifeless. It
is always the best peas; short stems don’t often drop.
Mr. Long: Do you mulch your sweet peas?
Mrs. Eves: I have mulched, but I did not see that they were
any better.
Mr. Taylor: What do you use for a trellis?
Mrs. Eves: Oh, almost anything.
Mr. Taylor: Do you change the location every year?
Mrs. Eves: I have been on the land four years, and I have
grown them on the same place every year.
Mr. Smith, (Wis.): I have never grown sweet peas or any other
kind of flowers for the market, but we always have an abundanrice of
flowers on our place and all the tender annuals. Several years ago
I planted sweet peas on a little strip of ground for about four or
five years in succession. They kept getting poorer and poorer after
the third year, and the last year I planted them there they did almost
nothing, the leaves turned yellow and the buds dropped off. So I
changed the location and put them in a new place where they had
never been grown before, or at least not for quite a number of years,
and the result was entirely satisfactory. They grew strongly, and
we had an abundance of blossoms all through the season. I think
that might, perhaps, be the solution of the falling of the blossoms
the lady spoke of.
Mrs. Eves: My best sweet peas were exactly in the same place
where they had been growing for four years.
Mrs. Hanson: I have grown mine in the same place for four
years. Many people asked me how I managed to grow such fine
sweet peas, but they have been grown in the same place for four
years. By standing on my tiptoes I could reach the top flowers.
Mrs. Eves: Some of my worst soil had the best late flowers.
Mr. Smith: What is your soil?
Mrs. Eves: We are at a place where all the wash goes in and
there is gravel under it; there is gravel within six or eight inches of
the surface. In some other places there is clay; there is quite a
variety of soil.
Mr. Yahnke: I would like to ask Mrs. Hanson what kind of
soil she has.
Mrs. Hanson: I think it is a sandy loam.
APPLE GROWING NORTH OF ST. PAUL. 233
APPLE GROWING NORTH OF ST. PAUL.
CLARENCE WEDGE, ALBERT LEA.
(Read before Meadow Vale Horticultural Society.)
Two years of rambling over the state with the Farmers’ Institute has -
given me some ideas on orcharding that may be of value to the planters of
Anoka and Sherburn counties. I have found many good and profitable little
orchards north of you, and fully believe that on good high land with a clay
or limestone subsoil you can easily grow what apples your families need if
careful attention is given to avoid the mistakes that are everywhere made.
In the first place, begin with the right kinds. Our state horticultural so-
ciety is a very safe guide in this matter, and I enclose herewith several of
their fruit lists. The hardiest and best of the large apples is the Hibernal;
indeed it is the only winter variety that is recommended for general plant-
ing, and wherever I have seen it planted it is doing finely. It has borne
fruit in Crow Wing county and in Manitoba, as well as in many places all
over the southern part of the state. It is a large, handsome fruit, best for
cooking and fair to eat out of hand when fully ripened. The tree, in addi-
tion to being of first hardiness, is also a very early bearer; trees set out
seven years have borne a barrel of apples at my place.
The Duchess is an old standby and should be planted as a mate to the
Hibernal. The Wealthy is the finest of northern fruits, but scarcely hardy
enough to be largely planted in your latitude. Longfield is almost equal in
quality to the Wealthy, and as it bears so very early and so abundantly de-
serves a small place in the orchard. The Repka is nearly as hardy as the
Duchess and a true, hard, all winter keeper. If there was any nursery that
: had trees large enough to sell I should recommend you to plant some of it.
Among the crabs the Virginia stands at the head with the Martha a
close second. Do not plant the Transcendent when you can get so much
better kinds at the same price.
Beginning thus with the right kinds, do not fail to give the trees careful
cultivation. The idea of leaving orchards in sod is rapidly becoming obso-
lete with intelligent men. As before indicated, high land with a clay or
limestone subsoil is indispensable to the best success, but were I living on
a river bottom I should still try a few Hibernal apples and the rest crabs. I
now wish to impress one point in the care of the trees with the greatest, em-
phasis: in our dry, clear, western climate the trunks and larger branches
should always be shaded. It matters very little what device is used, corn-
stalks set up about the trees and tied to them with durable twine will answer
the purpose perfectly and will last two years or more. If this plan be fol-
lowed, we should advise using a wrapping of wire net‘ing about the lower
part of the trunks before applying the corn stalks, in order to insure the
trees against girdling by mice. At our own place we use a.wrapping of lath
held in place by a weaving of stove pipe wire. This serves as a protection
against rabbits, mice and borers, as well as shading the trunks. Do not for-
get that as the trees get older the larger branches will need the same shade
that the trunk of the tree always requires. This idea of shading the trunks
of our fruit trees is no fad. The thousands of sunscalded trees to be seen
all over Minnesota and the northwest bear abundant testimony to the neces-
sity of providing a cool and grove-like condition for this delicate portion of
tree anatomy.
234 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
It would be impossible to give anything like complete directions for or-
chard management in this paper, but I trust that many of your people may
become sufficiently interested in their gardens and orchards to impel them
to join the brotherhood of tree and fruit lovers in our state horticultural
society. The benefits will be large when the cost is considered, and not the
least among them will be the satisfaction of knowing that you' have done
your best to make the old homestead, ‘‘Be it ever so humble,” the dearest
spot on earth to the young hearts that so soon are to go out from it forever.
RECEIPTS FOR HOME COOKERY.
MRS. HANSON, MINNEAPOLIS.
During the hot weather even old housekeepers are apt to become em-
barrassed over the arrangement of their daily bills of fare. For the summer
table, boned chicken and jellied meats of various kinds will be found much
more appetizing than the heavier hot meat dishes. Salads and fruits should
also have a prominent place on the summer bill of fare.
A delicious summer dessert is made by lining a mould with a strawberry
sherbet, and pouring into the center a mixture made from the whites of
eggs, powdered sugar and cream, beaten stiff and flavored with vanilla, and
then covering the cream-mixture with the sherbet until the mould is full.
Pack in ice and salt, and serve after it has stood three hours.
LETTUCE AND BEET SALAD.
Boil two medium sized beets and allow them to cool. Have one head
of lettuce pulled apart and nicely arranged in a salad dish. Slice the beets:
in the center of the dish. Prepare a dressing of vinegar, salt, pepper and
sugar.
WHITE CAKE.
Beat two cups of sugar and one cup butter to a cream, add one cup of
milk and water mixed half and half, three cups flour, into which two tea-
spoonfuls of baking powder has been sifted, and, last, add the whites of eight
eggs. Bake in layers.
CHOCOLATE CAKE WITH MARSHMALLOW FROSTING.
Cream half a cupful of butter, add a quarter of a cupful of chocolate,
the beaten yolks of three eggs, one cupful of sugar, one teaspoonful of cin-
namon and half a cupful of milk, then the beaten whites of three eggs and
a cupful and a half of flour, with three teaspoonfuls of baking powder. Dec-
orate with boiled frosting, to which dissolved marshmallows are added.
Fruit Buds and Twigs which are well developed and full of reserve ma-
terial are best prepared to withstand very cold weather. Prof. Waugh, of the
Vermont Experiment Station, finds that the drying out of fruit buds, if ex-
cessive, is disastrous. Some years the evaporation from the buds and twigs
is greater than others. It is during such seasons that the loss is greatest
from freezing. Twigs covered with lampblack seem to be well protected and
open earlier than those not treated. Those covered with whitewash open
latest.
NOTICE OF
_ Summer eeting,
{900,
OF THE
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The regular summer gathering of the society will be held as usual this
year at the State Experiment Station, at St. Anthony Park, on Tuesday,
the roth day of June. This date is set to accommodate the rose and straw-
berry growers in that part of the state most accessible to the place of meet-
ing, and with this object in view a liberal premium list has been prepared.
The general order of exercises for the day will not differ materially
from that of similar occasions in previous years. The forenoon will give
ample opportunity to those so inclined to look over the experiment gardens
and orchards and observe the changes and progress in this interesting and
valuable work.
An object of special interest is the new Horticultural Hall, which has
been constructed since our last summer gathering there and has been oc-
cupied during the past school year.
In the absence of Prof. S. B. Green, who is spending the summer in
Europe, his assistant, Mr. R. S. Mackintosh, and others will bé in attend-
ance during the forenoon to conduct parties over the grounds and supply
any information as to the work of the station desired.
At 12:30 o’clock basket lunch will be spread in Armory Hall, and all at-
tending are invited to contribute towards this festive occasion. Every one
is welcome. If not a member, $1.00 will make you such, if you wish, and
give you all the publications of the society and a voice in its deliberations.
At 2 o’clock p. m. the regular summer session of the society will be
held. The informal program will include several extempore talks on the
fruit on exhibition by the exhibitors and others and several papers on ap-
propriate topics, among which may be noted the following: The Army of
Flowers, by J. T. Grimes; Growing Mushrooms by an Amateur, F. J.
Pracna; School Gardens, O. M. Lord; A Plea for Nature Study drawn from
Experience, Mrs. M. M. Barnard.
As usual at our gatherings full opportunity for discussion will be given.
Meeting of the Women’s Auxiliary.—The regular summer meeting of
this auxiliary society will be held at some convenient time during the
day, to be announced.
236 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
HOW TO REACH THE GROUNDS.
Take the Como-Interurban electric car in either St. Paul or Minneapolis
and get off at Dooley avenue, where carriages will be found in waiting to
carry visitors to the grounds, one-half mile distant, from 9:30 a. m. to 1:30
p. m. Those who drive over in their own conveyances will find ample ac-
commodations on the grounds for stabling.
Visitors should NOT take the Interurban car, but TAKE the Como-
Interurban-Harriet car.
For further information address
W. W. PENDERGAST, President, Hutchinson.
A. W. LATHAM, Secretary, 207 Kasota block, Minneapolis.
PREMIUM LIST.
All exhibits must be entered with the secretary and in place by 12 m., to
be entitled to compete for premiums.
Exhibitors competing must be members of this society and the growers
or makers of the articles exhibited. The fruit and flowers exhibited must
have been grown in Minnesota and must be correctly labelled.
No premiums will be awarded on unworthy articles.
FLOWERS.
Ist prem. 2d prem. 3d prem.
Each named variety of cut roses, six blooms
ofeach Comtdoor Brown) 2. ose ere 50 S25.) Sa eee
Bouquet of garden flowers ................- TSO eel OO .50
FRUIT.
(One quart of each variety.)
Istprem. 2dprem. 3d prem.
Collectionyot-strawberties. sss cree ae $4.00 $3.00 $2.00
Each named and catalogued variety of straw-
DELEICS Mt oe OR Rea ae eee 75 .50_ .25
Seedling strawberry never having received a
PREMAUMIM thOMAtLhISeSOCIELY. ai. ope e-ce Oatnre 3.00 2.00 1.00
Each named and catalogued variety of cur-
TOMES ies Biri h Anabs Blake cope a tote pte e eee eee STA) .50 .25
Each named and catalogued variety of goose-
DErrlesy sae de Fite carine eek Leases Sie es at 75 .50 $25
VEGETABLES.
Istprem. 2d prem. 3d prem.
Collection of early vegetables .............. $3.00 $2.00 $1.00
MUSHROOMS.
(To be collected by the exhibitor.)
Ist prem. 2d prem. 3d prem.
Collecticnin ear a ei $3.00 $2.00 $1.00
Your orner.
Everything is looking favorable for a heavy fruit crop this season.—
Clarence Wedge, Albert Lea, May 23.
There is a good prospect for apples and plums, but everything needs
rain—Jno. P. Andrews, Faribault, Minn., May 26, 1900.
Plum blossoms and most of the crab apple blossoms are now fairly out,
and apple blossoms are just opening. There is a fair prospect for an im-
mense crop.—E. H. S. Dartt, Owatonna, May 7.
I am very busy. Have put in 800 top-grafts, 4,000 in the ground, and
will plant 200 trees. Prospects good for a large crop of apples—A. J.
Philips, West Salem, Wis., May I, 1900.
My fruit trees look well. I held them back, and they were not injured
by frost. They were loaded with blossoms and are filling out well. But
raspberries were killed to the ground, except new beds set out last spring;
they came out fine. All were covered lightly. Strawberries are all right.—
Chas. Kenning, Osceola, May 16, 1900.
Raspberries, both red and black, that were not covered, are dead in the
top. The frost apparently did not injure fruit in the least, but most of the
plums have dropped off, and many of the cherries and apples. I saw some
blossoms on cherries this morning. Ground that has not been stirred is
getting dry, while well cultivated ground is moist yet—S. D. Richardson,
Winnebago City, May 22.
I have suffered a most severe loss in apples and plums; hardly three-
fourths will survive the shock on account of the hail on the 1oth of August,
last year. The trees took on a new growth and blossomed again, and even
those that fruited blossomed again and kept that up till late in October,
till killed by hard frost. Those that may survive will be in a miserable con-
dition —O. J. Hagen, Hendrum, Minn., April 29, 1900.
Heavy frost May 3; ice one-fourth inch. Early plum was in full bloom.
I expect no early plums. But the day after the frost was cloudy and cool;
some rain during the day, which may help the blossoms to some extent. I
expect no very early plums. All trees are full of blossoms. Grafts set last
spring are mostly in bloom. Apple trees seem to be in good condition, full
of blossom. All raspberries are winter-killed to some extent. Bare ground
all winter. I had one sleighride all winter—Martin Penning, Sleepy Eye,
May 5.
We had a splendid drive of twelve miles into Watonwan county yester-
day, and I was surprised to note the growing interest in tree planting by
farmers and people in the villages. Nearly everyone has a fine grove
started about the buildings, with the plantings well made and arranged to
give the best protection where most needed. The trees are planted with
cultivated crops and given intelligent care, such as our Horticultural So-
ciety teaches, and is encouraging all over the state—A. K. Bush, Farmers’
Institute, St. James, Minn., May 20.
238 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Bad Luck in the Red River Valley—My trees stood the winter better
than I expected after the wrecking they got last August 10th, but with the
warm, dry winds and drouth of this spring leaves began fading away and
blossoms wilted, and those trees that showed some vigor were destroyed
under a “cataract of wood splitters and post hole borers,” called hail, on
Sunday the 13th inst. Out of over 200 plum trees not a single tree is alive.
Currants, gooseberries and sand cherries are all dead—old and young trees.
all alike. The Crandall currant is one of the strongest to stand a good whip-
ping, and some of the crabs and apples stand also a good deal, such as
Lieby, Charlottenthaler, Hibernal, Patten’s Greening, Virginia, Greenwood,
Arctic, Florence, Striped Anis and Early Strawberry.—Ole J. Hagen,
Hendrum, Minn.,May 22.
NOTES ON MAY HORTICULTURIST.
Mr. Patten strikes the key note of top-working when he quotes the
words of Wilder, and when he says owing to expense this work should be
done by experiment stations—I often wish they were liberal enough to give
more attention to it.
I have some lessons in my orchard this season that are worth miles of
travel to a fruit grower to see, and I had some started at Wausau, which
were they carried out and reported on properly would be very valuable.
One tree, at home, in particular, I call New Wealthy. It grew ina Wealthy
row, and to all appearance is a Wealthy. One scientific man says it is a
sport of the Wealthy. Still the fruit is different, and if anything is hand-
somer than the Wealthy. But I cannot say as to quality as it only bore five
apples the first year, and they were stolen at the La Crosse fair, and last
year it bore about one dozen, which were stolen from the tree; but I will
watch it close this year. It top-works wonderfully on the Hibernal, one tree
of which was girdled by mice last winter. I have it preserved to show if I go
to fairs or winter meetings this year.
I dislike to criticise Uncle Dartt when he is not present to talk back,
but he says, page 168, that we can just as well grow a stock hardy enough as
to top-graft. Now hardiness is not all we are after. Some of our hardiest
trees are lacking in vigor, and vigor and strength to grow a top and produce
fruit is what I am after. Obstructing the sap of the Virginia does not make
the Wealthy bear earlier, but working Wealthy on Virginia certainly makes
it bear more years.
I am glad you published the beautiful picture of Dartt’s pond, and that
you called it a park. At your meeting I called it a dam, and that sounded
rough. The picture looks natural, though the bathers were not in when I~
was there in December last—but the houses and rafts were there. My
imagination says that if the artist had extended the view one inch farther to
the left that Dartt could have been seen sitting in his buggy with old John
hitched to it, or sitting in his big chair, giving orders and wishing he was
younger so he could build more dams.
Am glad Prof. Green had a chance and has improved it to go to Europe
—only wish he had taken me with him. I believe it would have been money
well invested, at least for me. Before I stop I must say that I admired your
cut of the home of Mrs. Bonniwell. It is to me an evidence of kindness in
that family in arranging the group for .the artist gave the faithful
dog such a prominent place, and I can almost hear the old lady tell him to
keep still. Her biography is interesting and worthy the place you so kindly
gave it—A. J. Philips, West Salem, Wis.
ecretary’s (Yorner.
SUMMER MEETING, WIS. Hor’. SociEty.—This society is to hold its regular
two days’ summer session at Wausau, Wis., June 20-21. As this is the location
of their new trial orchard, one day, Thursday, is given to its examination and
consideration.
LARGE APPLE PLANTINGS.—Ex-Pres. Underwood, of Lake City, has planted
another side-hill orchard of 1,000 trees, From all directions word comes of
an unusual amount of apple planting this spring. Minnesota should soon
grow her own apples at the present state of increase.
ARE You GROWING STRAWBERRIES?—If you are be sure and pick your
best quart of each variety and bring to the summer meeting. It will be a great
day to the berry growers. A first, second and third premium offered for each
named variety. How many kinds can you bring?
NoTICcCE OF SUMMER MEETING.—Do not fail to see the notice of the annual
summer gathering of this society, to be found elsewhere in this number. As
near as possible the date has been set to catch the height of the strawberry
season. But there is some guess work about this, and we may miss it a little.
As usual we meet at the Station. Come and bring your berries!
IRRIGATION IN FRUIT GROWING.—The U. S. Dept. of Agriculture has just
issued ‘‘ Farmers’ Bulletin No. 116,’’ devoted to this topic. It is a brief but
very practical treatise on the various phases of the subject, accompanied by
illustrations and many suggestions drawn from experience. All interested in
this subject would do well to secure this bulletin, which can be had gratuitously
upon application to the Department.
BEES AND HorTIcULTURE.—Under the above title Eugene Secor, of Forest
City, Ia., has brought together in a twelve page pamphlet many interesting
facts as to the relation of bees to horticulture and makes out a very good case
as to the necessity of the one with the other for the success of either. This
pamphlet is published by the National Bee-Keepers’ Association, of which Mr,
Secor is general manager and treasurer. It is worth very careful study.
SUMMER INSTITUTES.—The Minnesota Farmers’ Institute is again at work,
divided into southern and northern corps. The itinerary of the southern corps
shows twenty-one meetings in the month from May 22 to June 22. Mr. Bush
is “talking” horticulture with this corps. The good fruit prospects in the
part of the state in which this institute corps is working will render the soil
more fertile for his tillage. We expect to hear good things of him.
FRuIvT PrRospuicts.—Under date of May 21st, the Weather Bureau reports
for Minnesota ‘‘It is found that plums, cherries and currants were some-
what injured by the frosts early in the month, and that the set of fruit was
reduced. The apples were not in full bloom at the time of the frosts, and they
seem to be in good condition.’”? This statement agrees with the information
which has reached the writer through other channels. The prospect for the
apple crop so far may be called ‘‘ good.”’
THE NURSERYMEN OF MINNESOTA.—There is now in the possession of the
secretary a list of forty-eight names of persons or firms who, it is understood,
are engaged in the nursery business in Minnesota. A circular is about to be
sent out to them, and if filled out properly and returned with permission to
240 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
give the facts called for to the public, it is the intention to issue a state nur-
serymen’s directory, that will give the information our planters would like to
know in regard to those who are asking their patronage. It is hoped the list
may be a complete one. It will bea good, if gratuitous, advertising medium.
PREMIUMS ON FRUITS AND FLOWERS.—For purposes of preservation and
convenient reference, there has been printed in this number an extract
from the 1900 premium list of the Minnesota State Fair, comprising the
premiums offered on fruits and flowers. Our readers should give this careful
study, and then turn back tothe regulations of that department published in the
May number and become familiar with the work of the fair. Then, at this
early date, make entries of whatever you are likely to have for exhibition and
plan for itas necessary for some time ahead. It will pay you.
STATE FAIR PREMIUM List.—The premium list for our coming state fair is
out and being distributed. It is the intention to send a copy to each member ~
of this society, and if any have been overlooked one can be secured by ad-
dressing Secretary E. W. Randall, Hamline, Minn.
On page 52 will be found the department of fruits and flowers,and it will be
found very interesting reading to all prospective exhibitors, as all producers
in the state should be. Bring to this fair something as your contribution to
tha ‘‘ best fair on earth.’’
List OF THOSE SENDING NEW MEMBERS IN May:
J. P. Andrews, 7. Cc. E. Older, 2:
C. Revier, 1. J. E. Dodds, 1.
Wm. Beck, 1. Chas. Kenning, 1.
I. Abrahamson, 2. S. D. Richardson, 1.
T. FE. Cashman, 1.
THE 1900 MEMBERSHIP ROLL.—At this date May 25, the annual mem-
bership roll of the society numbers 720, which is 116 more than it numbered
a year agotoday. The present life and honorary roll numbers 90, making a
total roll at this time of 810. By natural process this roll will increase during
the year yet somewhere near 100, which will bring it very near the coveted
1000. With alittle effort on the part of our members, it can easily be brought
up to this crowning mark. Will not vow send in one or more new members?
Of this number of members 96 live outside the state, from Maine to Alaska
—and all along between. Thirty-eight are ladies; not a bad showing, but we
wish there were more. A hundred more of the gentler sex added to our list
would bring about a marked change in the character of our work and for
its good. We should have them.
John H. Stevens, of Minneapolis, vice-president of this society, old time
life member and friend most tried and true, is dead. He passed away at his
home in this city peacefully on the afternoon of Monday, May 28, 1900, and
his body was laid at rest in beautiful Lakewood Cemetery on the afternoon of
Decoration Day, May 30. We shall see his kindly and inspiring face no more,
but his memory is ever with us. Had he survived till June 13, he would have
rounded out a full four score years. On May 1 last, he and Mrs. Stevens, who
survives him, celebrated the golden anniversary of their wedding.
MISS SARA M. MANNING.
Late of Lake City, Minn.
(See Biography.)
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. JULY, 1900. No. 7.
In Memoriam,
MISS SARA M. MANNING,
LAKE CITY, MINN.
DIED Apri, 7, 1900, AGED 46 YEArs.
Miss Sara M. Manning, for many years an honorary life member of
this society, died suddenly at Lake City, Minn., on April 7, 1900, from heart
failure, in the forty-seventh year of her age.
Miss Manning was born at Reading, Mass., April 25, 1853, from old
New England ancestry.
We are told that William Manning came from England in 1635 and set-
tled at Cambridge, Mass., where he purchased an cstate. His son William
inherited the property and became a very prominent citizen. He was a
merchant, an owner of shipping and of warehouses and: wharves. He was
for fifteen terms selectman oi his town and also served as a member of the
general court, or legislature, of Mass. In 1669 he was sent to England as a
committee to induce Uriah Oakes to come to Cambridge and preside over
the church. Mr. Oakes afterwards became president of Harvard College.
For his services to the church William Manning received a grant of land
from the church at Billerica, Mass. His son Saniuel moved to Billerica
and in 1696 built a louse there. The house must have been well built, for
it is still standing and is occupied as the summer home of Warren H. Man-
ning, the eminent landscape architect and secretary of the American Park
and Outdoor Art Association. Samuel Manning was a member of the
legislature, and it is from one of his fourteen children, William, that Miss
Manning was descended. William Manning served in the French and Indian
War and received the title of Ensign. His grandson, Jacob, served in the
Revolutionary War. He was at Concord in 1775, where the unbattled farm-
ers “fired the shot heard round the world,” and received the title of Lieuten-
ant. His grandson Solomon Manning purchased a farm at Bedford, N. H.,
in 1823 and married Mary Fletcher. It was here that Miss Manning’s father,
Joseph Manning, was born and brought up. He married Oct. 25, 18}49,
Miriam Noyes Hall and engaged in business at Reading, Mass.
Miss Manning’s maternal grandfather, Ebenezer Hall, was descended
from John Hall, who was born in England and came to Cambridge in 1652,
moving to Medford soon afterward. His son Percival was one of the
original proprietors of. Sutton, a deacon in the church and a member of the
242 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
provincial legislature of New Hampshire. Miss Manning’s maternal grand-
mother was Jane Noyes, who was descended from Rev. James Noyes, one
of the first settlers of Newbury, Mass., and a son of the Rev. William Noyes
of Wiltshire, England. The family was eminent in preachers and teachers,
and it is partly from these that Miss Manning inherited her strong religious
nature.
Jacob W. Manning, a brother of Joseph Manning, established in 1854
the well known Reading (Mass.) Nursery. He is a man of wide reputation
in horticultural circies, an honorary life member of this society and a mem-
ber of the American Pomological Society. The catalogues issued by his
nursery possess a scientific value, unusual in publications of this kind. His
sons, Warren H. Manning and J. Woodward Manning, have become land-
scape architects of national reputation.
A cousin of Joseph Manning was for a long time pastor of the historical
Old South Meeting House in Boston.
In 1856 Joseph Manning disposed of his business in Massachusetts and
moved west, settling first at Pepin, Wis., and afterwards removing to Lake
City. Miss Manning always made her home with her parents, and she
passed nearly her whole life in the Lake Pepin valley. It was in 1871 that
she taught her first and only term of country school. In the fall and winter
of 1874 and 1875 she attended Carleton College, at Northfield, but her ambi-
tion led her to undertake to do two years’ work in one, and her health failed.
She was obliged to give up school work, and her physician advised her to
lead an out-door life. It was at this time that she began the study of botany
with the Misses Robinson, teachers in the Lake City high school. Her
father’s business took him much into the country, and it was her custom to
go with him on his longer drives, eagerly searching for new plants and
flowers.
At the winter meeting of the Minnesota Horticultural Society in 1884
Miss Manning read a paper on “The Wild Flowers of the Lake Pepin
Valley,” and there was published with it in the reports of that year a cata-
logue of 504 species of flowering plants found growing in the Lake Pepin
Valley. This catalogue represented a large amount of hard work that only
a botanist can appreciate. It was almost a pioneer list of the Minnesota
flora.
In the same year Miss Manning assisted Prof. Warren Upham in the
preparation of his “Flora of Minnesota,” published in the Twelfth Annual
Report of the Geological and Natural History Survey of Minnesota.
At the winter meeting of our society at Owatonna in 1892 Miss Man-
ning read a paper on “Our Native Shrubs” and at the following summer
meeting a poem on “Our Beautiful Wild Flowers.” These papers all
showed that she possessed the spirit of a true artist and that she had a rare
appreciation of natural beauty. The writer well remembers a drive made
with her as guests of the Minneapolis Park Board along Hennepin Boulevard
by Lake Calhoun and down Minnehaha Creek. We had been shown the best
work that the landscape gardener was capable of, but it was not until we
came out on the drive along Minnehaha creek and saw nature’s own inim-
itable planting that Miss Manning gave expression to her enthusiastic
approval.
Miss Manning was made an honorary life member of our society in
1884. She became a member of the American Association for the Advance-
%
o ee
IN MEMORIAM, MISS SARA M. MANNING. 2438
ment of Science at about the same time and for many years was a faithful
attendant at the annual meetings, devoting most of her time to the botanical
section. It was there that she made the acquaintance of Prof. Underwood,
Thomas Meehan and other botanists.
She was with Dr. Gray at the time he discovered the rare fern, Schizaea
pusilla, in the pine barrens of New Jersey.
Miss Manning became a member of the Congregational church at Lake
City in 1872 and was for many years a faithful worker, teaching in the Sun-
day school until her health failed. She was a charter member of the
Christian Endeavor Society and for three terms its president. Theological
controversy had no attractions for her, but she believed in exemplifying
the will of the Master in her daily life. She saw the good, the true and the
beautiful in the world and recognized in it the handwriting of God. She
often quoted with approval these lines of Horace Smith:
“Were |, O God! in churchless lands remaining,
Far from the voice of teachers and divines,
My soul would find, in flowers of thy ordaining,
Priests, sermons, shrines!”’
Her cousin Warren H. Manning, who knew her well, says: “My cousin
was a student always, a lover of art and of nature, always more thoughtiul
of others than of herself, never strong but always at work.”
Her herbarium was a very complete one of the plants of her region,
and she discovered a number of rare ferns and plants out of their natural
range.”
There has passed on a pure and beautiful soul; one whose life touched,
helped and strengthened other lives. This is a better and more beautiful
world because she lived in it; yet the good she did was done as most good
is done, unconsciously.
LE. R. MOYER.
Shallow Planting for Sweet Peas——The sweet peas were planted near the
top of the ground, not in a deep trench as formerly. Then after they began
to run, I sifted the ashes from the kitchen stove (part coal and part wood)
by the side of the row every morning until the ashes were about 6 in. deep,
from the row of sweet peas to the row of potatoes on each side. These kept
the roots cool and damp, and we never saw such thrifty sweet pea vines and
large blossoms. The row was 16 ft. long, and a Jarge bunch was picked
nearly every day from July 4 to Oct. 1. The vines got about 18 in. above
the 6 ft. wire and then fell back. For the last five weeks it was necessary to
use a chair to stand on to pick. ;
The Wooden Tree Wrapper is the Best.—I have used many thousands of
them, and the more I use the better I like them. They cost about $2.50 to $3
per thousand. They are put on when the tree is planted and left there dur-
ing summer and winter. They are removed once a year so that the tree can
be whitewashed.
_ Summer eeting,
1900.
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
MISS EMMA V. WHITE, MINNEAPOLIS.
The meeting occurred at the State Agricultural School grounds, St. An-
thony Park, on June 19, a somewhat earlier date than usual, but selected to
accommodate the strawberry crops in the vicinity of the Twin Cities. In the
absence of Professor Green, who is spending the summer abroad in the inter-
ests of horticulture, his assistant, Mr. R. S. Mackintosh, escorted the visi-
tors about the grounds, and Dean Liggett, with Professors Hays, Reynolds,
Brewster and Shaw and others served also as hosts and helped to make the
day enjoyable and profitable to the many interested and inquiring observers.
As is the custom, the morning was spent in survey of the grounds and
buildings with their diversified interests, in social greetings and converse of
friends, many of whom see each other only at this yearly gathering, with the
usual interest centering about the exhibits of fruit and flowers. The ex-
ceedingly dry season affected the exhibits somewhat in quality though not
much in quantity, as there were disp!ayed in the neighborhood of I50 plates
of strawberries and a few of currants and gooseberries. Dr. Mary Whet-
stone had a nice show of mushrooms, displaying some ten or fifteen edible
varieties, and the Jewell Nursery filled a table with their beautiful roses, but
the crowning exhibit of the day was that of Mr. R. H. L. Jewett, who
showed forty-eight varieties of strawberries, raised on his fruit farm at
Faribault. Between three and four hundred in attendance were served at a
bountiful lunch, superintended by the Farm School people, who supple-
mented the baskets o! the visitors by delicious coffee, lemonade, strawberries
and cream and a plentiful supply of sandwiches.
At 2:30 the guests gathered for the literary part of the feast, President
Pendergast occupying the chair and opening the program in a few felicitous
words of greeting. Mr. R. H. L. Jewett was called upon to give a talk on
strawberries, and he responded by showing a number of varieties, speaking
of their special characteristics somewhat as follows:
“The Aroma is quite prolific, uniform in size and holds up well in chip-
ment, and has done better this year than last. The Jerry Rusk, named after
the secretary of agriculture, is a good show berry, but not so good for com-
mercial purposes. The Manwell, much prized in Iowa, has not done so very
well. Perhaps it will improve with irrigation. The Edgar Queen has been
satisfactory in size and abundance of crop, but 1s not so good a commercial
berry as some others, as it does not ship well. The Ruby has a great repu-
tation in some parts of the country, but here it does not do so well, and is
not good for commercial purposes. It does not ripen at the tips. The Star
also has a great reputation in some parts. Here it is small. almost like a
wild berry. The Ridgeway, an Indiana berry, is doing well here. It holds
SUMMER MEETING, 1900. 245
its crop well, lasting throughout the season. The Kyle is a light colored,
not very acid berry. It has given a good crop, nearly all of good size. The
Clyde is one of the best market berries, although rather soft for a long
shipment. Otherwise it is a very good commercial berry. Splendid is one
of the best. It ships well and bears from the earliest to the latest of the berry
season. 1,000 is one of Crawford’s leading berries. It is dark, solid and
very good. Louis Gauthier is a French berry, almost white, of high flavor,
and a very fine berry. Jewett’s Seedling bears a large, well colored fruit.
It shows a little soft, but gives much promise.”
Questions in regard to watering, brought out the fact that Mr. Jewett
has an irrigating plant. He pumps the water by means of a gasoline engine
from a lake into a reservoir, distributing it through three inch pipes by
means of ditches. His soil is a black loam, with a good mixture of sand and
a clay subsoil. From a 4% inch cylinder, with a 10-inch stroke, he can
pump from 1,000 to 1,200 barrels a day. His strawberry patch has had
two waterings this season. The best time to water first is when the fruit
begins to form. ‘
In reply to the question, what varieties are the best for Minnesota,
Wm. Lyons said, “The Clyde yields the best; the Enhance stands the drouth
best.” Gus Johnson has found the Dr. Stamen and Brandywine doing the
best for him. ;
Professor Shaw asked what could be recomfmended for a farmer who
wanted to raise but one variety, a variety that is hardy, strong and vigorous,
a self-fertilizer, and prolific. The Bederwood, Splendid and Brandywine
were mentioned by different ones. Mr. Harris would get out of the diffi-
culty by having all three of these,—the Bederwood because of its prolific
yield, Splendid because of its long bearing season and ability to endure
drouth, and the Brandywine because it has such a fine flavor and is the best
for canning purposes.
Mr. J. M. Underwood, in response to a call from the president, gave in
his usual interesting and forceful style, an account of a recent trip to Cali-
fornia. What he had to say about the orange crop and about irrigation
was of the most interest to horticulturists. The orange crop is harvested
from the middle of December to the middle of April. He was there to see
this fruit brought in great four-horse wagon loads, and when packed filling
train after train, answering the query he had made on his outward journey:
why so many lines of railroad over the desert? Those oranges that come
from the coast regions all have to be washed, as the fruit being more or less
damp from the fogs gathers dust and becomes so black and grimy that it
is in no fit condition to ship until cleaned. Several fruit farms are watered
from one irrigating plant. One that was noticed in particular had a well
135 feet deep, with sixty feet of water. The well was six inches in diameter.
The water is pumped through a five-inch cylinder, extending eight feet in
the water, at the rate of 2,500 gallons an hour. The owner of the plant gets
twenty-five cents an hour for furnishing the water. Deciduous tree fruits
do not need artificial irrigation as much as the orange and other citrous
plants.
The points of greatest interest to Mr. Underwood, in addition to those
mentioned, were the mountains, with a special trip up Mt. Wilson, the sea
gardens viewed from Catalina island, where one can see the curious and
= $7 =
246 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
varied vegetation at the bottom of the ocean, and a further ocean journey to
visit the sea lions.
Mr. A. F. Braton responded somewhat at length to Mr. Underwood’s
graphic account by showing in a forceful manner the opposite side of the
picture, relating about all that isto be said of the disadvantages of California
as regards climate, products and commercial outlook, fortifying his state-
ments by liberal quotations from an old Minneapolis resident.
The program was further carried out by papers from F. J. Pracna,
Minneapolis, on “Growing Mushrooms by an Amateur,” “A Plea for Nature
Study in the Public Schools, Drawn from Experience,’ by Mrs. M. M.
Barnard, Minneapolis, and “School Gardens,” by O. M. Lord, Minnesota :
City, all of which will elsewhere be given in full.
On account of the lateness of the hour Mr. J. T. Grimes, at his own
request, was reluctantly excused from the reading of his paper “The Army
of Flowers.” He will present it at a future meeting.
Professor Shaw was questioned in regard to the visit of the children to
his garden, as described by Mrs. Barnard, and said in part:
“The work was to me a revelation. The strangeness of the request
almost startled me—that I should talk to the children on gardening, but
I have been a thousand times thankful that I did so. I had some misgiv-
ings, as some apparently did not know the difference between a potato and
an onion. One, pointing to the potato plants, asked me if they were onions.
Though I thought it would be a difficult matter to talk to the children, I
never had a more synipathetic audience. After the very first word they were
captured. The used their note books, and asked me many questions in re-
gard to the work. ne of the most pleasing features is the many letters l
have since received from my visitors. One of those schools has sent me
ninety letters, in which the pupils thanked me for the trouble I took in talk-
ing to them. Some went over and gave almost verbatim what I had told
them. I would not take silver or gold, or even diamonds, for these
letters. Another feature which gratified me very much was the often ex-
pressed desire to attend the school of agriculture. Heretofore the exodus
has been from the farms to the city. Here is an idea, which if properly
worked, may change the tide from the city to the country. The thanks of
the public are due to the Minneapolis Improvement League, and to Mrs.
Barnard in particular, for the advanced work which they have done in this
matter.”
Professor Hays spoke of the work he is inaugurating in preparing leaf-
lets to aid in introducing the study of agriculture in the country schools of
North Dakota. These contain models of gardens, with much elementary
and practical instruction. There will be opportunity later of reporting this
work more fully.
Just before adjournment, Mr. Underwood reported for the committee
appointed to consider the project of a memorial to Peter M. Gideon. They
made recommendaticn as follows:
That this society raise a fund of $1,000, to be called ‘““The Peter M.
Gideon Memorial Fund for the Promotion of Education in Horticulture;”
that the fund when completed be handed over to the Board of Regents of the
University of Minnesota to be administered in trust for the following pur-
pose: The interest only of this fund (the principal to remain intact) to be
offered in suitable premiums to the members of the class or classes in horti-
SUMMER MEBTING, 1900. 247
culture in the Minnesota School of Agriculture for those pupils whose stand-
ing and attainments through the school year shall entitle them thereto, the
awards to be made upon such conditions and under such circumstances as a
board consisting of the Dean of the Minn. School of Agricu!ture, the pro-
fessor of horticulture in said school and the president and chairman of the
executive board of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society, may from
time to time decide.
The meeting came to a reluctant close at five o'clock.
AWARD OF PREMIUMS, SUMMER MEETING, 1900.
STRAWBERRIES.
ARTICLE AND EXHIBITOR. PREM. AMT.
Banance. Wi. .primbatl St Paitlein eos. es sees ce ek wens. Soha Re u25
eakemynoverel Ws, lel, leimuimlogll Sins Jecntll po ohloodcunotbepemensoatc 3 525
Splendid. .VWasns brmbalh St) Pawlary eis. Sacks santos 4 cess 2 .50
Bedenvooderlaedpatiie Ieomembake. js asc: oc sees cloeie ciets ota eines 2 50
Wovert lived pathwleone deakerrs Sen cecetn celte ats onto ccreie.ns tetas 2 .50
WialkerelaNednathys Women leaker store as fel scteers soe eit e one wre sible she I 75
NVctlier Smee SP avesh= lyOtlemslWalke ae, lettre a ciicrstsie cin 6 saterde-stane orererele 2 .50
WoOvVetier Owe Raeopatese Iomeuneakker, aes Woks etes tietorsiereas stele amt tescre 3 22
Sjolletnahils Tab. 184 alee oyed Ni oy Is eicnacpone tented in en eee to Een ye I aS
Eeancywine) |. G. Bass, Elamiitie.:.. oe. occ. Selene esses sas Re Beet tae 2 .50
Meeotimens, Gist Johmison, Mxeelsior dc. 0.2 bb ihc oes hawt ok 2 .50
GandysmGlistes) OlmnSOn Exel SlOtpe cate cscros ee aes c cccalsteocrttomdee ates 2 50
MaGgie Cmte ond esl OominetOlerm sates se aeeen es koe eee. I 75
Sountesswe tia Heeb ond sb lOomingtOnmmeomes secs ee ee otis ere I 75
BieuavebiAyauntes lee Me.” dtniaghge a\Vinition laces as pate niae oo aeee obe eb ose 3 .25
Bisiidtk-wh ae hem aneliam VWiliiter Dean he © citk toe tee ei iterae erie bate I 75
isabella Eee iano VWiitemi>eccligrata mirmincminre te tenieiedeain tate al mS
OreScent eV Vitiee le yons em Viplsie. diene malo % hi reer nucteere aust tae I 5
'Leweldin \WarmeniDincornce hulls 5 +. Sed ey aoe eG A SAAS Cece Oe a aiere I aorks
alsagies 1 Witate Layo se ell pls sare etch a fae nao ole chasm aaleterel cla ccs cletea ato eck 50
Sripie; WV tt, LvyOmSy a Wipiseetecnl. ote |< oshe-deieledeh'lole scart ae eae ee I WS
naiance. VW 1. TsyOris sail Germ terttae1-0 eet. volerole.« ors ceyettoteie wiasci sie 2 50
Oi WOR VV Tit. ley OMS gus Milt Seen cies sels BA ee eS eh Coes GRO I 75
brandywines 5. Lb Wovites Steelalile sermycertelteciicis «utah a letacevloe Steele I 75
Bimaibancess bs by ELOyt; rotaga lem meen ee th atscae chit aun eee eel 75
iBederwoods Biel Hoye-St teal te crce or coins akaeie aoe ene I 75
eolection. Wim Wyons-- Mplsex gece cnc ches fas Sakis ek Ode dees ee OO,
Kev lemmenon tin, le. Jewett... Martians serene ee ton eek es I 75
Searocdeehke vevies Jewett. Maniatis sameriat oo aamia ere niaccun I Shs
Gardneraaka atin le uewett sabahilpatilte nae peat ein atcen Genes: oc I a25
Inid@ewayanix. El. a jewettstaanibaul tress. Gee cream cies: I 75
bavemand, Ru EDI. Jewett, Baribanlien wee. iki nes heels des I 75
Replies. vik? Liat 1 J eweet,, \Barlnatiit,reyacee tem rer wut cod ack ees I 75
Wrepstamen. Ix. Fh... fewett, sp api patbe st scpscticeks AU Oe ced od ace bo I XG
Momogneene. bs Ia Jewett, Faribault acne ceeicien oe bcnanvhkvdbc scl. I 5
Moaminmnder, ke) He Jewett, Faribault.2....8So8ie.«s0 bs b0+ dete I 75
Briere. «tt. i Jewett. Faribault .::csensc ods eke ed week pial I 1975
248 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
ARTICLE AND EXHIBITOR. PREM. AMT
Mexican, R. Hy Ee PewettyMariault, oie.) ssid ots fen ee eteneiatt I 75
Splendid, R. H. .L. Jewett, Faribault.........6000 cere ses nen eee 3 25
Pet, R. Hs i ofewett, aParthatlt.. 8 vata... e tious beeen ervey I 75
Muskingum, R> H. L. Jewett, Faribault... 00.00... css eccemee wens I 75
Early Sunrise, R. H. L. Jewett, Fartbault......0.0...0...+ Mew. I 75
Star, (Roo, Jewett, iamibaltky. jiiccis conten cisin’e core oles mete ate I 75
Arnout, (Rute Te ilewett Harthatlt si cictcs sen wiscuis one Sem eae I 275
Wrarfelds oR Jb. sex Jewett, ari baat cots: fact vo ales «icine oleh teeta 3 25
Margaret, R. HL. Jewett, Baribawlt i ence es 0 ee ols eee ge I 5
Rib e aeaee bree wwebt ae uaa He ial eine at aarere ale tase, vig lene I 75
IBFACIO, Jes TALS Lys We waeint) Ieamloebihe ew ceogo so ban civics tooo Mana mo Dc I 75
Glen Mary. (Ren. Lz Jewett, (Pacibatlic ses cea ey tislnieiaiere I a5
Onemihousandyek.E Waslew.etts | bard bailey eetyserier irre) rer I 75
Ocean City. «Re “ELL. Jewett, sBaribaulty, 2% t:.:.\o5mckaryen te streets I 75
Woalvetton... Risk. 2... Jewett, sivamibaagle 2255s: ants taraafctotee ervece I S15
Seedling; Re Ps. L.. Jewett, Faribault. nec. ht ot tice. os eee I 75
Glode Re JE. 1 fewett, Paria tlie ore oe ute Wane curren NS ime I 75
Arrow, ie Gbie, Ie., Jewel, mani batlin aoc. us niyo ns mis ashes der wavawienies I 275
Benoy,. :Ro. ab Jewett) -Paribaglioncentsicinp wisn ve <- o\ehys ect les I 75
ous Gauthier, Ro Ely ee Jewett a bantbaulty ce soreescrinie eer ie I 75
Snowball. Re die Has Rlewett, ebaribawlt, cc <0 sesoror een cecal cae I S75
Gandy) “Rss Hie-Le Jewett, [OUNSOMe ac o4 tic mae bate cm see cs oh ola aeieo arerss I 75
Samus. lmaroved. GUSt: TGMISOM 6.00 ¢.cpcm she sans ecaesecinge’ oe 2 .50
Onutriit oren Erma Vin Sat DSOMls yer. iene cme aimee wate GAPE Ome ioe ais z: .50
ett Came SANIPSOM. hats treks ck mee cee oe ere omens caus Ee ee ee I 75
PaaS MLO VEd,(.- WV. SATMPSOMs as.ncs so oo'a.s scours dads deel o celle 8 I o75
PARE EIAAIIAIT. Re AN DAMM SOUS oo. orc cides ee ace atl dod anda eae ek 2 .50
iS; HARRIS:
a ike (GURU ESE
Judges.
FLOWERS.—ROSES.
OE EEG al eI ES SIS ee 7 re gan a ara Pe a 225
erISO Meer ain DLE tombs oh View WW ila bern one oh ici cto mie :strer tects cle ooh wmittes trele I .50
DWAR NV This eyo NiSincre wna raereict ton Sears ale, creed Oia cas tone ant eben Hf eu 25,
MRS, D. F. AKIN,
Judge.
VEGETABLES.
Pome Paul Piucchlate sts se amills tac os sae oe cons dae ac s.ag 4s80u 2 2 $2.00
Mushrooms, Dr.. Mary Whetstone, Mopls.........2206. 2. 02005006: I © 9:00
Srashrooms, ti, A. Strong, Mplsi. 262 38 oo eG. coca wterns coh ea sable ts By ZOO:
J. S. HARRIS,
Pollenizing Strawberries—At the Wisconsin Experiment Station,
Prof. Goff found that when Warfield was pollenized by Michel’s Early, an
early bloomer, 69 per cent of the total crop was gathered in the first six pick-
ings. When the same variety was pollenized by Parker Earle, a late
bloomer, only 56 per cent of the crop was gathered in the first six pickings.
He also showed that during two seasons rows pollenized by early blooming
varieties produced fruit somewhat larger than those pollenized by rows of
late blooming kinds. These results are not conclusive, but are interesting-
250 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
LETTER FROM PROF. S. B. GREEN.
RECEIVED JUNE 8, 1900.
Giessen, Germany, May 28, 1g00.
The weather since our arrival has most of the time been quite cold and
cloudy. We arrived in Bremen on the 16th of May, after a rather longer
passage than usual, owing to rough weather.
This country is not a paradise for the fruit grower or forester. It is very
liable to late spring frosts, and June frosts are frequent. A frost here the
19th of May froze back all the new growth on oaks, beech and other frost-
tender trees and froze cherries on the trees. The flowers of apples and
pears were also severely injured and often destroyed. I learn that along
the Rhine they have not had a good crop of grapes for five years. How-
ever, when they do get a crop it is very profitable, and it is said that one
good crop in seven years makes the grape business a profitable one. Con-
siderable fruit is grown in this section, but, as a rule, the orchards are small
and look much neglected and generally-are in grass. This is, however, a
great country for shrubs and trees that are adapted to it. Just now the
beautiful, hardy vine, Chinese wistaria, is gorgeous with purple flower
clusters, and the shrubby and almost tree-like laburnum is gorgeous with
great yellow flower clusters. The European linden is much used as a
street tree and is exceedingly pretty, but I think our linden is a better look-
ing tree in Minnesota and that we do not use it enough.
' In Bremen I was particularly impressed with the pretty appearance of the
new town. Formerly a moat went around the town, which, when of no
further use, was partly filled up and was very unsightly. Some one con-
ceived the idea of treating it artistically, with the result that it forms a
most beautiful feature of the town, and many fine residences front on It.
It has been treated as a long, narrow lake or river and most beautiiul effects
brought out by suitable planting.
Here, and frequently elsewhere in Germany, in the newer portions of the
cities the houses are set back a little from the street, sometimes not more
than six feet, but more often twelve to twenty feet, but the space in front
is always neatly planted with shrubs and herbaceous plants. These are
often trimmed into some regular form and probably from the artistic stand-
point should perhaps frequently be condemned, but the effect as a whole is
very pleasing, especially when taken in connection with the effect of the
potted plants that one sees in every window. Here, and elsewhere in Ger-
many, it is not uncommon to see shrubbery used in front of houses in p'‘ace
of grass and the effect is good where high steps are necessary to reach the
front door, but when the door is not above the tops of the shrubs, the
effect is not pleasant. For the fronts of dwellings it is customary to cut
the shrubs back occasionally so as to keep them rather short.
We stopped over Sunday at Koln and, of course, visited the cathedral.
At Bonn we spent parts of two days visiting the agricultural school there,
which is a very good one and has about 300 students. The work along
animal feeding was very interesting, but, of course, I was most interested
in the botanical garden and the fruit garden. Cytisus Adami was here in
full flower. This is a very beautiful plant belonging to the pea family,
and is now gorgeous in yellow flowers, but the chief interest in it centers
in its being considered a cross between two species and the characteristics of
LETTER FROM PROF. S. B. GREEN 251
each show in the flowers of this tree. It is not uncommon to see on a
good specimen that appears perfectly yellow at first sight a few branches,
or even buds, bearing lavender flower clusters, and on the same branch
alternate flower clusters may be of different colors.
In Bonn ve visited the house where tle great musical composer, Bee-
thoven, was born. It is now preserved as a museum and is quite «an
humble affair. Here is, perhaps, the finest avenue of horse chestnuts to be
seen in the world. It is known as Poppelsdorfer Avenue. It consists ot
two rows of trees on each side of a grass plat about 200 feet wide. The
avenue must be at least a mile long and leads from the town to the botani-
cal garden and the agricultural school and is exceedingly well kept up.
From Bonn we went up the Rhine to Bingen and Rudesheim, and to
Weisbaden, where we passed the night. Here we saw the kaiser. He is a
sensible looking man and much better than his pictures represent him to be.
This is a fashionable watering place and very beautiful and noted for its
hot springs, which are celebrated for their curative properties for rheu-
matism and gout. My wife had thought that perhaps she had better
remain here instead of in Heidelberg, as we planned, while I was in the
Black Forest country, but a drink of the water convinced her that the
remedy was worse than the disease, and we went on as planned. The
water is about lukewarm and tastes of common salt and perhaps medicinal
salts or Glauber’s salt. I felt something as it has been said that Nebuchad-
nezzar felt when turned out to grass: “and murmured as he cropped the
unwonted food, ‘It may be wholesome, but it is not good.’”’ I had rather cure
my rheumatism by a good sweat than at Wiesbaden. I have gotten 1aany
notes of interest that I propose to work over for the Horticulturist when 1
have a little time, but at present I am too busy to do the subject justice. I
have left Mrs. Green in Heidelberg for ten days while I am in th2 forests
and am now spending my time walking and note-taking in the forests with
a party of seven students in forestry who are here with Dr. C. A. Schenck,
the forester of the Yanderbilt estate. Mr. E. L. Reed, of Anoka, with his
son and Prof. Mason, of Berea, Ky., are also in the party. When through
here we go from Carlsruhe to Munich, where are very interesting forests.
I think I shall-be able to write you again before the horticultural meeting
comes off. But in any event. I want to be remembered to the socety. with
best wishes for a cordial hand-shake in the spirit for each and eve~y mem-
ber and to our interested guests. I hope the meeting will be a delightful
one and would like much to be with you. Cordially avd faithfuliy vours,
Samuel B. Green.
P. S.—In Giessen is a celebrated forestry school, in which I am much
interested, and we have received many courtesies from the pr¢tfessors
and students. We have been here two and one-half days and now go to
Alsfeld.-—G.
The Striped Cucumber Beetle is most effectively controlled by the use
of Paris green when the insects are on the surface of the leaf. Kerosene
emulsion and pyrethrum have been used with good results. The wild cu-
ccumber can be planted as a trap crop, as the beetles seem to be very fond
of it.
252 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
THE RAISING OF MUSHROOMS.
F, J. PRACNA, MINNEAPOLIS.
The toothsome fungi, highly loved by all epicures all over the world, is
what I wish to talk about—their culture from what I have learned through
my Own experience.
As there are more than four hundred different varieties of mushrooms,
I will just devote myself to the culture of the Agaricus Campestris (the
meadow mushroom), with which I have had some experience, and which
is the only one, so far as I know, that can be commercially cultivated.
Mushrooms require a dry and frost-proof place where there is some
light, moderate temperature and freedom from draft and sudden changes
of heat and cold. In the raising of my mushrooms I found a-most desirable
place in the old beer caves, or cellars, of Mr. Gluck, on upper Nicollet
Island. In these caves I found a good temperature the year around, which
is very important in mushroom culture; in winter, to save fuel; in summer,
as it is the only possible place to raise mushrooms during the hottest weather.
The temperature for a good successful growth oi mushrooms should
not exceed 70 degrees Fahrenheit and not be lower than 50 degrees.
I prepare the material for my beds by having the sweepings of our
paved streets, the clear horse droppings, hauled into these caves. This is.
the best material to use. After this is hauled into the caves, I have it all
piled in a heap and let it ferment to the degree of 130 Fahrenheit. After
this material has stood for a few days I have it turned over a second time
to ferment to the same degree (130). This I let stand for about a week,
being careful that the material does not burn (turn white). Then I mix
about one-fourth of garden soil with this material, and if too dry sprinkle
it with water. The material should cool off to 100 degrees, when it is time
to form the beds.
The beds I make about sixteen inches deep, and when they have cooled
off to go degrees (which they will by handling the material in forming
them) I commence to spawn.
I get good English mushroom spawn (which comes in brick-like forms)
and for a couple of days I have it spread flat upon my beds so that it may
draw a little moisture. JI then break the spawn into pieces the size of a
small egg and insert them into the beds about two inches deep and a foot
apart each way and cover this with a half an inch of soil. The beds then
should be beaten or trodden down and in about a week or ten days the
spawn will spread (if effective) and resemble a spider-web spread all through
the beds, which is the pregnancy of the fungi. “Then I cover the beds with
an inch and a half more of Sonus soil and press it down good with the
flat side of a spade.
The caves are then closed up tight, with the exception of a ventilator
which I have above the entrance, for about three weeks, and at the end
of that time I open them for plenty of ventilation—but no draft of any kind.
The dampness of the sand rock and the depth of the caves, forty feet,
produces, in about two months the best kind of a mushroom. They are
as white as snow and juicy and do not look like those which grow out-doors
and which are usually of a brownish color.
Mushroom culture is a very simple thing that any one who likes them
can easily accomplish with a little trouble. You can raise them in a meadow,
ae
THE RAISING OF MUSHROOMS. 253
?n a barn, in sheds or in the cellar, either in the spring or fall of the
year.
Mushrooms, when gathering, I find it best to pull or twist out so that
they leave no decaying stumps or roots in the beds, as that prevents after-
growth.
I would just like to say a few words about the Coprinus Comatus (maned
mushrooms, or Shaggy Mane) as they are commonly called, and the
Morchella Esculenta (the Morel), which grow out-doors.
The Shaggy Mane mushrooms are eatable in some form of cooking and
served like an oyster stew are delicious, but are never as highly prized as the
Agaricus Campestris. The Shaggy Mane mushrooms can be found in pas-
tures, roadsides, river banks, farmyards and around old hay-stacks in the
spring and autumn months, coming to the surface in the shape of an egg.
When they get old they turn to a black, inky substance.
* The Morchella Esculenta (the Morel) is another well known eatable
mushroom. Its surface is broken up into very little cells, resembling a
honeycomb or tripe. They are of a brown color and are hollow. This
mushroom is found only in the month of June, around shady groves, old
oak stumps and places where charcoal has been burned. The Shaggy Mane
mushrooms grow in bunches and the Morchella Esculenta grow singly.
In concluding my remarks upon mushrooms, I would say that persons
contemplating gathering wild mushrooms be careful and notice that if the
mushrooms grow out of a socket, or cup-like shape, and are very odorous
and of a greenish hue or discolored stem,—if so, the mushrooms are
poisonous. If in gathering wild mushrooms you are in the least doubt as
to their being poisonous or not, it is far better to leave them alone than to
take the chances of eating them. It is almost impossible to tell or dis-
tinguish by writing the difference between good and poisonous mushrooms
as there are so many varieties.
ECHOES FROM FARMERS’ INSTITUTE.
HON. A. K. BUSH, LECTURER ON HORTICULTURE.
Our institute continues to be well attended with a good interest in all
‘subjects, especially horticulture. At Le Roy we had some most excellent
strawberries on exhibition, one specimen measuring 5% inches in circum-
ference, which was grown under exactly the methods taught from the
institute platform.
From careful inquiry I find all who are planting nothing but the best
staminate varieties are succeeding beyond their expectations. The Lovett,
‘Splendid and Bederwood are very popular varieties in this part of our state.
At Le Roy I saw a very good crop of plums on trees four years from
the seed—suggestive of the possibilities of plum growing in southern Min-
nesota. However, I would not advise fruiting many of these pium seed-
lings; better graft them with some of our excellent improved varieties
‘which are known to be of superior quality. Life is too short for us to
‘spend much time with wild plums of uncertain quality when we have so
‘many kinds to select from which are fully equal to the best in the east or
‘south. I visited a farm, yesterday, where 1,000 evergreens were planted
twenty years ago. They cost the man $100, being largely Norway spruce,
about 12 inches high when he bought them. I learned on inquiry that they
254 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
were handled and planted much as I am advising in my work with the in-
stitute. Mr. Frank, the owner of this farm, has 1,600 acres, largely de-
voted to the dairy business, eighty-five cows being milked at present on the
farm where the evergreens were planted. I asked him if those trees did
not add more than $1,000 to the value of that part of his farm. He replied
that money would and could not buy them, now that he really understood
their value to him with his stock of cows on the prairie. He promptly
confessed that he made a serious mistake in not making additional plantings
every spring of the little trees and extending these perfect shelter be‘ts
about the pastures, as well as the buildings and feeding yards.
It is not necessary for me to add that fruit trees and other ornamental
shrubs are doing well under such favorable conditions.
I was shown a peach tree on these grounds which passed through the
severe winter of 1899 in perfect condition, without any other protection
than those stately evergreens. Such demonstrations of the great value of
evergreens On our prairies are very encouraging to the state horticu‘tural
society, which is maintained to encourage such work.
Spring Valley, June 13, 1900.
THE CATALPA FOR MINNESOTA.
J. I. GRIMES, MINNEAPOLIS.
(Written before the death of Col. Stevens.)
I shall introduce this essay by giving a little sketch of the personal his-
tory of Col. John H. Stevens, one of the earliest pioneers of Minnesota, who
built the first house on the west side of the river at the Falls of St. An-
thony and established a home there before the city of Minneapolis even had
an existence, and, I am glad to say, that same old pioneer is still with us,
an honorary life member of this society today (perhaps some of you
may have heard of him), and that same old house which he built is still
standing, but having been removed by the park board and placed within the
public park at Minnehaha Falls, there to be preserved as a memorial to the
character, integrity and worth of the man who laid the foundation stone of
this metropolis.
About the year 1854 or 1855, in exploring about the shores of Lake
Minnetonka, he found the catalpa, there being one large tree and several
smaller ones, which evidently grew from seed produced from the large one.
The colonel, by right of discovery, took possession of the larger tree in
his own name and for his own use, and had it made into a bedstead, which
can now be found standing in his own house. I would suggest that the
park board improve the opportunity and secure that old bedstead, and have
it placed in that old house, where it properly belongs, to hold in memory
the discovery of the first and only catalpas ever found growing indigenous
upon the soil of Minnesota. What became of the clump of smaller trees,
no one knows, as the spot had not been marked, and the woodman’s ax, that
“spares” not “that tree,’ but marks for destruction everything that comes
within its way to impede’the march of civilization (so-called), has long since,
no doubt, sealed its doom.
Some account of the catalpa being found growing in Minnesota was
published at the time, I believe, over the colonel’s own signature. The
question of fact in regard to the identity of the tree which had been found
THE CATALAPA FOR MINNESOTA. 255
in Minnesota was taken up by the late Dr. John A. Warder, a distinguished
botanist of his time, who resided at Cincinnati, Ohio, and who contended, in
an article which was published in one of the magazines at the time, that
Col. Stevens must certainly be mistaken, as the catalpa was a tender tree and
could not have been found growing wild as far north as Minnesota. This
statement seemed quite conclusive, coming as it did from such undoubted
authority.
At the meeting of the Mississippi Valley Horticultural Society, held in
St. Louis in 1882, the writer, in conversation with Dr. Warder, referred to
the catalpa. ““Why,” says he, “Col. Stevens evidently don’t know what a
catalpa is! They are as tender as the peach, and if you can grow the catalpa
up there in Minnesota you can grow peaches.”
Notwithstanding the confidence I had in the Colonel’s integrity and his
knowledge of forestry, I was not prepared to meet that statement at the
time. Some time after the veritable catalpa was pointed out to me, growing
on Mark Berry’s grounds, on Tenth street, Minneapolis, nearly opposite the
Colonel’s residence. It has been frequently claimed that there were two
varieties, the one hardy and the other more tender, yet so much alike in ap-
pearance that it was impossible to distinguish them apart. Since the ques-
tion of hardiness has been practically settled, the trees have been much
sought after by parties who wish to adorn and beautify their home grounds,
by giving to them, in effect, a tropical appearance from the growth of those
exceedingly large, heart-shaped leaves and beautiful spikes of bloom, with
which the catalpa is crowned.
The name ca-tal-pa is of Indian origin, so-called by the Indians of
Carolina, where Catesby discovered this tree in the year 1726. It is the
Catalpa bignonia of Linn, and Catalpa syringifolia of others. The tree was
originally found along the eastern Atlantic slope, from Maryland to the
peninsula of Florida, and also in the Mississippi valley, from the northern
parallel of Missouri to the Gulf of Mexico. Authorities have been unde-
cided whether there is more than one distinct variety, some contending that
there are two or more. The late Dr. Warder, of whom I have spoken,
thought the eastern and western were different, and so gave the western
tree the name Catalpa speciosa.
We leave this matter of doubt to those whom it may concern, and look
more closely into the hardiness of the tree, a matter of greater interest to
this society, since most authors agree that the tree is not sufficiently hardy
for the climate of Minnesota.
Frank J. Scott, in his excellent work, entitled “Suburban Home
Grounds,” gives a somewhat favorable impression in regard to the hardiness
of the tree. He says, “Though planted largely in the northern states and
considered hardy, its beauty would be more uniform, and we should oftener
see fine specimens if, when first planted, it were regarded as half-hardy and
cared for accordingly.” Most authorities, however, claim that it will not
stand the climate in localities where the temperature goes much lower than
twenty degrees below zero. There is one point, however, which seems to be
conceded, that the western catalpa is more hardy than the eastern.
In the rich bottom lands along the rivers of the southern states this
tree often attains a height of from seventy to eighty feet, and a diameter of
two to three feet. In the more northerly states, it usually grows to the
height of from twenty to forty feet. Its branches are wide-spreading, coarse
256 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
and stiff, with bark of a light buff gray color. Much that has been written
on this subject contains many points that are analogous or theoretical; what
we are seeking are facts, simply plain facts.
Hundreds of catalpa trees have been planted out in the last few years
in the vicinity of Minneapolis, by the park board, the cemetery associations
and by individuals in private grounds, and, so far as I have observed, not a
single tree has been winter-killed at any time, not excepting the last win-
ter, which was the coldest in forty years.
CATALPA GROWING AT RESIDENCE OF J T. GRIMES, MINNEAPOLIS.
If the catalpa is so tender in Ohio and other places south, by what
means has it become acclimated here? That there are different species, more
or less hardy, I am willing to concede, but it seems that our botanical guides
are unable to distinguish them, so as to show any apparent difference in
Ba
‘
THE CATALAPA FOR MINNESOTA. 257
genera or species in relation to hardiness. With us the only question of
much importance is that of hardiness.
I would call your attention to one tree which is growing on my lawn,
that seems to be a little different from others, in that it is of more rapid
growth, more spreading and robust, with larger leaves and spikes of bloom;
but this may all be owing to the soil and care in cultivation. It was brought
from Terre Haute, Indiana, when a small seedling of one year’s growth, and
planted in the spring of 1889. It now stands in height eighteen feet, in ex-
tent of branches, sixteen feet, and in circumference around the trunk, two
feet and one inch. Thus it seems that the head of the tree is nearly round,
and its breadth of shadow nearly equals the height. It has blossomed for
several years past, but has only.produced two or three bean pods, enough to
prove that it is not a pistillate or sterile tree. It seems to be perfectly hardy
without protection, and is also free from insects, which would indicate that
it was also perfectly healthy. Hence, it follows that our trees are not of
that tender variety of which we have heard so much. Could it have been
that they originated from the seed of that lone tree which Col. Stevens
found growing upon the shores of Lake Minnetonka, and which, no doubt,
had been planted there many moons gone by, and watched with tender care
by the Maid of the Laughing Water? Of course, this is an allusion drawn
from the legend of Longfellow’s Hiawatha, Minnetonka being the source
and supply of that beautiful stream made famous in history as well as in
poetry by the bold leap of sixty feet over the falls of Minnehaha.
Would it not be well for all botanists, horticulturists and others who
claim to know whereof they affirm, to tread lightly upon the soil of Min-
nesota before they condemn the catalpa to destruction before the cold
northern blasts of our winter winds?
If Col. Stevens has made out his case and proven the hardiness of the
catalpa in Minnesota beyond reasonable doubt, and Dr. Warder, from his
standpoint of observation, says it is no hardier than the peach, and we here
assume each to be correct in the premises, then it seems to me that the
time has come when the peach and the catalpa should be seen growing side
by ‘side in our orchards and on our lawns. If not, why not?
My ’talpa tree, my ’talpa tree;
’Tis Minnesota boasts of thee;
Though foreign born, yet thou art free
To roam around, my ’talpa tree,
My ’talpa tree!
What if my ’talpa should depart,
And leave some space within my heart
Untouched by love; or envy’s dart
Should aim to strike my ’talpa tree,
My ’talpa tree? :
The sages say that you belong
To nightingale or cuckoo’s song.
From peep of day to close of dawn
Sing praise to God, my ’talpa trée,
My ’talpa tree!
Note.—The last verse refers more particularly to the tree as the home
of the song birds. The catalpa, with its broad leaves and dense foliage, so
258 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
completely hides the little warblers from view that one who did not know
might readily suppose the song to emanate from the tree itself; the cuckoo
being the first to usher in the day with notes of praise, and the nightingale
the last to close the song when twilight disappears.
OUR POET FRIENDS.
Ss. M. OWEN, MINNEAPOLIS.
While in attendance upon the meetings of this society year after year,
I have often thought that an occasional break in the serious earnestness
that characterize the deliberations of this intensely practical organization
would be welcomed by its members and visitors. The pursuit of horti-
culture in this region is doubtless what Longfellow called life; it is earnest,
it is real, and it is not surprising that the materialistic and unsentimental
environment of orchard, garden and vineyard cannot be dissipated by the
atmosphere of these gatherings, without an effort, at least. But the effort —
is worth the trial, worth it in an economic sense, even, for surely it will in-
spire you all to more enthusiastic and cheerful labor, and will make you
ambitious to achieve grander results, if you are made to realize that you are
engaged in the promotion of a cause that has ever been near to the hearts
and foremost in the minds of the best and brightest men and women the
world has known. The time never was when fruit and flower did not refine
and exalt mankind, and those results of husbandmen’s skill and toil always
found sweet and eloquent champions and admirers, whose intellects were
capable of clothing their appreciation and love in words that will live as
long as letters are known. To some of these words, some of these immortal
offerings laid upon the altars that the members of this society are doing
so much to sanctify and still further adorn, I propose to call your attention,
and I do it without apology, believing that ultimate good will come out of it.
Who will not love flowers more tenderly and work among them more
cheerfully when he thinks of them as—
“Sweet letters of the angel tongue’’?
Or when this is his creed:
“For mine is the old belief, _
That midst your sweets and midst your bloom
There is a soul in every leaf”?
What pride must one feel in contributing to the birth of a flower that
inspires such a thought as this in the pure mind of sweet-singing Shelly:
“And the rose like a nymph to the bath undrest,
Which unveiled the depth of her glowing breast,
Till, fold after fold, to the fainting air,
The soul of her beauty and love lay bare.”
We dislike to see the frost on the late rose, but to the eyes of that most
devoted of all flower lovers, Shakespeare, it looks like this:
“Hoary- headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose.’
OUR POET FRIENDS. 259
Our good old friend Montgomery called the snowdrop
“The morning star of flowers.”
Will we not be prone to think more charitably of the sunflower after
this?
“The sunflower, thinking ’twas for him foul shame
To nap by daylight, strove to excuse the blame;
It was not sleep that made him nod, he said,
But too great weight and largeness of his head.”
This paper is to be a medley, you will see,
Flitting from flower to fruit and fruit to tree,
and so let us go back to an old Polish poet, prophetic soul, who thus
pictured the life and death of our prairie trees:
“Who midst the prairie wild sublimely stand,
And grapple with the storm god hand to hand,
Then drop like pyramids away,
Stupendous monuments of calm decay!”
Come with me now far back into the realms of antiquity and see how a
garden looked to old Homer, three thousand years ago, and see how like
were gardens then to those in the same latitudes today:
“Fenced with green enclosure all around,
Tall, thriving trees confess the fruitful mold;
The reddening apple ripens here to gold;
Here the blue fig with luscious juice o’erflows;
The branch here bends beneath the weighty’ pear
And verdant olives flourish round the year.
Eternal mildness breathes on fruits untaught to fail;
The same mild season gives the blooms to blow,
The buds to harden and the fruits to grow.
Beds of various herbs forever green
In beauteous order terminate the scene.”
It surely must be interesting to you to know that irrigation is at least
as old as Homer, and the manner of its application unchanged, for in
Homer’s garden—
“Two plenteous fountains the whole prospect crowned.
These through the garden lead their streams around,
Visit each plant and water all the ground.”
The older we grow the more we know, the more convinced we are that
there is nothing really new under the sun.
Shakespeare was up on pruning, for he wrote:
“Superfluous branches
We lop away, that bearing boughs may live.”
And to that great poet the
“Fruit field grew and ripened,
Till it stood in all the splendor
Of its garments green and yellow.”
Shakespeare knew of the windbreak, too, and see what a perfect de-
scription he makes of one in very few words:
“The line-grove that weather-fends your home.”
260 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Here are the trees in a regular line, located to defend the home from
inclement weather, as plainly pictured as if a page had been devoted to the
purpose.
Who cannot love the woods more devotedly when he sees them, as did
this exiled duke, a creation of the same poet?
“Now, my co-mates and brothers in exile,
Hath not old custom made life more sweet
Than that of painted pomp?
Are not these woods more free from peril than the envious court?”
Regretting that I cannot complete this beautiful passage, I flit to Mil-
ton, who reminds us how near akin we are, ladies and gentlemen, to our
first parent:
“Adam, well may we labor still to dress
This garden, still to tend plant, herb and flower.”
And Pope saw fruits thus:
“Here Pomona’s gifts in grand prospect stand,
And nodding tempt the joyful picker’s hand.”
If all mortals could see and feel in a garden what this unknown poet
saw and felt, how many more of them would be planted and loved:
“There was a bower in my garden plot,
A spiraea grew before it,
Behind ere laburnum trees,
And a wild hop clambered o’er it;
Oftimes I sat within my bower,
Like a king in all his glory;
Oftimes I read and read for hours,
Some pleasant, wondrous story,
“Of stately gardens, kingly,
Where people walked in gorgeous crowds,
Or, for silent musing, singly.
And all amongst my flowers I walked,
Like a miser midst his treasure;
For that pleasant plot of garden ground
Was a world of endless pleasure.”
In the bleak December will we not more patiently wait for spring, pre-
pare for its coming and resolve to avail ourselves more fully of the oppor-
tunities it affords after contemplating it through the senses of that lamented
sweet songster of the west, Benjamin F. Taylor?
“When orchards drift with blooms of white, like billows on the deep,
And whispers from the lilac bush across our senses sweep;
When looking up, with faces quaint, the pansies grace the sod,
And looking down, the willows see their double in the flood;
When blessing God, we breathe again the roses in the air,
And lilies light the fields along with their immortal wear.”
The following is a hint, by Miss Mitford, of the comfort and consola-
tion to the life of the lowly that is within the reach of every one who has
access to even a little patch of ground in which to delve:
“The rich man through his garden goes,
And ’neath his garden trees,
Wrapped in a dream of other things,
He seems to take his ease.
OUR POET FRIENDS. 261
- “One moment he beholds his flowers,
The next they are forgot;
He eateth of his rarest fruits,
As though he ate them not.
“It is not with the poor man so,—
He knows each inch of ground,
And every single plant and flower
That grows within its bound.
“Here he, the poor man, sees his crop,
And a thankful man is he,
For he thinks all through the winter
How rich his board will be;
“And how his merry little ones
Beside the fire will stand,
Each with a large potato
In a round and rosy hand.
“Yes, in the poor man’s garden grow
Far more than fruits and flowers;
Kind thoughts, contentment, peace of mind
And joy for weary hours.”
How it would accelerate the planting of trees if they could be so re-
garded by all who can plant as they were by that most ardent of tree lov-
ers, and the horticulturist’s best friend, W. C. Bryant, who voiced his love
and adoration in that famous invocation, of which I can give but a few
lines!
“Father, thy hand hath reared these venerable columns; thou
Didst weave this verdant roof;
Thou didst look upon the naked ground and forthwith rose
All these fair ranks of trees.
They in thy sun
Budded and shook their green leaves in thy breeze,
And shot towards heaven. The century-living crow,
Whose birth was in their tops, grew old and died
Among their branches; till at last they stood
As now they stand, massy, tall and dark,
Fit shrine for humble worshipper to hold
Communion with his Maker.”
One stanza I must quote from this same poet’s ‘Planting of the Apple
Tree.” There is in it a suggestion of the parental relation between the
planter and his tree that must touch a responsive chord in the breast of
every true horticulturist.
“Come, let us plant the apple tree!
Clear the tough green sward with the spade;
Wide let its hollow bed be made;
There gently lay the roots, and there
Sift the dark mold with kindly care,
And press it o’er them tenderly,
As round the sleeping infant’s feet
We softly fold the cradle-sheet.
So plant we the apple tree.”
This reference to the apple recalls the following to mind, by Mary
Hewitt:
“Let them sing of the bright red gold,
Let them sing of silver fair,
262 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Sing of all things in the air,
All things in the sunny air,
All things in the sea!
And I'll sing a song as rare
Of the apple tree.
“Winter comes, as winter will,
Bringing dark days, frost and rime;
But the apple is in vogue
At the Christmas time.
Then they bring out apples prime,
Then you the roast apple see,
While they toast the apple tree,
Singing rhyme in jolly chime
To the brave old apple tree!”
If our souls are properly attuned, trees may talk to us, as the oak did
to Tennyson, and that will make us love them more, and plant mere
numerously and guard more tenderly.
“To yonder oak within the field
I spoke without restraint,
And with a larger faith appealed
Than Papist unto saint.
“Tho’ what he whispered under heaven
None else could understand,
I found him garrulously given,
A babbler in the land.”
Not all poetry is written in rhyme, and I herewith give you an example;
and he who plants, preserves or restores a forest is contributing to a picture
of an edifice like this, so magnificently described by the historian, Parkman.
He is describing one of the rooms in that gigantic wilderness home of the
aboriginal tribes of North America, of which he wrote so accurately and en-
tertainingly. The English language contains few finer gems:
“Deep recesses where, veiled in foliage, some wild, shy rivulet steals with
timid music through breathless caves of verdure; gulfs where feathered crags
rise like castle walls, where noonday sun pierces with keen rays athwart
the torrent, and the mossed arms of fallen pines cast wavering shadows on
the illumined foam; pools of liquid crystal turned emerald in the reflected
green of impending woods; rocks on whose rugged front the gleam of sun-
lit waters dances in quivering light; ancient trees hurled headlong by the
storm, to dam the stream with their forlorn and savage ruin; or the stern
depths of immemorial forests, dim and silent as a cavern with innumerable
trunks, each like an Atlas upholding its world of leaves and sweating per-
petual moisture down its dark and channeled rind—some strong in youth,
some grisly with decrepid age, nightmares of strange distortion, gnarled
and knotted with wens and goitres; roots intertwined beneath like serpents
petrified in an agony of contorted strife; green and glistening mosses car-
peting the rough ground, mantling the rough rocks, turning the pulpy
stumps to mounds of verdure, and swathing trunks as, bent in the impotence
of rottenness, they lie out-stretched over knoll and hollow, like mouldering
reptiles of the primeval world, while around and on and through them
springs the young growth that fattens on their decay—the forest devouring
its own dead!”
Who that has seen the primeval forest, as it came from the hand of God,
OUR POET FRIENDS. 263
can call this picture overdrawn! At any rate, Mr. Parkman said that he
truthfully described a forest scene he saw in northern New York.
It is no disrespect to the poets I have quoted to say that I have reserved
the best for the last, for so I feel it will be regarded by the members of this
society, at least, the old ones, for it is a tribute to them by a citizen of our
own state and of this city, yet not a member of the society, and, doubtless,
personally unknown to most of you. But you will listen to the beautiful
tribute with the keener pleasure because it will assure you that you are kindly
thought of and your work fully appreciated by a public that you may think
cold and indifferent. The poet friend who speaks to you in the following
lines is Henry Slade Goff, author and historian, as well as poet:
A TRIBUTE TO THE MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Forest and plains of a northern clime,
Valleys and hills of the West;
Sweet as the bells of an evening chime,
Wild as the storm billow’s crest.
Cherry or raspberry, peach or pear,
Apple or quince there was none;
Only the wild berries here and there,
Ripening in the sun.
On came the men of the early times,
On to the great frontier;
Singing their carols of rythmic rhymes,
Laboring all the year.
Cherry seed, berry seed, pear seed and peach,
Planted in quickening soil;
Promise of fruits o’er the prairies reach,
Cheering them in their toil.
Out from their conquering gardens they came
Together from valley and lea;
Hortus and cultura forming a name
For needed society.
Berry bush, fruit tree and vines of the best,
Westward to furthrest run;
Nurtured by men of the great Northwest—
Such is the work that was done.
Ripening fruit in the welcoming air,
Mellow and luscious and sweet;
Far as the stretch of the prairies fair,
Gardens and orchards complete.
Thanks to you, gentlemen, zealous and strong,
/ To you and to your compeers;
Honors in history, story and song
Through all the revolving years!
Giving the on-coming thousands a part
Of that ye had planted and trained;
Giving the public your hand and heart,
And portion of what ye have gained;
Blessing the generations to be
Till story of earth shall be told;
Pioneers, freemen and conquerors ye,
Whose glory shall never grow old.
The President: I was reminded while Mr. Owen was reading
~ &
#
264 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
his beautiful paper of the words of an old song that used to be sung
while I was a boy:
“Whistle and hoe, sing as you go,
Shorten the row by the songs you know.”
You will take more interest in thinking of those beautiful things
that Mr. Owen has quoted. All through life we should be im-
pressed with the fact that drudgery is doing that kind of work that
we take no interest in. The work may be twice as hard, but if we
take an interest in what we are doing it will be a continual source
of joy to us. Now those boys of the university never complain
about the hard work of rowing or kicking football or things of that
kind that demand their utmost strength and powers of endurance,
but if they are required to do something over and over again, that
as soon as it is done requires to be done once more, something that
they take no interest in, but set to them as a kind of a stint, some-
thing like washing dishes on the part of the women friends, it would
be drudgery, drudgery all the time.
THE PROFITS OF BLACKBERRY CULTURE.
W. S. WIDMOYER, DRESBACH.
After a careful study of the subject and of my books, I am tempted to
say the profits of blackberry culture in Minnesota are a myth, or, at any
rate, very uncertain. The past season we expected to make quite a sum out
of our one and one-half acre plantation, as we had laid most of them down
the fall before, while hardly any one else in this vicinity had done so; but,
alas, the older half of the plantation were so badly used up that we dug
them out entirely, while the younger canes looked very promising, especial-
ly when in bloom, and until about half grown I never saw a better prospect
for a crop, but in spite of all we did they commenced to dry up on the
bushes and continued doing so all through the season, until there was only
about one-third of a crop left to harvest.
But in the face of all this we have taken extra pains in putting them
down this season, covering them more than usual.
While the prices received for blackberries last season were mostly good,
we cannot figure out any profit in the undertaking, and from an experience
of fourteen years I place the blackberry at the foot of the list of small fruits,
as far as profits are concerned.
Aside from two large crops, which sold for an average of eight cents per
quart, and one light crop, which sold for two dollars per sixteen quart case
(except two cases at $1.25 per case), I have found the profits of blackberry
culture very small, and, taking it as a whole, I would say, very uncertain.
A Good Old-Fashioned Bean.—If every one knew how vastly superior
the Black Butter bean was in flayor to the wax beans now so popular they
would plant no other variety. So far as my experience goes there is no vari-
ety of wax bean that can compare to this in flavor.
2
rial tations.
MIDSUMMER REPORTS.
CENTRAL TRIAL STATION, ST. ANTHONY PARK.
R. S. MACKINTOSH, ASST. SUPT.
Not very much injury was done by the peculiar winter of 1900. Spring
opened late and so quickly that the planting season was very short. From
that time on (to June 21) little rain has fallen. Under such conditions it
has been very hard to get seeds and newly set plants to grow. The black-
berries were practically all killed in the winter. They were covered last fall
in the usual way by bending down and covering with earth. Raspberries
came through the winter in fair condition, though some were injured, more
or less, A fair crop is promised under favorable conditions. The straw-
berries were not as vigorous as usual this spring. At this time, with what
rain has fallen, and in addition of being irrigated twice, they promise a fair
crop.
Currants and gooseberries are fairly well loaded. The late frosts did
not do very much harm to them.
Plums are heavily loaded and are filling out very well so far. Experi-
ments with the Bordeaux mixture for prevention of brown rot are being
carried on, A few trees have been sprayed with Paris green to prevent the
work of the curculio. The Paris green was used at the rate of one pound to
two hundred gallons of water, to which was added some lime water to neu-
tralize any free arsenic present. Many of the apple trees, both of standard
and new varieties, are well loaded and give hopes of a fair crop. Some trees
in. the Russian orchard were reset last fall. The dry weather this spring
makes it doubtful whether they will live or not. The cherry buds were not
hurt much this last winter. Where there was any injury done the entire
tree was killed. Some nice early cherries have been gathered.
The grounds about the new horticultural hall have been planted with
shrubs and trees. The grass seed sown has not started well on account of
the drouth.
The shrubs and trees already set on the grounds are doing very well this
season. The Tamarix was not killed back much last winter, and this sum-
mer has been full of bloom.
EUREKA TRIAL STATION.
Cc. W. SAMPSON, SUPT.
Our grape vines and blackberry bushes came through the winter in very
poor condition. A great many grape vines were entirely root-killed. I
had several new varieties that would have come into bearing this season
which were root-killed. Our plum and apple trees are loaded with fruit and
promise a large crop. The curculio were not very troublesome and thinned
out the fruit about right. I have eighteen of the Aitkin plum in bearing
266 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
and consider them the earliest and largest plum in the state. Peach trees
are well set with fruit and came through the winter in excellent shape. Red
and black raspberries promise a good crop, although not as heavy as last
season. Minnesota can certainly make a fine showing at our state fair this
fall in the way of fine fruit.
LA CRESCENT TRIAL STATION.
J. S. HARRIS, SUPT.
I began the planting of apple, pear and plum trees and grape vines on my
present place in the spring of 1857 and soon after began to add strawberries,
raspberries and blackberries to the plantings, and every spring in the fol-
lowing forty-three years I have planted more or less of these fruits and
from the first have made it an experimental work, giving every reasonably
promising variety that I could get hold of, whether American, Russian or
newer seedlings, a fair and impartial trial, and am continuing to do so.
Thousands of trees and hundreds of varieties have been planted with the sole
view of finding some that were adapted to our climate and that could be
planted by those who come after us with a certainty of success.
The last winter was a comparatively mild one, and, although the soil was
very dry at the beginning, a heavy snowfall occurred before frost had pene-
trated to any considerable depth and afforded ample protection to the roots
of-trees and plants, and the cold was not intense enough to injure the tops
of any reasonably hardy varieties. Blackberries without any protection ex-
cept the snow came through without any injury and are now promising the
best crop for many years. Red raspberries did not come through quite
as well as in the previous extremely cold winter. This is probably owing”
partly to the roots being weakened by the long drouth that prevailed in
the fall and the buds starting again in October. Our first killing frost
caught them unprepared, and a great many of tle canes died down to the
roots. Apple trees bloomed more heavily than usual and gave early promise
of an extraordinary crop, but present indications are that it will be con-
siderably below that of ’98. They are dropping off badly, and especially so
on varieties that had been injured in the winter of 1898-0. This will prove
better for the trees, as a full crop would probably end their existence, while
not fruiting heavily they have time to recover and become quite vigorous.
I will give more of a detail of varieties in the fall report, but for the benefit
of those who will order trees this fall will say that I do not think that the
Walbridge, McMahon White. Giant Swaar and Ben Davis are worthy of
any further trial. There are also a considerable number of the Russians
that are unworthy of being given any further trial, either from tenderness
of tree, blighting propensity or unfruitfulness. After taking out the leading
members of the Duchess, or Oldenburg, family, the Charlamof, Longfield,
Ostrekoff, Anisim, Antonovka, Hibernal and for very extreme locations
some of the Anis family, it is a waste of time to plant and care for them in
any locality where the Wealthy and Patten’s Greening will succeed.
Our strawberries have produced much below a full crop. The cause, we
believe to be partly the drouth of last autumn and its repetition this spring.
The varieties doing the best are the Bederwood, Brandywine, Splendid,
Clyde, Glen Mary, Ridgeway, Ruby, Seaford and Warfield. Currants are not
producing a very heavy crop. Among the newer varieties, the Pomona,
LA CRESCENT TRIAL STATION. 267
Wilder, Moore’s Ruby, Red Cross and Fuller al] seem to be promising and
are doing better this season than the Red Dutch or Prince Albert. Reports
on other fruits will be made later, except we will state that all trees in the
trial nursery wintered well and are making a fine, healthy growth.
MINNESOTA CITY TRIAL STATION.
O. M. LORD, SUPT.
An unusual drouth has prevailed through May and wp to this time.
Strawberries have suffered, both new plants and those in fruiting. The
fruit is small in size and prices are low. Currants promise a good crop, and
are now ripening. Red raspberries at this place are a failure this year.
Black raspberries are much better than the reds. The Palmers are ready to
pick: Gregg and Nemaha not ripe. The Conrath will be discarded. Black-
berries where protected are a large crop; even the wild bushes are loaded
with fruit. What few cherries are in bearing look very well. The Ostheim
is ripening. The Wragg and Russians are still green. Apples now appear
very promising, especially the Wealthy and Duchess. Plum trees are also
loaded with fruit, though somewhat affected by drouth. A shower on
Thursday (June 21) has revived them. Several varieties not grown here
before have been grafted this spring and are doing well. Also a dozen
apple trees of kinds that have not before been tried here.
The ground was well supplied with moisture in the spring, so that well-
rooted trees and plants have not been affected with drouth as much as those
set late, though where thorough cultivation has been given it has been more
effective than mulching.
The season so far has been peculiar in regard to insects. The Colorado
beetle very destructive; very few curculio; no aphides, or plant lice; and I
have not been able to find on my place any plum pods, or pockets. This
serves to confirm my opinion, expressed to the society heretofore, that this
difficulty is the result of climatic conditions more than of any inherent dis-
ease.
PLEASANT MOUNDS TRIAL STATION.
J. S. PARKS, SUPT.
There is very little to report from this station. The past winter was
quite severe on sinail fruits, but apple trees came through with small loss.
No one variety seemed to suffer in particular. Grapes pruned and laid down
in the fall and covered with earth were killed. Raspberries not covered
were all killed to the ground. Strawberries not covered were killed se-
verely, while covered ones suffered much loss.
The prospect for fruit this season is not very flattering. Some varieties
of apples, especially the crab varieties and some seedlings, are pretty weil
loaded, while some of the standard varieties are lacking in that abundance
we desired.
Wild plums will be about one-third of a crop. Nut-bearing trees will
have very little fruit this year. We have many bearing trees that gave us a
bountiful crop last year, and now we are using black walnuts for fuel, after
disposing of all we could. We have set this year—with what we had before
268 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
—all the grafted kinds of cultivated wild plums I could find to test and
compare as to quality. Seedling trees of late planting are doing fairly well,
but troubled much with green aphis. We have grape vines two years old
from seed that have set nice specimens of fruit. We anticipate something
fine from them.
WINDOM TRIAL STATION.
DEWAIN COOK, SUPT.
The drouth up to this date, June 15, has been the severest ever known
here at this season. All evergreens, except Scotch pine, are making a poor
growth. Jack pine seedlings, fully exposed to the sun, have a wonderful
capacity for resisting drouth conditions.
We had no snow on the ground all winter except for a few hours at a
time, and about all plums that had been grafted on anything else than native
roots were root-killed; also a few apple trees went the same way. Rasp-
berries winter-killed more than usual. All varieties not laid down and
covered are killed to the ground.
Strawberries wintered all right, but on account of the drouth will be only
about one-fourth of a crop. We are on our second picking now.
Currants will be a light crop. The bunches do not fill out. Long
Bunch Holland is doing the best.
Dwarf Juneberries will be a full crop. This fruit has been bearing with
us about twelve years. The bushes require no trimming; they also have
been free from either insect depredations or disease and bear every season.
Cherries are doing poorly. I have just finished cutting out nearly all of
my cherry trees. There were several varieties of Russians. I don’t think
that this is a cherry country.
Apple trees bloomed very heavily, that is, many varieties; but the May
freeze destroyed a large proportion of all varieties; yet most varieties are
bearing some, and the standard varieties will give us a good crop. The
varieties that are giving us the most fruit this season are Okabena,
Wealthy and Duchess. The heavy south wind of May 9 blew off about
one-half of my Duchess. The Breskovka gives the best satisfaction of all
the apples that ripen earlier than the Duchess.
Of crab apples, the Early Strawberry and Florence give us the most
fruit. I prefer the Florence, as the fruit is the very finest for market. The
Martha appears to be about barren; it does not fruit. I have two trees
thirteeen years planted. They are very large trees, blossom heavily every
spring, but we have never got a pint of fruit from both of them. They
are not bearing this year.
We have no blight so far this season, and there has been no killing back
of the tops of any of my apple trees for several winters. My apple orchards
are all either well mulched with stable manure and straw or else kept well
cultivated, and drouth is not noticed by them.
The outlook for plums is the best. With few exceptions our trees were
well mulched last winter with stable manure. We are using the cuculio catch-
er and will have but few stung plums. The following varieties are the most
promising at this time: Wolf (freestone), Wyant, De Soto, Hawkeye, For-
est Garden, Cheney, New Ulm. The Mankato; Blackhawk, Harrison’s Peach,
Gaylord and several cther varieties are looking fine.
WINDOM TRIAL STATION. 269
The Rollingstone, as is usual for it at this station, is bearing very lightly,
and the Ocheeda, as usual, is bearing only a few specimens, which are sure
to be badly stung. We have had very few plum pockets this summer. The
only disease we have noticed on tree or fruit is the scab or plum rust on
the fruit of the Rockford. This is the only variety affected. (It is the same
at Jos. Wood’s place, six miles away.) This scab was noticeable as soon
as the fruit could be seen. The trees are well loaded with fruit, but I have
no plum fruit on the place, including a large number of seedlings, that
makes as poor a showing at the present time as does the Rockford.
RECOGNITION OF VALUABLE SEEDLINGS.
HON. A. K. BUSH, DOVER.
Little can be said of what has been done to encourage or reward the
faithful horticulturist who had courage and patience to plant fruit seeds.
Much should be said and done to stimulate the planting of seeds from such
fruits as give promise of hardiness, vigor, quality, productiveness, etc., in
fact, just such as we need for the cold, dry winters and extreme hot winds
of the summer in this northwestern country.
After spending much time and money with varieties which succeed well
in the south and east but fail with us, we thought the hardy Russian va-
tieties solved the question of fruit growing in this country, where the mer-
cury will freeze in the sun’s rays during the winter and then boil if exposed
to sunlight during the heat of our summers. Truly a country of great ex-
tremes—where large treeless pairies are the rule. But these iron clads from
the steppes of Russia were disappointing to fruit growers in our state.
Now the cry goes out, ‘“Minnesota Seedlings for Minnesota,” which, in
my opinion, is good common sense. If we stick to this text, preach it,
teach it and pay those who produce any seedling worthy of recognition we
shall soon have the ideal home grown fruit we so much desire; in fact, we
have secured many of them now which are equal to the best grown in every
‘state or country. Our native Wealthy apple scores 100 in quality wherever
it is known.
Now, what have we, as a horticultural society, done to encourage or re-
ward the person who produces these worthy seedling fruits? To be sure, we
offer a small premium at our meetings, as does the state fairs. The J. W.
Thomas sweepstakes premium of $100 on apples did much to call out such
fruits, but no mention was made of quality in tree or fruit, and the sour
crab apple, which would give a hog the lockjaw, counted the same as the most
worthy specimen on the table. While we know this premium has done
much to call out obscure seedlings, the premium should be awarded on qual-
ity, not quantity.
The one thousand dollar premium offered by our horticultural society is
in the right direction, but we have gone to the other extreme. The whole
world in 6,000 years of its history has not produced its equal; our prize is
simply ‘‘out-of-sight”; it is hanging too high, with a string attached, and
that string in our hands, The whole proposition reminds me of the Yankee
neighbors of ours back in the early 60’s, who attached an ear of corn to a
pole which was so adjusted that it was just out of reach of his oxen onthe
breaking plow. That fellow would do more breaking than any other in that
270 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
county during the season, with expense to mouth, whip and corn reduced to
its lowest premium. No one but a state of Maine yankee would devise
such a scheme, except I should mention our horticultural society. I be-
lieve our scheme is working fully as well as his, with cost about the same.
Now, what is the proper thing for us to do in this matter? We, as a
society, are doing more in recognition of valuable seedlings than any other
society or state in the northwest, but, in my opinion, we are not doing
enough. We should pay a generous premium in cash or legal protection
for any and all worthy seedlings, The state should aid the horticultural so-
ciety in their effort to such an extent that the business of growing seedlings
would promise some profit to the planter. It is a disgrace to Minnesota that
Peter M. Gideon should have died in poverty—when he originated so many
valuable seedlings and distributed the same over the entire state, one of
which, the Wealthy, alone is worth millions to our commonwealth. Like the
rich iron mines of the state, its value is hardly appreciated by its citizens.
Many condemn the entire fruit list as recommended by our society, because
it contains no fruit which attains their ideal in quality, hardiness, produc-
tion, etc. They buy tree strawberries, everbearing blackberries, etc., from
people who have just what they want! We should be thankful for the
blessings of today, for our improved horticulture, with its promise of much
better things in the near future, secured to us by the presistent and deter-
mined efforts of such men as Mr. Gideon, Mr. Loudon and others, who were
willing to sacrifice time and money, yes, even the comforts of life, that
future generations might enjoy better and more hardy fruits than they.
The people of the United States are most patriotic. Why? Because we pay
the largest premium on true patriotism. As a nation our men are given
due credit for what they do and dare. Now, shall we as representative
horticulturists, in Minnesota, begin such a policy just now, making the
memory and family of Mr. Gideon an example? I believe we should. Here
is a testimonial to Mr. Gideon by Prof. Goff, which appears in The Fruit-
man of November.
Madison, Wis., Oct. 18, 1899.
Editor Fruitman:—I like the proposition made by a correspondent of the
Rural New Yorker, that each grower of the Wealthy apple send to Mr.
Gideon one cent each year for each bearing tree of the Wealthy in his pos-
session. Too little appreciation is given to the originators of truly valuable
fruits.
It will be a profound shame if Mr. Gideon is permitted to suffer for lack
of the ordinary comforts of life in his declining years, and I know of no
more sensible way to relieve him than the one proposed by the correspondent
above referred to. I suggest that growers of the Wealthy apple who are
willing to agree to carry out this plan send in their names to The Fruitman,
and that the money be sent to Mr. Gideon on Christmas of each year.
The count of Wealthy apple trees should include all that have ever borne
fruit and that are still alive, and not simply the number that chance to bear
in any given year. I am willing to join this club, if the proposition meets
with sufficient favor to form a club at all. EK. S. GOFF.
That sounds like business to me. I like it, too, and am willing to join
such a club, which I think should be formed in every state where the
Wealthy gives such great promise as a profitable commercial apple. Such a
contribution would make his family comfortable, and we should enjoy this
opportunity of giving or paying for what Mr. Gideon has given us.
A word to the wise is sufficient. I agree with our worthy secretary, as
’ RECOGNITION OF VALUABLE SEEDLINGS. rag
suggested in the December Horticulturist, that we or the state should
erect a substantial memorial over the remains of Mr. Gideon, also that a tab-
let should be placed in the new horticultural building to his memory and in
appreciation of his life work—which is now history—that we should record
to benefit and encourage others who wish to do likewise.
If the people who grow and eat the Wealthy apple in this state should
unite in establishing a Peter M. Gideon scholarship in our agricultural col-
lege it would be a royal thing to do, and could be maintained with profit to
many and loss to no one—for, on general principles, I believe it is more
blessed to give to a truly worthy person or cause than to receive gifts,
If we, as Minnesotans, take this matter in hand and do the right thing
by a fruit so worthy as the Wealthy, other states, by our example, will be
more ready and willing to render proper recognition unto their valuable
seedlings and the men who originate them. In a country like ours, where
property rights are so jealously guarded by national and state legislation, I
believe the originator of any seedling tree or plant should be able to legally —
control his production as much as the man who patents an invention, I
am not able to say just how this can be accomplished and not interfere
with a rapid introduction and dissemination of those which are really val-
uable. The proper place to settle those questions is not in the courts but
before just such gatherings as this, where all are interested, practical and in-
telligent judges of what is right and just, also in the best interest of a
progressive horticulture, such as this society represents, with its member-
ship which we confidently expect will include 1,000 representative Minneso-
tans during the year 1900.
In my opinion this society should offer a premium of at least $25.00
at its annual winter meetings for the best seedling apple not kept in cold
storage and not having won a premium from the horticultural society, with
smaller premiums for others on exhibition which possess merit worthy of
recognition by the judges. Each of these exhibitors should be made hon-
orary members for one year. Possibly it would be well if all who put up seed-
ling fruits on our exhibition tables were offered this courtesy by our society;
it might encourage the planters, being of greater value to some than money,
a standard of quality, hardiness, productiveness, etc., etc., being estab-
lished by competent judges.
Our annual summer meetings should also pay liberal premiums on seed-
ling small fruits, especially the strawberry and raspberry, under the
same terms and restrictions as suggested with the apple exhibit. The state
should be much more interested in seedling fruits than we and should pay
for them generously. If one citizen can afford to give $100 for a collection of
seedling apples, the state of Minnesota, to maintain its dignity in this matter,
should give, at its state fairs, at least $1,000 for seedling fruits adapted to
our climate, soil and other Minnesota conditions.
This progressive work is always contagious. If Minnesota leads, as she
usually does, being found in the front ranks of all progressive work and
pioneer processions, our sister states will be sure to follow, possibly with
that $1,000 apple. Wonderful results on any line can be secured if individual
effort is united. Individuals make the state and nation. It is you and I
and the others.
Shall we begin right now to do our part?
I hope and trust our society at this session will decide on doing some-
272 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
thing worthy of Minnesota horticulture in rewarding the faithful planter of
fruit seed—also pay him generously for his productions, always having the
ideals for our needs in mind when we note the improvement made in fruit
growing during the past ten years. We know better things are in store for
us if we continue in well-doing. Let us be faithful to the trust given us, and
we may live to see Minnesota fruits as famous as its No. 1 hard wheat.
OUR TEST WINTERS.
R. H. BUTTERMORE, LAKE CITY.
To what extent were all kinds of fruit injured the past severe winters? I
answer, I cannot tell, but I can tell some of the reasons why some fruit
raisers do not succeed.
Respecting strawberries they should be protected from the severity of
winter by a light covering of straw; but sometimes it is neglected, and there-
fore a small crop the ensuing year is the result. Almost all kinds of small
fruit have to be cared for in some way in the late fall. If not the careless
one will reap his reward.
About the winter-killing of apple trees, it is a question in my mind
whether it is the severity of the winter or the changeableness of it from
either very cold to warmer and from moderate to severe cold that causés the
damage to our’apple trees. It is also my candid belief that the variable-
ness of the weather in the spring, freezing and thawing, has more to do
with the killing and blighting of our apple trees than the steady cold winter
has. Thawing and freezing when the buds are opening is very injurious to
apple trees, causing a dwarfing of the trees and blight. Unacclimated soft
varieties are bound to winter-kill anyhow.
We cannot grow oranges in Minnesota, but we can grow apples and
good ones if we plant our orchards in a good location, have the standard
hardy varieties and take good care of them.
I have noticed lately in my orchard some special varieties that I wanted
to propagate from, and after cutting the scions the trees blighted badly the
next summer. They never blighted before. Pruning in the wrong season
is also a very ruinous practice. There were a great many apple trees killed
and injured by the severity of the winter of 1884-5, but a great deal of it was
caused by the changeableness of it, and also we had not the hardy varieties
then that we have now.
Last winter (1898-99) was, I believe, as cold as that of 1884-85, but our
apple trees were not very materially injured; some unacclimated varieties
were hurt, and that is all. :
We are advancing, and I believe in the near future we shall raise apples
that may supersede any that are grown in the United States, and winter
ones, too. About twenty-five or thirty years ago there were a good many
orchards planted, but they were of a very short duration. In a few years
after there was nothing left of them but dry stumps. I also had one, and it
shared the same fate. Now you can travel in this locality and on every hand
you can see beautiful orchards. What causes the difference? It is because
our Minnesota horticulturists are up and doing, importing, originating, se-
lecting, experimenting, propagating and thinking.
A PLEA FOR NATURE STUDY DRAWN FROM EXPERIENCE. 273
A PLEA FOR NATURE STUDY DRAWN FROM
EXPERIENCE.
- What is nature-study?
“Tt is the seeing of things which one looks at and the drawing of proper
eonclusions from what one sees. Nature-study is not the study of a science,
as of botany, entomology, geology, and the like. That is, it takes the
things at hand and endeavors to understand them, without reference to the
systematic order or relationship of the objects. It is wholly informal and
unsystematic, as the objects are which one sees. It is entirely divorced
from definitions in books. It is therefore supremely natural. It simply
trains the eye and the mind to see and to comprehend the common things
of life; and the result is not directly the acquirement of science, but the
establishing of a living sympathy with everything that is.
“The proper objects of nature-study are the things which one oftenest
meets. To-day it is a stone, to-morrow it is a twig.a bird. an insect, a leaf,
a flower.’’—Prof. L. H. Bailey, from a leaflet entitled ‘‘What is Nature-
study ?’’ issued by the College of Agriculture of Cornell University, N. Y.
The aim of this paper is not to prove the value of nature-study as taught
in our public schools, for that has been already done. The question for us is
no longer, shall we introduce nature-study into our public schools? for it has
already been introduced and, so far as the spirit of the work is concerned,
has become so firmly established as to prove that it has come to stay. What
it needs now is not arguments in defence of theory or method, but united
effort on the part of those who appreciate its mission in some way that will
offer the aid of a strong helping hand to those who through patient persever-
ence have developed the movement in Minnesota.
When we stop to think that this great work, which we all consider of
such vital importance to our children, is, in each school throughout our
state, dependent, absolutely, upon the interest of the teacher and her
ability to give of her limited time and defray, out of her often slender
income, any necessary expenses; while village improvement societies and
civic leagues, all over the state, are taking up the work of distribution of
flower seeds and the improvement of school grounds, it does seem as though,
with this State Agricultural College and this State Horticultural Society to
furnish the knowledge and direct the way, some plan might be devised
whereby all these scattered forces could be brought “together and made
to contribute far greater results than are possible under the present condition
of things. New York and Indiana have gone on record in this matter. I
wish that Minnesota could be next.
Just to illustrate what great results can grow out of even a little effort to
help: When we of the flower department of the Minneapolis Improvement
League learned that there was no appropriation, whatever, of funds for the
support of nature-study in our public schools, we asked ourselves: “How
can we help these busy teachers in their noble effort to support this great
work?” The answer came: “Furnish in our annual distribution of seeds
to the school children the varieties required in the study of plant-life at
school. As every child loves to carry flowers to school he can thus have
the additional interest and pleasure of contributing, through his own indi-
vidual effort, the necessary material and in this way save his teacher trouble
and expense.
Nature-study, of course, includes, in the study of plant-life, every kind
of plant, tree, fruit and vegetable; but the two most commonly met with,
274 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
and therefore important for study next to trees, are flowers and vegetables.
Last year, with a very different motive, the Improvement League had given
vegetable seeds. The object then was to interest those of the older boys
who were not especially interested in the culture of flowers and who, we
thought, might become interested in the more practical work of vegetable
gardening. The results were varied. Some were wonderfully successful,
and admiring relatives in many families testified to the superior quality of
these home grown vegetables. We did not see many of them, for they were
eaten up as fast as they reached the proper stage of development.
But, on the whole, the experiment was not as successful as the flower
culture had been; there were many failures, owing to the lack of knowledge
of how to plant and care for the vegetables. The question was, how to
supply this knowledge? Miss White’s little pamphlet was the guide in the
culture of the flowers, but we had no Miss White in the vegetable business
and consequently nothing in way of instruction for the would-be agricul-
turists.
To make a long story short, we learned through the secretary of the
State Horticultural Society of Professor Shaw’s famous garden, and as
Secretary Latham assured us that Professor Shaw had never been known
to refuse to help in any good work, it resulted in our bringing the matter
before him and asking his advice and help. The rest many of you know.
The little gardeners were invited to Professor Shaw’s home in St. Anthony
Park, to an open air lesson beside his famous garden—this to be followed
by a trip over to the Agricultural College to see the animals, and all that
could be seen in one afternoon. The Twin City Transit Company most
generously furnished chartered cars and free transportation for the children
on three consecutive afternoons, three parties, consisting of eighty boys
from the Washington school the first day, eighty boys and girls from the
Peabody school the second day and a hundred and twenty-five from the
Holland school the third day. Nearly three hundred children, in all, re-
ceived the grandest lesson in nature-study they had ever known and spent
the happiest half day of their lives.
On the day following the excursion the children were unable to keep
their thoughts upon their lessons and so were given permission to write
letters. Many were written to Professor Shaw, many to the street car com-
pany and many to the chairman of the flower committee. All are interesting,
and it has been difficult to decide which to choose. All are just as they were
written, each a perfectly natural, spontaneous expression of appreciation.
Here are a few chosen almost at random:
(These letters are printed verbatim, just as written.—Secretary.)
Dear Mrs. Barnard:— :
I enjoyed it very much down atthe stock farm, and Ihope you did too.
I learned more about planting yesterday, than I have any other day in my
life, for I did not even know that we should plough up the garden in the
fall, or leave it humpy, so that the frost can act on it in the winter. And if
it did not rain for two or three weeks I would turn the hose on and sprinkle
the garden, but Prof. Shaw has showed us another way, and he said he
hadn’t waiered his garden for two weeks, and yet he can keep his plants
from dying. He told us to keep the earth on top fine, and that keeps the
moisture in. He showed us how to keep the weeds out too, he said we
should get a hoe and turn it side ways and hoe the earth up, and that will
turn the roots of the weeds up and they will die.
Then Prof. Shaw took us to a barn where some cattle were and talked
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THOS. SHAW AND THE SCHOOI, CHILDREN IN HIS FRUIT CARDEN.
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276 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. \
to us akcut them, then he took us to a stall, where, what do you think were,
there were two twin calfs at home we have a calf a year old, and he isn’t as
big as these twins although they were only five months old, then we went
from there to another barn, and in this barn were pigs, the old pigs were "q
horrible, but the little ones were very cute, then we went outside and saw i
some more pigs, and these pigs a man took the picture of. 7
Then we eat to see the sheep O! what a sight, they were very tame, ae
but one little lamb was as it seems to me talking it came up to me and ’
gave me a look in the face as if to say I’m very hungry, and also the sheep
had there picture taken,
Then we went into a room where we sat down and on the platform was a
a pile of sawdust, Prof. Shaw opened a door and a man came in with a bull $4
and brought it on the platform, the buil had a ring in his nose to, if he eae
didn’t mind what was said to him they would pull the ring and that would |
hurt him. Then we went to a room where we saw stuffed animals in glass
cages, such as the wild cat a fierce looking animal too ihe deer, skunk,
weasl, rats, mice, snakes, chickens, ducks, owls, bluejay, und all kinds of
birds. I’ll just tell you we had a snap now. ;
Then we went to the green-house where there wereoranges growing the
first IT ever seen in a green-house rose and all kinds of plants. I'll tell you
the children were happy to see all these things, we then went down to meet
the car and had a nice ride. Thank you ever so much for the vegtable Afan
seeds. I'll have to bid you good-by now.
Yours Resp. ' 2.
Mrs. F. H. Barnard:—
Dear Madam,
I must tell yeu Mrs Barnard that I had a fine time Wednesday afternoon.
The trip buck and forth was not lonesome. That trip was not like I used to
have, sitting on the car as still as possible without talking to anybody.
When Prof. Shaw told us about the gardens; was the most interesting
thing I heard. Going from stable to stable and looking at different kinds
of animals was also a thing to see. I must close now and must not forget
to thank ycu for planning such a nice trip ior us.
Yours truly,
Dear Mrs, Barnard:—
I enjoyed your seeds very much. s
I had flower seeds so I could not go.
But the children who went had vegetables.
They said that it was very nice and as they rode on the car they were
singing and were waving their hankerchifs at all the people they saw.
They went on a farm and saw lambs sheeps and pigs, and a big pig had
some wee baby’s and they were very small.
They didn’t come home before seven oclock at night.
Dear Mrs. Barnard:—
I had a fine time yesterday, and I don’t believe I have ever enjoyed my-
self so much as I did then. I never seen such cunning little pigs before
and they are always grunting.
If I was to choose a little pet out there I ceoula choose a little lamb.
Professor Shaw he laughed at us when the sheep ran by us because we were
afraid.
The flcwers were very pretty and they had such a fragrant smell. This
was the first time I ever seen oranges growing.
I do really wish I could go and study there when I get old enough.
Yours truly,
My dear Mrs. Barnard.
I cannot stay without telling you how I enjoyed all the afternoon that
Dr. Jordan gave us. I never in my life enjoyed myself as much as then, I
oye aa “ oa Pa i mF
A PLEA FOR NATURE STUDY DRAWN FLOM EXPERIENCE, 277
thank you very much for the trouble you gave yourself by coming and me }t
us and I was also glad to meet you too.
About the State Farm I had never been there before and was very gia.
to go, the smallest pigs were as small as I ever saw, and the cows were all
very nice. The stuffed animals were also pretty and we were told that Mr.
Shaw’s son stuffed many of them. The Green-house was just fine why we
saw scme Lig cucumbers on the vines and all kinds of foliage plants ard
many other kinds that I cannot mention.
When we wert through the building where they make butter the man
explained us how cream separated from ihe milk and there was some kind
of a wheel that went around one thousand times a minute.
Well I will close by telling you that I enjoyed every minute of that
afternoon especially Mr. Shaw’s lecture.
Yours truly,
* = * - 7
. i wish that these excursions could become a regular part of the nature-
study in our public schools.
We of the Improvement League are most grateful to Professor Shaw for
coming to our assistance, to the street car company for making it possible
for the children to accept his invitation, and to the State Agricultural
Cellege for allowing so many city children the benefit of the trip through
the college buildings, grounds and stables. We are sure that it will be more
than repaid in the gratitude and interest of these children and of the
knowledge of this new influence that has been thus brought into their lives.
And I hope, and I ask you to hope with me, that it is the beginning of a
movement that will place Minnesota in the list of states that. are helping
their teachers to get out of nature-study in the public schools the best
possible results, each according to its needs.
THE MILWAUKEE APPLE.
A. J. PHILIPS, WEST SALEM, WIS.
In your last issue [April] Mr. Clarence Wedge asks for some informa-
tion about the Milwaukee apple. I understood years ago when ,the origina-
tor, Mr. George Jeffrey, of Milwaukee, showed the fruit at the state fair and
at our February meeting, that it was a seedling of the Duchess and seemed
to be quite a good winter apple, but as it originated in the favored region
along the lake shore—where tender varieties stand—it was not disseminated
much. But about five years ago when visiting the extensive orchard of the
late S. I. Freeborn, in Richland county, Wis., I found a beautiful tree well
loaded with fine apples, late in the fall, and as it was in the Russian orchard
I at once called it a winter Russian. I saved some of the apples to show at
our winter meeting in hopes some of our Russian men could name it, but
when I took them to the meeting I found it to all appearances the same ap-
ple that Henry Tarrant, of Janesville, was showing as the Milwaukee. I at
once, being attracted by appearance of the fruit and the tree, bought some
trees and secured scions, which I top-worked. All are growing finely. I top-
worked more this year, also some last season, and as there are some fruit
buds on the grafted trees I hope to see some fruit this season and will be
able to report more of its behavior later on. Geo. Jeffrey. 2530 Lisbon av-
enue, Milwaukee, can give its origin and early history. There is one tree
of it in the trial orchard at Wausau, which is growing very thriftily.
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MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIHTY.
SCHOOL GARDENS.
O. M. LORD, MINNESOTA CITY.
A distinguished fruit man of Iowa, a delegate to our annual meeting,
said he had one criticism to offer on the Minnesota society: it was com-
posed of old men and needed to take in the young men and women of the
state to preserve its vitality. I could only say that in all new countries,
guide boards were needed to keep travelers from going astray, and we old
fellows could not be expected to do much, but we ought to be able to point
the way. An elaborate discussion of school gardens is not desirable at
this meeting, and I shall only attempt to call the attention of the society
to the importance of beginning work in our line among the children.
The common country school is still an unsolved problem. I do not
need to picture the surroundings of the most of them, but when we
know that environment has so much influence in the formation of character
and habits of after life it is greatly to be regretted that early school life
should not be surrounded with all the appliances necessary to infuse the
mind with a love of the beautiful and a knowledge of the useful. The great
majority of us now are, and are to be, dependent on agriculture and its
handmaid, horticulture. It follows then, that nature-study, including plant
life, fruits and flowers, should be a systematic part of school life. Nature
has done her part for us. We have ample grounds, a fertile soil and
a climate adapted to a great variety of productions and a perpetual school
fund, self-imposed, that enables us to rank with any other people educa-
tionally. The city schools are working under different conditions, but the
kindergarten has been found to be the basis of much of their superior
excellence. Some of the teachers of the city schools will claim that there
is no room for more studies, that the pupils are now overworked, and no
doubt this is true in some schools. The drill is all mental and intellectual,
the physical entirely neglected. We are willing to admit that a broad
intellect is more capable of grappling with the necessities of active life than
a dwarfed one, but nature-study as indicated has a tendency to develop all
the faculties, to stimulate habits of thought and of observation, and to round
out an otherwise inccmplete life.
The most pressing want at the present time for beginning this work is
competent teachers. Let this state society formally ask our school workers,
our members, our State Farmers’ Institute teachers to consider this subject,
and the request will be cheerfully heeded, and the time not be far distant
when every school will be supplied with a practice ground in addition to
the play ground.
Sweden now takes the lead of other countries, as every school there
has a garden. Germany, France; Austria and Italy are closely following.
There are a few schools in this country with a garden attached, and fruits,
vegetables and flowers are planted and cared for by the pupils. Their influ-
ence has proved most beneficent in checking the tendency for vandalism
among the boys, and in affording a means of pleasant occupation of leisure
time, stimulating them to habits of industry and usefulness and storing the
mind with practical knowledge available in mature life.
~*~
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| _Gecretary’s ' %orner.
OUR PRESENT MEMBERSHIP.—Six members were added to our annual roll
at the late summer meeting, bringing the number of annual members for 1900
upto 771. Is’nt there some one in your neighborhood would be the better
off for affiliation with this society ?
LOOK FOR PROF. GREEN’S LETTER.—In this number is printed in parta
personal letter received June 8th, written in Germany May 28th, which allows
only ten days in transit. The professor was evidently enjoying the part of his
trip referred to. We may hope to hear from him furtherinthe August number.
GREEN’S ‘‘FORESTRY IN MINNESOTA’? APPRECIATED.—The Board of Re-
gents of the Minnesota State University has appropriated $2,700 to pay the
expense of binding and distributing 10,000 copies of Prof. Green’s late work
on forestry. This work was prepared two years since for the use of the State
Forestry Association. Every one interested in forestry in this section should
study it.
GROWTH OF OUR SUMMER MEETING.—Heretofore one-half of Armory Hall,
at the School of Agriculture, has been given up to the diners, but this year it
was found necessary to fill the whole hall with tables, and then a second sitting
was needed to accommodate a large fraction of those in attendance. The fruit
exhibit was crowded out into an adjoining room, especially well adapted to it,
however.
A PROFITABLE ASPARAGUS ACRE.—Mr. Wyman Elliot reports that F. X.
Crepeau, an experienced market gardener of North Minneapolis, received this
year from the sales of one acre of asparagus $450.00. Last year the same
field yielded $280.00, the difference being largely accounted for by an ad-
vance in prices this season. Evidently the asparagus business is not yet over-
done in this market. :
PREPARATION OF APPILES FOR CoLD STORAGE.—In a short quotation on
storing fruit for the Omaha Exposition, to be found elsewhere in this number,
a method of double wrapping in preparation for storing is described and in-
ferentially enjoined upon all prospective exhibitors. First wax paper, then
common paper. If practicable, try it in storing fruit for the winter meeting.
Wax paper is to be found at all the paper houses at a low price.
STORE FRUIT FOR STATE FAIR AND WINTER MEETING.—Arrangements
have been made for placing fruit in cold storage in Minneapolis for these two
occasions, and labels to be used in marking packages for this purpose can be
had in any quantity of the secretary of this society. As usual there will be no
expense for storage, and fruit so stored will be delivered free at the state fair
or winter meeting, as the case may be. The exhibit this year, at both places,
should be the largest we have yet made. Send for labels now, and have them
on hand when wanted.
CHas, Y. Lacy’S PRESENT TO OUR LIBRARY.—At the time of Mr. Lacy’s
recent visit to this city, spoken of elsewhere in this ‘‘Corner’’, he presented to
the library of this society, of which he has long been an honorary life member,
a large number of volumes of horticultural books, bound magazines and re-
ports, which have been ripening in storage here in Minneapolis during his
280 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
twenty years’ absence. They number fifty-three, not including several
of which we already had copies on the shelves and a number not on strictly hor-
ticultural topics. A list of this valuable contribution will be published later.
The society is under very much obligation to the donor.
INFORMATION WANTED OF You!—Have you filled out and mailed to the
secretary the circular sent you lately to learn many important facts in regard
to the fruit growing interests in our state? If not you will forward the work
of the society very much by doing so at once. If you have not received a copy,
through some mishap, will you please notify the secretary and another will be
sent you—and the same if your copy is mislaid. Some of our members have
an idea this circular is intended for nurserymen alone. This is not the case;
we want a report from every member of the society living in the state. If you
are not growing nursery stock, omit that part and fill the rest and send it along.
PHOTOGRAPH OF THE ‘‘ VETERANS IN HORTICULTURE.’’—This photo was
taken by Miller, the Minneapolis photographer, in December, 1897, and con-
tains most excellent pictures of J.S. Harris, S. H. Kenney, O. M. Lord, Wy-
man Elliot, E. H. S. Dartt, J. T. Grimes, J. H. Stevens, Ditus Day, J. C. Kra-
mer and Wm. Mackintosh. For a long time the negative of this plate was lost,
but it has been found, and copies can be had for $1.00. It isa very large
picture, 18x26 inches, and will make an appropriate adornment, nicely framed,
for any of our horticultural friends to have in either parlor or office. The sec-
retary can furnish a printed slip giving the name$ of those in the group and a
title ‘‘Veterans in Horticulture’’ to go with the picture. Mr. J. T. Grimes has
lately ordered three copies in addition to the two previously secured, one of
which is to be presented to the ‘‘Pioneers’’ and hung in their recently con-
structed log house on the state fair grounds. Do you want one?
Ex-SECRETARY CHas. Y. Lacy Canis.—The owner of an unfamiliar face
presented a hand to ‘‘ye editor’’ and remarked ‘‘my name is Lacy.”’ ‘‘ Chas.
Y?’’ queried ‘‘ye editor.’’ ‘‘“The same’’ was the response, and we shook hands
and renewed acquaintance after a separation of twenty years. For about this
period Mr. Lacy has been a resident of Montana, engaged in the sheep hus-
bandry, but he has lately disposed of his business there and removed to Long
Beach, Cal. For five years, 1875-80, he was secretary of this society, and
might have been yet had not a youthful ambition taken him away from the
state. During this period he was Professor of Agriculture in the State Univer-.
sity and was, perhaps, the first to begin practical operations on the farm land
attached to it. The record of his work in this connection appears in the reports
to the Board of Regents for those years and as a record of initial efforts is inter-
esting reading. After a short visit in this city Mr. Lacy has returned to his
California home. At the age of fifty years, he is still a young appearing man,
with few gray hairs. We hope to meet again.
TT aa
Maj. A. G. Wiicox died suddenly, at his home in Hugo, Minn., on the
morning of June 6th. He was at the time editor of ‘“The Farmer,’’ secretary
of the Minnesota Live Stock and Breeders’ Association, and held other posi-
tions of trust and responsibility. A member of this society'for some years and
an attendant and worker at our meetings, he had become endeared to all of us
who had had the opportunity of making his acquaintance. Such a death leaves
many gaps not easy to fill and many wounds that time alone can heal.
MAJ. ALFRED G. WILCOX,
LATE OF HUGO, MINN.
[See biography. |
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. AUGUST, 1900. No. 8.
In Memoriam,
MAJOR ALFRED G. WILCOX,
HUGO, MINN.
DIED JUNE 6, 1900, AGED 59 YeEars.
Major A. G. Wilcox, well known in Minneapolis and St. Paul newspaper
«circles, died suwddenty of heart failure, June 6th, at his summer home
near Hugo, Minn. He was best known to many of the editors through
‘his position as press agent of the state fair association. He discharged the
duties of that office, as he did all others, pleasantly, expeditiously and with-
out friction.
Alfred Gould Wilcox was born March 31, 1841, in Madison, Ohio. He
Tived on a farm, attended common schools and academy until fifteen years
old, when he entered Oberlin college. He was in the junior year when the
call for troops came under which the tosth Ohio was organized. He was
commissioned first lieutenant of Company F, participating in all the raids,
battles and skirmishes to the close of the war; was promoted to captain
and assigned to Company F; mustered out as such, but later breveted major.
‘Soon after the war, having chosen a literary occupation, served apprentice-
ship as city editor of the Cleveland Leader. Afterwards he became con-
secutively owner of the Journal, of Fremont, Ohio; Telegram, Richmond,
Ind., and Courier, New Castle, Ind.; removed to Minneapolis in 1872, when
he became manager of the Daily News, and afterwards the Tribune. Later
he began subscription book publishing, his greatest success being the Buck-
eye Cook Book, which has reached a sale of about 1,000,000 copies. In con-
nection with these publications, he issued the Housekeeper, which, under
his management, obtained a circulation of 120,000 in 1887. During this time
he devoted much of his time to agricultural interests. Together with Col.
W. M. Liggett he opened the Grand View stock farm at Benson: he was
also owner of the famous Brookside farm at Kirkhoven, and has had much
to do with introducing Holstein-Fresian cattle into Minnesota, and for three
years has been the secretary of the State Live Stock Breeders’ Association.
For the past five years he has resided with his family on his farm, three
miles from Hugo, on the St.Paul & Duluth road, and for nearly four years
282 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
bd
has been the editor of “The Farmer,” of St. Paul. He leaves a widow and
six children.
Maj. Wilcox had been a member of this society for five years
prior to his death and of late a regular and interested attendant at its
meetings. He was a most earnest friend and champion of the so-
ciety, highly respected by all and especially endeared to those who
had the pleasure of a personal acquaintance. The passing of such a
man from us leaves a double duty on those remaining to make good
the loss. Major Wilson’s interest and influence in the society was
developing rapidly, and if his life had been spared to its full allotted
span, he would, without doubt, have become one of its most useful
and honored members. There are none but pleasant and
helpful memories connected with this dear departed one.
Secretary.
LAKE MINNETONKA FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION.
ARTICLES OF INCORPORATION.
We, whose names are hereto subscribed and who are residents of Hen-
nepin county, state of Minnesota, hereby agree to associate ourselves to-
gether as a co-operative association, under and by virtue of the statute of
the state of Minnesota relating to and governing such corporations.
ARTE 1:
The name of this corporation shall be the Lake Minnetonka Fruit Grow-
ers’ Association, and its place of business shall be at Long Lake, Hennepin
county, state of Minnesota.
ARTICLE IT.
The business of this association shall be to buy, sell and deal in small
fruits of all kinds grown in this vicinity and to do all things necessary and
requisite to be done in conducting a general fruit business.
ARC BT
The officers of this association shall be a president, treasurer, and a
board of three directors, who shall hold their office for the term of one
year, or until their successors are elected and qualified.
ARTICLE VY:
The annual meeting of this association shall be held on the first Monday
of January of each year, at one o'clock p. m.
ARTICLE V.
The names of the first officers of this association are as follows: Milo
Stubbs, president; Thomas Talbert, treasurer; Joseph H. Lydiard, D. V.
Plant and A. B. Coleman, directors.
ARTICLE VI.
The president and treasurer of this association are hereby authorized to
execute and acknowledge all papers, contracts and deeds necessary to be
LAKE MINNETONKA FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 283
executed and acknowledged by said association, but they shall not execute
or acknowledge papers of any kind except by consent and direction of the
board of managers of said association.
In witness whereof the said Minnetonka Fruit Growers’ Association has,
by its president and treasurer, affixed its hand and seal this 6th day of June,
1808.
BY-LAWS.
le
It shall be the duty of the president to preside at all the meetings of
said association and the meetings of the board of managers, sign all certifi-
cates of stock issued by said board of managers, and sign all orders drawn
on the treasurer. In the absence of the president the board of managers
shall select one from among their number who shall act as president pro
tem, and during such time shall have all the powers of the president.
ia
It shall be the duty of the treasurer to receive all the monies due said
association and pay the same out upon the order of the president, and to
deposit all money in his hands not needed for actual current expenses in
some bank designated by the board of managers, and said treasurer shall
not be liable on his bond when said money is so deposited.
TIT:
The board of managers of said association may appoint a member of the
association who shall be styled general manager, whose duties shall be,
under direction of the board of managers, to take charge of the buying
and selling of fruits, collect and receive the pay therefor and to pay the
same immediately into the hands of the treasurer, taking his receipt therefor.
IV.
The board of managers shall hold frequent meetings during the active
berry season, and shall examine the books of said association and ascertain
the actual condition thereof, and give such instructions to the general man-
ager as will be for the best interest of the association.
NV:
The treasurer and general manager shall each give separate bonds in
the sum of one thousand dollars, said bonds to be approved by the board
of managers.
VI.
The treasurer and general manager shall receive for their services such
compensation as may be decided upon by the board of managers.
Vit,
Special meetings of said association may be called at any time by the
board of managers or president.
VIEL.
Any officer of this association who willfully neglects his duty may be
fined in such an amount as the board of managers may deem just and reason-
able, and the amount of the fine may be retained from any money in the
treasury that may be due him, said fine to be distributed among the stock-
284 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
holders as other funds are distributed; or said office may be declared vacant
by a vote of two-thirds of the board of managers, and the vacancy filled by
a majority vote.
exe
Voting at the annual meeting of said association shall be by ballot, un-
less that by uanimous consent of the stockholders it may be by acclamation.
No stockholder shall have more than one vote.
BAe
At all meetings of the stockholders of said association not less than
seven shall constitute a quorum.
XI.
The general managers of said association may appoint a secretary, whose
business it shall be to keep a record of all the meetings of said association,
and to do such other things in regard to the business of said association as
the general managers may direct.
xXee
No person can become a stockholder in this association unless he is a
producer of fruit, except the general manager.
XIII.
The constitution and by-laws may be altered or amended at a regular
or special meeting called for that purpose, but such alteration or amendment
must be presented in writing at a meeting held previous to the one upon
which such vote is taken.
XIV.
All fruit delivered to the association shall have the grower’s number
plainly stamped or marked on the end of each case, and all fruit shall be
subject to examination by the general manager.
XV.
Any member who delivers to the association fruit inferior in quality or
variety shall suffer the loss occasioned thereby.
XVI.
All fruit received on any one day from different growers of same grade
shall be treated alike, shall be shipped to the most favorable market, irre-
spective of who grew the same, and each day’s shipment shall be treated as
an entirety. Every grower who contributed to such shipment shall be en-
titled to his share of the proceeds of such day’s sale in proportion to the
number of crates shipped by said grower; but one-tenth of each day’s pro-
ceeds shall be retained by the association until the complete returns for the
season are received.
XVII.
The expense of carrying on the business of the association shall be paid
from the said ten per cent so retained, and the balance of said amount, if
any, after paying such expense at the time of the settlement of the sales for
the year, shall be divided among the members of the association in propor-
tion to the amount of fruit each member has furnished.
XVIII
Each stockholder by the usual order may at least once each week during
LAKE MINNETONKA FRUIT GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION. 285
the active berry season draw from the treasurer one-half of the money col-
lected and due him for fruit sold on his account.
XIX.
No certificate of shares shall be issued to any person until the full amount
of said share has been paid, and no person shall become a stockholder except
by consent of a majority of the board of managers.
XX.
Any member selling fruit outside of the association will be subject to a
fine to the amount that the board of managers may deem just, and such
fine may be retained from the amount owing said member, and be divided
as other surplus is divided.
XXI.
If any member wishes to withdraw from the association he shall notify
a member of the board of managers, and the board by a majority vote may
release him.
At a regular meeting of the stockholders of the Minnetonka Fruit Grow-
ers’ Association the hereto attached constitution and by-laws were by vote
adopted by said association on this 15th day of March, 1808.
MILO STUBBS, President.
Attest:
ROLLA STUBBS, Secretary.
PRUNING, FALL CULTIVATION AND WINTER PRO-
TECTION OF THE BLACKBERRY.
R. A. WRIGHT, EUREKA.
Pruning.—Pruning the blackberry satisfactorily is one of the most diffi-
cult problems I have met with in my endeavor to make blackberry culture
profitable. My plan, for a time, was to pinch off the young canes at a
height of three feet. This process makes the cane very stocky and throws
out a great number of laterals which grow from two to four feet,long. This
makes the work of winter protection very difficult. Other seasons I have
not cut the canes back until October. This plan is not satisfactory to me,
as it is almost impossible for the pickers to walk between the rows. Be-
cause of their height many canes are broken off by the wind, making this
kind of pruning expensive. The last two years I have attended to the
pruning just before the berries ripened, cutting back all canes to four feet
in length. I like this plan much the best of any I have tried, as the pickers
can gather the berries very easily and the canes are handled very nicely
when being covered for the winter.
Fall Cultivation —I never cultivate the blackberry in the fall. During
the berry harvest, if the weather is dry, I keep a dust mulch about two
inches deep, by cultivating every other day with the fine tooth cultivator.
This keeps the soil well stirred and helps to retain the moisture.
Winter Protection.—This is the problem that is difficult for the amateur
fruit grower to solve. I believe it is useless to grow the blackberry unless
it is well protected from our Minnesota winters.
It has been very amusing to me to see how some people protect their
blackberries for the winter. They take hold of the top of the canes, and
286 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
bending them over until the tops touch the ground, then shovel on dirt
sufficient to held them down, leaving the center of the cane from one to two
feet from the ground. If they bend them much lower than this they are
sure to break most of the best canes, and when they are finally through
they have given very little protection to the berry patch.
In protecting my canes from the severe winters of this climate, I cover
them completely with earth, so that no part of the cane is exposed. In lay-
ing the canes down I use a potato fork, loosening and removing some of
the dirt from one side of the hill, then placing the fork on the opposite
side of the hill and pressing it the full length of the tines into the soil.
Taking hold of the end of the fork handle with the right hand, I pass the
left arm around the bush near the top, and by pulling on the end of the
fork handle, and pressing with the left arm I bend the whole hill, mostly
in the root, and lay it flat on the ground. My helper shovels on enough
dirt to hold the canes in place. All plants in the row are laid in the same
direction, and each year they are bent the opposite way from which they
were the year before. They lie down much better when reversed each year.
When the canes are carefully laid down, I have a system of plowing which
we follow to expedite the work. I prefer a 14-inch plow with a long mould-
board. I use two horses and a set of short whiffletrees and evener. On
each side of the row I plow a furrow about four inches deep, turning the
furrow onto the row. Most of the canes are covered with the plow, but a
man follows with a shovel and covers what the plow leaves. As I have said,
when the work is finished none of the canes are to be seen. I have used a
12-inch plow with one horse. This does very well but takes more time.
Mr. Eddy: I do not think you would get close.enough to
the row by using two horses.
Mr. Wright: You can set the plow over far enough by using
a short evener and whiffletrees from the mower. I tried to straddle
the row, but I could not make that work.
Mr, Jewett: How long does it take to cover an acre?
Mr. Wright: I have never covered an acre from beginning to
end. It takes two men a day to cover half an acre and it takes two
or three hours to do the plowing and perhaps a half day’s shoveling.
Mr. Yahnke: How far apart are your rows?
Mr. Wright: Eight feet.
Mr. Burnap (Iowa): How about taking them up in the spring?
Mr. Wright: Begin at the opposite end of the row where you
laid them down in the fall and work back on the row.
Mr. Burnap: What tool do you use?
Mr. Wright: I do it all with the fork.
Mr, Jewett: What time do you take them up in the spring?
Mr. Wright: When the buds begin to swell.
The President: Is there any danger after you do take them
up? .
Mr. Wright: I never lost any by frost.
The President: Have you had any trouble with canes becom-
ing exposed by rains washing off the soil?
PRUNING, ETC., OF THE BLACKBERRY, 287
Mr. Wright: There has been a little trouble in that way, but
I am always sure to look after that, and if we have a heavy rain I
send a man over the patch to see that they are covered. I
never lost any yet by covering in that way.
Mr. Jewett: Would there be any special advantage in cover-
ing with straw after the soil was put on?
Mr. Wright: Perhaps it might be a help in a smaller plan-
tation, but I have never found it necessary.
Mr. Elliot: Have you ever lost any plants by root-killing?
Mr. Wright: Not in blackberries, except in a wet season.
Mr. Yahnke: Can the plants be raised in the spring if they
are bent in the roots so they will stay?
Mr. Wright: They stay up as high as I want them to stay. I
do not want them to get high from the greund. I would rather
they were not over two feet from the ground.
Mr. Yahnke: If they are full of fruit do they not bend back
on the ground? .
Mr. Wright: I run a wire a little over a foot from the ground
for the canes to rest on, and other parts I mulch and do not use
any wire. I do not believe I shall put up any more wire for any-
thing on the place. Where they are not wired I think they should
be mulched unless you straighten your canes or press the soil
against the side on which they were bent.
Mr. Haggard: What is the object in having them lean?
Mr. Wright: We always get the best fruit where they are
close to the ground. You take a bush standing upright without
any shade, and the fruit is always smaller.
Mr. Haggard: Don’t you think you get too much shade?
Mr. Wright: I find that the berries which are-exposed are
always inferior. The sun quite often does considerable harm when
they are upright, but when slanting the sun cannot hurt them.
Mr. Jewett: Don’t you find that they pick easier?
Mr. Wright: Oh, certainly, yes. I think it is much the best
system to keep them as much on a slant as possible.
Mr, Elliot: How much mulching do you put on?
Mr. Wright: About four inches..
The President: After it settles?
Mr. Wright: No; probably not; when it settles it is not over
three inches. The instruction I give the men is to put it on from
four to six inches deep; we use marsh hay and put it on thick, I
prefer the slough grass, wire grass hay for mulching to anything I
have ever used. It is better than anything I have ever tried.
Mr. Yahnke: Do you mulch all the ground or just the hills?
288 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Mr. Wright: I leave room enough in the center to run the
cultivator through, but I mulch inside of the row thoroughly, leay-
ing about three feet in the middle.
Mr. Yahnke: Which do you prefer, wire or mulch?
Mr. Wright: Mulching has paid me a little better. Where I
used wire I did not mulch the last two years I cultivated, and the
berries dried up on that patch this year.
ROOT-KILLING OF APPLE TREES.
PROF. N. BE. HANSEN, BROOKINGS, S. D.
Prof. Hansen, (S. D.): This morning, at the meeting in the city, 1
spoke something on the subject of root-killing. The substance of a bulletin
on root-killing American trees was published last month in the Minnesota
Horticulturist, so I need not go into that matter here.
If any of you desire to see specimens of the true Siberian crab you can
do so after the close of the meeting. Some of them will be new to all of
you. These came from Prof. Sargent, and he obtained them from Dr.
Riegel, the director of the Botanical Gardens at St. Petersburg. The true
Siberian crab will not root-kill at Lake Baikal, in Manitoba or Assiniboia,
where the temperature goes down to sixty below, with very little snow in that
country, and apples that will stand that should be considered hardy. This is
a pure pyrus baccata; you see a pure specimen of the pyrus baccata. The
way you can always tell the true Siberian crab is that the calyx, or blossom
end, is perfectly smooth, whereas the other crab is the same as an ordinary
apple, and the calyx or blossom end does not fall off at the time of ripen-
ing. This is the hardiest little specimen of the apple. This (indicating) is
a specimen that stood a temperature of forty below with no snow. After I
had been to Russia I solved the problem of root-killing. The point I want
to make is this, there is no standard apple that is hardy, that will stand our
Dakota conditions; the Anisim and Antinovka, seedlings of the Hibernal
type, and a standard apple, were black as a hat last spring—so we have cut
it out. I have-here an apple, a wild apple from the Province of Koursk in
southern Russia, and apples that were perfectly hardy there have gone out at
Brookings. You talk about a long scion with a short root—they all went
out last winter.
Mr. Burnap, (lowa): Did you not report that the roots of the scion
would make the tree hardy?
Prof. Hansen: That was the first winter, and I had only a single tree
that stood; all the others in that same lot were killed. The point then is
that the Russsians find they must go outside their own apples for a hardy
root. There is no form of standard apple that will stand severe freezing
without any snow on the ground, so they have come to the Siberian for
stock. In a general way, it makes the tree two or three years earlier and
a slightly dwarfish tree. Since the publication of the bulletin I have received
some more evidence. Dr. Luger, of the Swabian government, is a fore-
most authority on pomology, and he has published a great many books.
Here is what he says of the use of the pyrus baccata as a stock: “Pyrus
baccata and pyrus prunifolia is recommended as half standard for the culti-
vated apple in dry, shallow soils.” You see he recommends it for dry,
ROOT-KILLING OF APPLE TREES. 289
shallow soils, and we have a dry and shallow soil. In another book he says
the reason the use of the pyrus baccata is preferred as stock is because
‘they grow weaker than ordinary apple seedlings, and yet they grow stronger
than ordinary stock. The pyrus baccata is used extensively in Europe. I
think in future orchards in Dakota and northern Minnesota we will have to
be satisfied with smaller trees and plant them close together; in that way
we will get earlier bearing trees. The point I want to make is that the
whole root system must be of the Siberian crab. We had German ex-
perience and Russian experience, but this is the American experience. We
want to put our shoulders to the wheel and solve this problem. It may be
the Transcendent seedling will do, and it may be the Siberian seedling will
do. As far as our condition in South Dakota is concerned we will begin
at the bottom.
Mr. Sherman, (Iowa): What is the objection to the ordinary method?
Prof. Hansen: They root-kill every winter.
Mr. Sherman: I mean on this crab stock?
Prof. Hansen: The complaint of the too dwarfish growth of the tree.
The only experience I have been able to learn of was that of Mr. Patten.
He has had some experience in that line, and there are certain Wisconsin
people who, about thirty years ago, worked them as root-grafts. Mr. Wil-
cox, of La Crosse, approved this method, but he preferred the budding
method. I have not been able to get at the full results. They use the pyrus
baccata and the pyrus prunifolia. It is not the method they use in Russia.
Mr. Sherman: What should we have the whole root system on?
Prof. Hansen: On the Siberian crab. The only objection is the small-
ness of the tree. The seedling is already established. I saw those trees in
the nursery in northern Russia, and they were fine trees, but in southern
Russia they use the ordinary seedling.
Mr. Dartt: Was there any snow on the ground when your trees root-
killed?
Prof. Hansen: Not a bit.
_Mr. Dartt: Any crab apple killed?
Prof. Hansen: My Virginia crab rooted from the scion, and I had a
good thousand; they all root-killed. All the scion roots were’ dead.
Mr. Sherman: About your Virginia crabs, do you know they were
rooted from the scion?
Prof. Hansen: I do not know for certain, but I am satisfied in my own
mind they were.
Mr. Lyman: Most crabs root from the scion very readily.
Mr. Elliot: You spoke of budding those trees; is there any objection?
Prof. Hansen: Budding is not any better than grafting; that is the
nursery way.
Mr. Wedge: The objection to root-grafting Siberian crabs is the same,
and for the same reason we object to cellar grafting of the plum.
Prof. Hansen: That is all. It is simply the means of having the seedling
established in the ground. If you do not want to bud you can graft next
spring.
Mr. Dartt: Do you know that the crab root will not kill as quick as the
common apple root?
Prof. Hansen: I heard only of one instance, and that was an accidental
experience. The point I wish'to emphasize is that the Siberian has a per-
290 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
fectly smooth base, the calyx segments coming off at time of maturity. The
Hyslop and Transcendent and a whole lot more are types between the pure
Siberian crab and the cultivated apple.
Mr. Philips, (Wis.): Do you know why eastern nurserymen recommend
budded trees to trees grafted in the root?
Prof. Hansen: Simply because it gives them smoother trees they can
sell better. The point I want to make is that the ordinary apple seedling
all over’ Europe forms a tap root, and when they put them out on their soil
they do not make a satisfactory growth the first year, but if they plant a
seedling and have them established a year they get a better growth. On
our soil it will not do because the seedling is too near the surface, we use a
long scion and a short root. All over Europe they transplant them the
first year when they are about a month old, and upon transplanting them
they pinch the tip of the root. I did that this year; I sowed the seed and
transplanted the piece of root and I got a wonderful development of the
root system. Heretofore it was simply a straight shoot, but by transplant-
ing when a few weeks old I got a root system that astonished me. I broke
off the top root and got a fine branching root.
Mr. Busse: Any difference in hardiness between budded and root-
grafted trees!
Prof. Hansen: There is not a single bit of difference. It is simply a
question as to how far down you can get that tender seedling.
Prof. Hays: What do you intend to breed to make a good variety?
Prof. Hansen: We have to use our Siberian crab.
Mr. Philips: I want to say a few words right along this line, and that
is in regard to those eastern trees. I spent a week on that mission this
fall. Some men came from the east and worked in the vicinity of Oshkosh,
where our state has two or three local societies, and they began to sell a
large amount of budded trees. They told the people the budded trees would
stand the cold better and be longer lived than the grafted tree, and they sold
a large number of trees, but some of our local people knew what they were
doing. They sent for me to come and help investigate the matter, and I
found they had made a lot of people believe that an eastern budded tree
was better than a western grafted tree. They made them believe that the
union where the graft was put in underground was always unsound, and the
agent had some roots with him that he had found somewhere and showed
them where the western tree was unsound. He was doing quite a business
through here, and they appointed a meeting at which he was to be present,
and I was to be there. I had made some investigation so as to be ready
for him. But one of those men he had been selling to came—and he had
those men set them in the fall. Now I found this, I found a man who had
bought a hundred of those trees, and he had set them in the fall. I told him
he had made a mistake by not setting them in the spring. I said I had had
an experience of twenty-five years planting trees in the spring, and I knew
it would have been better to have put them in the cellar until spring. I
askd him if he would allow me to take twenty of them. He let me take
twenty trees, and now, to tell you the truth, out of those twenty trees there
was not a single budded tree; they were all grafted. I sawed those trees
across where they were grafted, I sawed them at that meeting, and there
was not one of those trees that was a particle unsound. He had shown
them a nice straight tree, but what he delivered to those farmers were grafted
ROOT-KILLING OF APPLE TREES. 291
trees, except to a few who knew what a budded tree was, and to those he
delivered budded trees. Eastern men are working that scheme right along
in the west.
Professor Hansen referred to Mr. Patten. I believe people of the west,
gentlemen, have always underrated the work Mr. Patten is doing and has
done. He is one of the most careful pomologists in the west. He has a lot
of stuff here. I think he has some seedlings that will be very valuable to the
people of the northwest. He tells me that after experimenting with all these
crabs to produce good roots he has discarded two varieties that were always
recommended. He tells me that after his experience he finds the Virginia
and the Martha do not produce as good seedlings as some other varieties.
He gave me this list: He says the Whitney No. 20 he has never grown a
seedling from that was not hardier than the original. He says you may see
the most beautiful and most uniform tree he has grown from the Briar
Sweet—good, strong branches and dark colored bark, and it seems to be
hardy. Sweet Russet and Minnesota. These are the first he gave me for
root-grafting. This word I had from Mr. Patten recently, and I do think
his experiments are very valuable. Mr. Patten is not going to let any
scions go until he knows they are right. I saved ten of these crosses which
I considered the best I could find on his grounds. Mr. Patten has three
hundred of those crosses, and I selected those ten as the best. Mr. Elliot
has the list if you want them.
Col. Daniels: The Secretary of Agriculture tried an exhaustive exper-
iment, and it was tried at the Nebraska Experiment Station. I cannot re-
member what the result finally was, but the whole experiment I consider
was invalidated by the most remarkable fact that I think we have in the
history of scientific horticulture. When the experiments from year to year
and from one plat to another were described, the experimenter reported that
on account of the weather being very dry he gave the trees no cultivation,
and , therefore, there was a stunted growth. It is a remarkable fact that a
man should live to the age of discretion and pretend to know anything
about tree culture and make any such break. I supposed that every tree
grower, or even any man who has had experience in corn growing, knew
that if we cannot get straw or manure or even weeds to mulch with we can
substitute a shallow bed of two or three inches of dirt. If any one wishes
to get the result of that experiment you can do so by sending for the bulle-
tin. Forty-four years ago in the first nursery in Wisconsin this question
came up, and it was held at that time that some fruits do better one way
and some another. I know that thousands of trees grafted on the roots
were sold in Kansas. I have no doubt it is in a great measure a question
of after treatment as to perfect healing:
Mr. Dartt: If the root we graft on to is less hardy than the scions
we put on it the more of that root goes with that tree, the more you will
get less hardy stock; consequently the piece-graft is better than the whole
root-graft.
Berry Baskets for Planting Seeds.—The melon, tomato and cauliflower
seeds were planted in old berry baskets and sunk in the hotbed, then the
bottom of basket was cut out when the plants were transplanted. The small
plants are much easier handled in this way, and the soil is not disturbed
about their roots.
“292 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
PLANTING AND CARE OF STREET AND LAWN TREES
FOR SHADE AND ORNAMENT.
A. W. HOBART, SUPT. LAKEWOOD CEMETERY, MINNEAPOLIS.
I am thankful for the opportunity of addressing you on this subject, not
that I consider myself authority on trees but for the reason that I am deeply
interested in trees and tree planting and think that the subject should be
kept before the public as much as possible, and if I am able in this short
paper to make any suggestions that will be of benefit to the gentlemen of
this association, its purpose will have been fulfilled.
The first thing to consider is the kind of tree to plant, but as I see
ahead of me on the program the assignment of this subject to one of your
oldest members, and one of the ablest on the subject of trees, I will pass
it, presuming that you will have already made your selection of variety from
his recommendations. Having decided what to plant, great care must be
used in the selection of your trees to get good, straight stems, free from
blemish, with symmetrical tops and of uniform size. Be sure that they are
healthy and free growers—which you can tell by the general appearance of
the tree—and have plenty of fibrous roots.
The next point to consider is the preparation of the tree for the change
to its new location. If care is used in taking up the tree the roots will be
in pretty good condition, but usually there are numbers of broken and
bruised roots which must be cut away, well back into the sound wood,
taking care in doing so not to sacrifice any of the fibrous roots which can
be saved.
The top must be severely thinned out or cut off entirely, so as not to tax
the pruned roots too much. It is well in transplanting trees three inches or
less in diameter to cut them back to poles from twelve to sixteen feet in
length and let them form new tops entirely. I think this, as a rule, wilh
result in the best shaped tree, especially for street planting. Watch the tree
closely, and as it commences to throw out the new limbs trim out all un-
desirable ones before they attain size enough to destroy the symmetry of the
tree, and by so doing give the desirable limbs and branches the benefit of
all the sap which the roots are sending up.
Having prepared the tree, we will now proceed to prepare its future
home. If the soil be sandy or gravelly, enough of it must be removed to
make room for three or four cubic yards of good black loam in which to
plant our tree; if the soil be already loam or clay, it will be necessary to
remove only enough to make room for the roots of the tree and to pul-
verize the soil to plant in. Before planting it is well to puddle the roots
in liquid clay, as that insures against any air being left next the roots and
gives good moisture to start with.
In planting be careful to see that the tree stands an inch or two higher
than it will eventually, so as to allow for the settling of the earth under
and around it; then sift the fine dirt carefully down among the roots, draw-
ing each successive layer of fibers carefully out straight, packing the dirt
firmly under and around them as you proceed. When all the dirt is in, put
on plenty of water to settle it at once.
If permissable it is a good plan to mulch heavily for a space of three
or four feet all around the tree, thus retaining the moisture by keeping the
winds and sun from striking the ground adjacent.
PLANTING AND CARE OF STREET AND LAWN TREES. 293:
As to the proper time to plant, opinions differ greatly, some contending
that the spring is the only time, while others claim the same for the fall. I
have planted extensively in Minneapolis, both spring and fall, and have
been successful in both seasons; therefore, my advice is to plant when most
convenient, either spring or fall.
Great care should be taken in transporting from one place to another
to keep the roots well protected from sun and wind, thus preserving the
natural moisture. Smooth-barked trees should be protected for a year or
two (by wrapping them with hay or straw rope or tar paper) from the sun.
If this is not done they will be certain to sun-scald and die out on the
southwest side, making an unsightly scar and frequently killing the tree-
outright. -
For at least three years after planting they should have an abundance of
water unless thoroughly mulched, and especially when planted on streets.
or lawns that have been graded or filled up with sand.
BEST KIND OF PEAS AND THEIR CULTURE.
I. P. LORD, OWATONNA,
Peas are not my specialty, but I will present a few observations, hoping:
you may gain a few helpful ideas from what I have to say.
I believe that “Ferry’s First and Best” is just what its name implies,
though “Carter’s Improved” is always good and prolific. For early peas the
soil should be warm and light. Like many other vegetables, peas will show
the beneficial results of good, rich manure as well as the profits to be gained"
thereby. This fertilizer must be used judiciously, however, and good cultiva-
tion should follow.
Where earliness is most desired, plant only one inch deep, but for quan-
tity and size of peas plant in trenches three to six inches deep and cover-
with two inches of soil; then, when the vines are six inches high, fill the
trenches level with the ground. This insures deep rooting, prevents mildew
and lengthens the bearing season.
For the house garden the “Gradus” has proved most satisfactory. It is.
quite early and has the superb quality of remaining fit for use much longer
than any other pea. They are very large and have a fine color, which they
retain after cooking.
Two things should be kept in mind in the culture of peas, as paying
well for the time expended in doing them: First, keep the weeds down.
either by cultivation or mulching. I like the latter method best, as it saves:
time and conserves moisture, besides keeping the lower pods clean and dry.
Second, begin to pick the first ripe peas, and keep the ripe ones picked, as
this helps the quality and quantity of the later peas.
New varieties are being brought out every year, and there may be better
ones next year, but I believe these named are the best at present.
For Late Snap Beans.—I plant some of the pole varieties along a wire-
netting fence, of the coarser kind, that divides my kitchen garden from the
street. Beans are not particular about the soil, and the fun those beans have
trying to cover the fence keeps them growing and bearing until frost kills:
iC Tr cr a Al cute G ds ola ne deste itie atete -
294 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
HARVESTING AND MARKETING THE PLUM CROP.
HENRY DUNSMORE, OLIVIA.
Nearly all varieties of native plums bore a full crop the past season, 1899,
which ripened evenly and free from disease and insects. Japan plums had
no crop, as the severe frost of last winter killed all of the fruit buds.
All varieties of plums should be gathered by hand and should receive
as much care in handling and packing as other fruits of a like nature. In
gathering we use a basket of convenient size and with the aid of a step-
ladder reach the higher fruit.
We have never shipped plums to a distant market, as we find ready sale
in our home markets for all the plums we can grow, using the common
half-bushel baskets in hauling them to market. Japan plums should be
gathered before they are fully ripe and placed in a well ventilated cellar for
one week before they are in their best condition to market. I refer to a
home market, but if I was shipping to a distant market I would prefer to
put them in a cellar at least two days, as it takes considerable time before
the most pleasing taste is noticeable.
Native plums should be allowed to remain on the trees until fully ripe,
when they should be gathered and placed in a cellar for two days, aiter
which they will be in good condition for market.
Whether cellar treatment improves the quality of the plum for all pur-
poses for which it is used I will not prentend to say, but will leave for this
body to decide. But one thing we know from experience, that persons who
taste before they buy will invariably prefer plums that have had cellar treat-
ment.
Plum growing in Renville county has been somewhat discouraged from
the fact that nearly three-fourths of all varieties planted have been De Soto,
Unlike all of the other natives in cultivation, De Soto is not doing well in
this vicinity. The tree is healthy, but its fruiting qualities don’t come up to
the standard; even with good cultivation ‘its fruit seldom attains a size
larger than the commonest specimens to be found in the woods, while most
of the other natives, such as Cheney, Forest Garden and Weaver, will pro-
duce fruit equal in size to that grown anywhere in the state. If one would
ask a farmer in this vicinity if he had any plum trees, in nine cases out of
ten the reply would be, “Well, yes. I bought some tame plum trees, but
they sent me wild plums.” Investigation will always disclose the fact that
the trees which he considers wild are none other than De Soto. On the
other hand, if he should be fortunate enough to get a few trees of any
other variety he will be quite willing to admit he has got a tame plum.
Secy. Latham: The first year I was in Minnesota on the farm
of a relative of mine near Chaska there were the most beautiful
plums. That was in the fall of 1865. I admired them greatly, and the
quality seemed to me to be the very best. They were wonderful in
size, and we called them as large as eggs. They were extraordinary
plums and grew in such a location as Mr. Dunsmore de-
scribes, down on an island in a marsh, and they did wonderfully
well there. I do not know what became of them. I have no-
ticed on my own place that the plums that attained size and the
trees that bore with sufficient prolifteness to be profitable were
HARVESTING AND MARKETING THE PLUM GROP. 295
cultivated on both sides of the row. I had a number of grafted
varieties, but the best of the trees were not named; they were
much better than the Forest Garden, the Weaver or the De Soto.
I named those plums the “Latham.” Those trees are now old and
broken down and near their end. I gave Mr. Underwood some
scions, and I hope he will be able to keep them up. I have often
wondered whether their quality and size was not due to the treat-
ment they received in the row. I had one year from a Miner plum
tree in the same row something like eight dollars’ worth of fruit.
I do not like this careless way of taking care of plums. I do not
believe it is a good plan. If you are not particular and simply
wish a few plums to eat, it does not make so much difference, but
if you want a good, profitable crop, give them good care and cul-
tivation. I do not believe any kind of fruit responds more readily
to good treatment than plums. They need a rich soil, and they
need a good tillage of the ground.
Mr. Jewett: I think what Mr. Latham states is true, that the
best plums are found on this bottom land. In Rice county we
have groves of plum trees on this bottom land that bear very fine
fruit, and I believe it was true of the Aitkin plum that the original
tree grew in bottom land.
Mr. Lord: I have seen some very fine varieties growing on
the bluff. I believe the De Soto will grow on top of the bluff
and thrive as well as at any other place it can be put. We all
know that the natural home of it is along the Minnesota river.
The President: I would like to ask about the Japanese plum.
I.want some one who has had experience to say what the result of
that experience is if he will.
Prof. Green: Mr. Lord has had experience with the Japanese
plums.
Mr. Lerd: I have had a good many varieties, but they are all
dead except the Ogon.
Prof. Green: I regard your situation as very favorable for
plums.
Mr. Lord: Oh, I don’t know.
Prof. Green: Well, I do. (Laughter.)
Mr. Busse: Have you tried the Milton plum, Mr. Lord?
Mr. Lord: I relied upon the experience and judgment of Mr.
Webber. He said it was a very nice and handsome plum, but it
was not good for anything. The fruit was entirely unsatisfactory. I
believe it is really a Chickasaw variety, and they do not do well here.
Mr. Eugene Secor (Iowa): I have a Milton plum tree in my
orchard, but not in bearing, consequently I cannot say anything
296 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
about its quality on my ground, The records of the last few years.
enlarge on the subject. I think they state the case that some like it
and some don’t; that is all there is about it.
Mr. Busse: I would like to ask Mr. Lord what variety of plum
he considers the best for home use; the most prolific.
Mr. Lord: I could not give you a definite answer to that ques-
tion. If you should ask me personally I should say the Roiling-
stone, and if you should ask others they would each give you a dif-
ferent name.
Mr. Busse: I want an answer from your standpoint.
Mr. Lord: Well, if I were to be tied to one plum I would men-
tion five or six varieties. (Laughter.) I have had the best success:
with the Rollingstone, Success and Surprise. I have no reason to:
complain of the Cooper, Stoddard, Gaylord and New Ulm, how-
ever.
Mr. Busse: How do you like the Weaver?
Mr. Lord: It bears very well, but the quality is not as good as
that of the others I have mentioned.
Mr. Busse: How do you like the Hawkeye?
Mr. Lord: It is a good market plum, but the quality is
rather sour.
Mr. Dewain Cook: Is there any better plum for the market?
Mr. Lord: The Wolf sells better with us than the Hawkeye.
Mr. Moyer: Is the Stoddard as hardy as other plums?
Mr. Lord: Yes, I think it is. All the Stoddards on my place
were affected with the aphis, while the other trees were not affected:
at all.
Mr. Moyer: My Stoddard winter-killed, all except one tree.
What to Do with Cheap Berries.—It is a frequent occurrence with fruit
growers to have the price for berries go below the cost of production during
a glut in the market. What to do at such times, and with the Saturdays’
pickings, becomes a serious problem. Raspberries can be evaporated.
Strawberries have been made into jam by a successful Washington grower.
He had twelve acres of strawberries in bearing in 1898. His first picking
brought $4 per crate and subsequently dropped as low as 5o0c, so that he
stood to lose money on his entire crop. He went to the stores, found 250
pint fruit jars, bought a sack of sugar and on his kitchen stove made 250:
‘ pints of strawberry jam. These went onto a closet shelf and stood there
_ forgotten until the following spring. He then sent for some labels, pasted
them on, took a couple of sample jars to town and closed them out at 25c¢
per pint.
Last season as soon as the price dropped to $1.50 per crate (24 qts., wine
measure), he began to put up jam.
LETTERS FROM PROF. S. B. GREEN. 297
LETTERS FROM PROF. S. B. GREEN.’
Munchen, Germany, June 20, 1900.
Probably Mr. L has told you of our trip up to Heidelberg, where I
left Mrs. Green for sixteen days while I tramped in the Vogelsbergs and
Schwartzwold. From there we came here, stopping at Hohenheim on the
way, which we visited from Stuttgart. This, I believe, is the oldest agri-
cultural school in Europe. It has about 120 students in winter, is very
prettily located, and should think it a good institution. Here is where
Wolf did so much to develop agriculture as a science. The experiment sta-
tion here has a fine new building, finished last year, but the work seems
to be chiefly confined to chemistry. The institution seems to be prosper-
ous. One thing that strikes me as very peculiar is the having of beer gar-
dens on the grounds of schools and colleges where they are little remote
from town, but it seems to be quite common.
At Stuttgart I visited the private school for boys of Mr. Gaucher. It is
really a school for teaching the growing and pruning of fruit trees. Most
of the attention seems to be given to pruning trees into curious forms, and
as espaliers, etc. His model tree garden is said to be the best in “form
trees” in Europe. About twenty students attend here and work in the nur-
sery. Mr. Gaucher was away in Paris, with an exhibit of his “form trees”
at the Exposition, with four of his students.
At Munchen I met with the Schenck party again, and, after finding a good
pension for Mrs. Green, I went with them into the Bavarian Alps, where I
found much in forestry that was of interest to me. On my return I found
that Mrs. Green’s niece had arrived from Italy, and we all three went to
the Oberammergau Passionspiel together. We enjoyed this very much.
Oberammergau is about four hours’ ride south from here in the moun-
tains. Immense crowds go there to the play, which is held every Sunday,
and occasionally an extra play is given. Saturday was a holiday, so it had
been decided to hold it on this date as well as Sunday, but the crowd was
so great they also held it on the following Monday. Prof. Mayr, professor
of forestry, has been very attentive to me here, and our stay has been very
instructive and pleasant. Tomorrow we start for Berlin and will stop at
Nuremberg, Erfurt and Dresden on the way.
Dresden, Germany, June 27, 1900.
Well, here we are in Dresden in tip-top order, having arrived here from
Leipzig last night. Wife determined to get a good pension here, as we are
to remain for five or six days, and we have struck it very nice. Found a
very nice place conveniently located and have all we could ask for in a
pension for five marks each ($1.25) per day. It is quiet, well furnished,
spotlessly clean, and the food is good and people pleasant. Here we expect
to spend a day on the Elbe, visit the botanic gardens, forest school, etc. It
is a beautiful clean city and appears more like a thrifty American city than
the old cities we have heretofore been seeing in Europe.
You will want to know what we have been doing since I last wrote you,
which I think was from Heidelberg after my return from a trip of about ten
days in the Vogelsbergs in Hesse-Darmstadt. Our party then moved south
into the northern part of the Black Forest country, where we found forest
conditions much different from those we had seen in the Vogelsbergs. The
latter consist of rather low mountains or high hills, and most of the land
298 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
was formerly used for pasturage or crops, but much of it has been planted
in spruce and other trees, as these actually yield higher money returns than
agricultural crops, owing to the running out of the land. Here I often saw
many acres of good plow land planted in spruce trees, about one meter apart
each way, or one by two meters apart. The farms were generally small
and the farmers poor, and most of them worked their cows and lived in dirty
villages. In the Black Forest, however, conditions are very different. This
is a very rough, rocky, mountainous section, with little land that is wel
adapted to agriculture, and reminded me of portions of New Hampshire
near the White Mountains. In order to get out the timber very nice roads
have been built, which has resulted in giving many very beautiful drives and
has developed it as a summer resort. On this account small hotels, gen-
erally entitled ‘‘Gasthauses,’ are found at convenient distances and are
visited by thousands, who go on foot, bicycle or in carriage. The better
land is almost always used for agriculture, and in forest economies it is
considered important to develop the agriculture with the forests, so as to
have work and food for laborers near to the work. On this account we
occasionally find a piece of land that has been adjudged as more desirable
for agriculture than for forests, but very likely not because it would yield
more money in crops than in trees but because in the general system of
economics it is desirable to mix the two lines. Here we find beautiful swift
streams that are full of trout (called here ‘‘fourelle’), and many small
springs and picturesque waterfalls, all of which, by means of paths and seats
and shelters, are made accessible and attractive to tourists. In other words,
the section is a great park, which is all the more interesting because of the
economic features involved in its management. The extensive system of
planting out of trees is not so much practiced here as in Hessen, owing to
the fact that “‘stumpage” is not so valuable, and then natural reproduction
by seed is here more easily obtained. In many wide ranges the cuttings are
planned so as to secure new reproduction from natural seed production, and
no planting is done except occasionally to fill up some small gap. Here
I saw the European balsam, or, silver fir (Abies pectinata), which makes a
magnificent great tree, and which I had never before seen as a timber tree.
The hotels here are generally better than in Hessen owing to the large
number of tourists who are drawn here. The timber is generally cut in
summer and got out in winter. We had every opportunity afforded us of
seeing the cutting and the lowering of the logs from the steep hill-sides,
by means of ropes, and of other matters connected with the forests. As a
rule, the nursery work did not impress me as being so skillfully done as
in our best nurseries. The birds are very fond of the spruce seeds, which
in one nursery were covered with quite a heavy covering of sphagnum moss
until they began to break ground, to keep off the birds. I think we could,
perhaps, use this to good advantage, but much care must be taken not to
remove the covering too quick in dry weather.
After finishing up our trip in the Black Forest I went to Heidelberg
for Mrs. Green, and we changed our base of operations to Munich, but on
the way we stopped for nearly two days near Stuttgart, where we visited
the oldest agricultural school in Europe. at Hohenheim. About 120 students
attend here, and the work seemed to be carried on in a practical and sensible
way. It is beautifully located about ten miles from Stuttgart. In the city of
Stuttgart is located the private school of Mr. Gaucher, where the students
LETTERS FROM PROF S. B. GREEN. 299
work in the nursery and learn to train trees as espaliers and in various
curious forms. Here are currants and gooseberries gowing on the same
stem, three to six feet from the ground, in tree form. When we were there
the proprietor was away at Paris with an exhibit of his trees. The people
here seem to take great interest in training trees as espaliers and in other
curious forms and know very little about the raising of fruit on a large scale
as a business. Strawberries and cherries are generally sold by the pound
and are used in comparatively small quantities and are marketed in a clumsy
way, as arule, However, here at Dresden, they are offered in boxes in much
the same way as with us, but this is the first place I have seen where the
custom is at all general. In fact, the agricultural and horticultural methods
in Saxony are well developed, and I am inclined to think from what I can
see and hear that this is the garden spot of Germany.
After “doing” Stuttgart, which is a very nice, progressive, business-like
and beautiful place, we came to Munich, where, after locating Mrs. Green
comfortably, I went with our party to the Bavarian Alps, near the Austrian
frontier, where we were among snow-capped mountains and saw the forests
and people of a remote and rather inaccessible district of Germany. Here
we saw a country dance famed as a “‘schule plattel’” and got pretty wet in
an Alpine midnight thunder storm. This storm, by the way, was fully equal
to the best Minnesota variety. We were able to get dry beds about 12:30
a.m. The scenery here is very nice and famed for its beauty and grandeur.
This section was first settled something over 200 years ago by the monks,
who in order to induce settlers to come in gave them perpetual rights to
timber for their houses, barns, fences, etc., and to cut for fuel and to pasture.
These rights still exist and are sold with the farm and add much to the
difficulty of carrying on the best forest practice. The oberforster showed me
one house covered with tile that he had had covered with tile at his own
expense, and even paid a little bonus to do it, as it was believed more to the
advantage of the forest administration than to furnish new shingles. Here
most of the houses are covered with wooden shingles, which are not nailed
on but are held in place by strips of wood, which are weighted with stones.
These roofs are generally renewed once in three years. I must add my testi-
mony as to the high coloring of Alpine flowers, so far as I have observed,
and they are very beautiful here. Many naturalists have noted this.
After finishing up this trip I went with Mrs. Green and her niece, who
joined us here, to Oberammergau and saw the Passionspiel.
We were nicely entertained at Miinchen by Prof. Mayr, of the University
at Nuremberg. We were much interested in the old walls and towers and
moat, which are kept in a good state of preservation and are still the pride
of the city. The old moat has been planted out and made into a pictur-
eque park of much interest, as is common with many of these old cities.
Here we visited a large German farm of a friend and noted the work with
much interest and had a delightful visit, and made many notes. We spent
two days in Erfurt, where I was especially interested in the seed farms and
where I was given every attention and learned much.
Kindly remember me to our mutual horticultural friends when you meet
them, and I trust that you and they are all prospering.
Striped Bug on Cucumber Plants.—I mixed a gill of coal oil with four
quarts dry earth and scattered it thickly on the ground about the plants.
The bugs soon disappeared.
800 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
MY FAMILY VEGETABLE GARDEN.
D. E. GOODMAN, FARIBAULT.
My garden is located on a southwestern slope, sheltered on the north
by a wooded hill; on the top of this hill, surrounded with trees, stands my
home.
I am not a gardener, not even a farmer, but a book-keeper. My office
hours are from 8 a. m. to 6 p. m., consequently my garden work must be
done morning and evening, and what I know about gardening, when to
plant, what to plant, and how to plant, I have learned largely from reading
the Horticulturist and other periodicals of that nature.
Five years ago I began to plant my garden. First, I broke up a strip
at the foot of the hill, about 200 feet long east and west, and, perhaps, 40
feet wide, which I planted mostly to corn and potatoes. Each year I have
added a few feet of the hillside until my garden is now nearly 100 feet wide.
Three years ago last spring I planted two rows of fruit trees the length of
the garden, and every spring since I have added a row, until I now have six
rows of trees, containing forty apples and crabs, sixteen plums, six cher-
ries, seventeen grape vines and twenty black walnuts, two years old from
the nuts. Between the trees I have gooseberries, currants and raspberries.
You have by this time a general idea of my garden or gardens, for the
space between each two rows of trees forms a long narrow garden by itself,
so to speak. The space between the fence and the walnuts, I planted last
spring to sweet corn and pop corn. The sweet corn I made in three plant-
ings, about ten days apart, which gave us a long season of sweet corn. In
the next strip I had beans, a bed of onion sets, and new and old straw-
berry beds. Between the rows of the new strawberry bed I had my peas,
also in three plantings.
The next strip was wholly taken up with early potatoes.
The next strip was the truck-garden proper. I began at the west end
and sowed a bed of black seed onions; next a bed of parsnips; then carrots;
then table beets; then a small bed of old onions to grow sets—and, by the
way, this was the third time I had planted the same onions, and I am saving
them again to see how long they will keep it up. After the onions came a
patch of rutabagas, then a few more beans, then about thirty tomato
plants and a few hills of cucumbers. The rest of the strip I gave to the boys
for their very own melon patch.
The last strip, on the up hill side of the youngest row of trees, a piece
about eight feet wide, I planted one-half to musk melons and one-half to
watermelons. Among the grape vines, which are very small, I had petunias,
four o’clocks, zinnias, marigolds, and other old fashioned flowers. This
part of the garden was very showy all summer and late into the fall.
Of course, my trees and bushes are small and not yet in the way, but I
can see that before long I shall have to find some other place for the gar-
den, as the trees have a mortgage on the ground and will soon foreclose.
After I had all planted and while hoeing, wherever I found a vacancy I
dropped a bean—I always had a few beans in my overalls pocket—along
the sides, around the trees, and in the corners, wherever there was room, I
dropped a bean, and no place was wasted.
From this garden—the general plan of which I saw in the Horticultur-
ist some years ago (perhaps the author is present)—I furnished my family
es
MY FAMILY VEGETABLE GARDEN. 301
of six healthy, growing appetites, with crisp, fresh vegetables and juicy ber-
ries, in plenty and variety, from rhubarb and asparagus to green corn and po-
tatoes—something or other the whole season through and put a lot in the
cellar besides.
My wife often says, “What should we do without the garden; half our
living comes out of it?”
The past season we had, each in its own proper season, asparagus,
green onions, radish and lettuce; gooseberries, currants, strawberries and
raspberries; cucumbers, beets, carrots and turnips; green peas, green corn
and new potatoes; muskmelons, watermelons and tomatoes; every day
something, ripe and fresh, and not to be compared with any store truck.
Besides living off the garden all summer we have stored for winter use
three bushels rutabagas, four bushels beets, two bushels onions, one and
one-half bushels navy beans, one bushel lima beans, five bushels carrots, one
bushel parsnips—some still in ground for spring—one-half bushel pop corn
and a few Hubbard squash; and again the wife has canned tomatoes, straw-
berries and raspberries; she has made catsup, pickles and chow-chow; and
we gave stuff away because we could not use it all. My winter potatoes I
had to buy this year for the first time, because of so many trees. And cab-
bage, yes, I had 150 plants set out, but my wife’s turkeys ate them while I
was out camping in July.
Anybody who has a piece of ground, and who is able and willing to
study and work, may enjoy the fruits of his own garden. All the work in
my garden, after the spring ploughing, was done by myself, by hand, with
what help I could get out of two small boys. It kept me busy night and
morning, but I enjoyed it and took pleasure in watching things grow, es-
pecially the trees. Several of the first planted have begun to bear fruit, and
I have eaten apples from my own trees, and last year took a few to the
street fair.
In all my garden work I have been very successful. Why? Because
when I had something to plant, be it a tree or a cabbage, I took advantage
of 'somebody’s experience, as set forth in the Horticulturist. If cut worms
or striped bugs threatened my vegetables, or rabbits or bugs my trees, I
hunted up some article which told me what to do, and then went out and
did it according to my best understanding.
Root Pruning is frequently necessary with all fruit trees where the
ground is very rich, producing excessive wood growth and but very little
fruit. First remove only the ends of the large feeders, but if this does not
accomplish the purpose, prune more severely.
Cultivating with a Rake-—Few people know the use of a rake among
little stuff in the garden. There is no tool more important. Get a wide
rake, with long, straight teeth not too close together. You can do more
work in an hour with it than you can in five hours with any other tool.
Rake right across the plants; never fear that you will pull them up. You
will be surprised to see how neatly the plants slip through the teeth. Young
onions, radishes, beets, cabbage, tomatoes, etc., can be quickly and easily
gone over. In plowing radishes, peas, potatoes, corn, etc., when young,
they often have to be uncovered. I used to stoop to uncover each plant,
but now I take the rake and can uncover almost as fast as I walk.
~~
3802 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
CRANBERRY CULTURE.
(Facts gathered by U. S. Census Bureau.)
Although cranberry growing is old, this is the first attempt made by the
government to gather special and complete statistics in relation to it. :
The wild cranberry (or craneberry) grew in natural bogs only. The
best bogs are laurel, maple, cedar, tamarack, aspen and balsam swamps.
Cultivation consists in clearing away all growth except the vines and in
sanding and preparing to flood. The bog is flooded to protect the fruit from
frosts and to kill fire worms or other parasites. Among the latter are yel-
low-headed and black-headed fruit worms, which, if left unchecked, are liable
to destroy the entire crop.
Growers remove weeds, add fertilizers, reflood from time to time and
spray the vines to kill moths, larvae, tip worms, scale, etc. Where suitable
sand is available, all really first-class bogs are sanded regardless of whether
or not they can be flooded. This renders cultivation and picking easier and
makes the fruit brighter and cleaner.
In some sections, where flooding is not accomplished by natural fresh-
ets or the use of artificial dams and sluices, powerful pumping works have
been erected. When the weather bureau reports an impending freeze, the
pumps are put to work and the bog is covered with water in a few hours,
and the crop saved.
There are some dry cranberry fields, artificially planted; but, while pro-
ductive, they can not be so certainly protected as the floodable bogs.
The number of commercial growers in the United States is over two
thousand. They are found mainly in the states of Massachusetts, New Jer- °
sey, Maine, Connecticut, Michigan and Wisconsin; but Minnesota, Oregon,
Rhode Island, Washington and New York report bogs. The number in
Michigan and Wisconsin is on the increase despite a temporary set-back
by forest fires.
A new field or bog is made by clipping and thrusting into the earth
sprouts from vines not more than three years old.
There are many varieties of cranberries. Over 100 of them, of good
keeping and shipping qualities, were raised at the State Experiment Sta-
tion at Madison, Wisconsin, in 1898, and exhibited at the succeeding cran-
berry convention. The United States consular officers report about an equal
number in the Canadian provinces, the best of which are being transplanted
to this country.
The methods of cultivating, picking, screening or grading and marketing
cranberries are practically the same everywhere, and more nearly uniform
than those of any other branch of agricultural production that covers widely
separated areas.
The growers are well organized, the national association having its
headquarters at Trenton, New Jersey, and local organizations existing in
Massachusetts and possibly elsewhere. They keep a record of acreage and
production and gather for their own use certain annual statistics. They also
are attempting to secure the adoption and common use of barrels and crates
of uniform size, sanctioned by law. What is known as the “western bar-
rel,” so fixed by law in Wisconsin, is 25% inches high; 16 inches in diameter
at the heads and 18 inches in diameter at the bilge, inside measure, and
must be officially branded, under severe penalties for failure.
CRANBERRY CULTURE. 303
The Massachusetts or Cape Cod barrel is slightly different, being
16x1734x261% inches inside measure, and must contain 100 quarts.
The Wisconsin (legal) or western crate is 22x12x7% inches, inside
measure, and must be branded. The Cape Cod crate, in use also in Can-
necticut, Maine and New Jersey, is of the same dimensions.
THE WEALTHY.
EUGENE SECOR, FOREST CITY, IOWA.
Nature is ever generous of common things but parsimonious with her
treasures. Hundreds of millions of plain, everyday people have been
created, but only one Shakespeare. Millions of tons of coal are found for
every diamond brought to light. Thousands of bushels of apple seeds have
been planted, but only one Wealthy.
About thirty-five years ago, Peter M. Gideon, of Minnesota, obtained a
lot of apple seeds from Bangor, Maine. He said that in the lot was one
package marked “Cherry crab.” From the package so marked he says he
produced the Wealthy.
It is the greatest pomological acquisition for the northwest ever dis-
seminated. For northern Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin it is worth more
than all the foreign importations yet made, for it is not only valuable be-
cause of its own merits but for the hope which it inspires.
What Gideon has done in the production of this incomparable apple has
lead and will lead thousands of others to renewed and hopeful effort to pro-
duce an apple of equal quality which shall prove to be a better keeper. The
more it has been tried, the more valuable it is considered.
A. J. Philips, secretary of the Wisconsin Horticultural Society, says:
“As a business, all round apple, tree and fruit, the Wealthy discounts by
odds in money and satisfaction any apple that ever put in an appearance
north of the Iowa and Minnesota state line.”
It may not be needed south of latitude forty-two, but north of that it
has been a Godsend.
_ According to the report of our secretary, sent out last June, the Wealthy
stands with Oldenberg and Northwestern Greening in hardiness, under the
severe test of last winter.
The Wisconsin Experiment Station issued a bulletin on the effect of
last winter upon different varieties of apple trees, and the Wealthy headed
the list of trees reported least injured.
It is an early bearer of good sized, handsome, red fruit, of finer flavor
and higher quality than any other apple grown in the northwest. It is one
of the best sellers ever put upon the market. There is more money in it
than in any other variety grown north of the parallel mentioned. Although
regarded as a fall apple, it keeps well in cold storage and is a money maker
when taken out. It is a monument to its originator more enduring than
marble. It is a distinct addition to the sum of the world’s blessings, and its
discoverer will forever be remembered as a public benefactor.
O ruddy-cheeked apple, when kissed by the sun
Till ye blush with a beauty divine,
.With flavor distilled from the mildness of June,
What a heavenly mission is thine!
The sour, hardy Duchess, the best of its race,
Was a boon until thou wert made known;
But beauty and quality in thee embrace,
And our tastes have improved where thou’rt grown.
304 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
The Northland extols thee, for there is thy home;
In the ‘‘Land of the Lakes’’ wert thou born;
Thou lovest the rich, middle-west, where the loam
Turns to gold both the wheat and the corn.
Ye brought to the prairies the riches of Maine,
Freely emptied the choicest in store
In Gideon’s lap for the pleasure and gain
Of the dwellers inland, evermore.
We give thee the crown—thou art king of the North—
And thy reign undisputed shall be,
Till worthier seedlings, with Northwestern birth,
Shall contest apple kingdoms with thee.
GROWING NORWAY SPRUCE FOR PAPER PULP.
T. L. DUNCAN, UNIYERSITY OF MINNESOTA,
Among the many articles of manufacture that the progress and develop-
ment of the present have made essential, there stands out prominently the
one discussed in this paper; an article handled by every one and used for an
almost inconceivable number of purposes in every household, office and in-
stitution in the state. How few are aware of the source of its material, and
fewer yet understand the importance to which that source has arisen in
Minnesota! I speak of printing paper, the demand for which has become
enormous throughout the United States. Mills everywhere are taxed to
their full capacity, and in Minnesota, a comparatively new state in the busi-
ness, the few mills are extending their works, and others are being planned
for.
Why should Minnesota have paper mills? Paper is made largely from
wood pulp, obtained by the abrasion of the wood of certain trees, among
which spruce is used, perhaps, more extensively than any other, and of this
tree there is at present a large quantity growing in northern Minnesota.
Further, it has been found advisable to operate pulp and paper mills in con-
junction, and to place the combined plant as near as practicable to the grow-
ing material. The manufacturers are finding further that it pays to con-
trol their own forested lands and to manage the cutting of timber on scien-
tific forestry principles, so as to insure a continuous supply of pulpwood.
By careful cutting and re-seeding over a large tract of land, it would be
possible for a paper mill to operate for an indefinite period of time, and as
the demand for paper in Minnesota bids fair to be a permanent one the mills
should be established on a permanent basis and arrangements made for a
new growth to take the place of the native woods, which will be exhausted
in a few years. The paper-makers of Minnesota are probably not thinking
very much about re-seeding at present, but it is the duty of the forester to
do some of that thinking for them and to offer the results of his study for
their consideration. I will endeavor then to present some facts about the
growth of spruce in Minnesota, and will introduce a new tree—that is a tree
new to the pulp makers in this state, although well known to horticul-
turists for thirty years as an ornamental tree.
There are two kinds of spruce native in Minnesota, the white spruce and
the black spruce, but no distinction is made between them in pulp making,
so that when I examined the stock pile of the Northwestern Paper Co., at
Cloquet, last winter, I found both kinds thrown in together. To get at the
GROWING NORWAY SPRUCE FOR PAPER PULP. 805
average age and growth of the poles on this stock pile, I measured the
diameters and counted the annual rings of twelve black spruce and three
white spruce poles. Both black and white spruce are slow growers, as the
figures will show, but the former is much more so than the latter. The
black spruce averaged 4.56 inches in diameter, with an average of 52.92
years; or it required 11.6 years to grow one inch in diameter. The white
spruce averaged 9.5 inches with an age of 79.3 years; or one inch growth in
8.35 years. A small black spruce which I cut in the woods near Cloquet,
measured at twelve inches from the ground, 33 inches in diameter and was
sixty-five years old—an average growth of one inch in 19.26 years. This
tree was about twenty feet high, but would scarcely furnish one eight foot
pole for pulp. In Bulletin No. 49 of the Minnesota Agricultural Experiment
Station I find figures for three white spruce trees, with an average diameter
of 6.75 inches and an age of 50.67 years; or one inch in 7.5 years. These
figures on black and white spruce are rather discouraging to the prospective
pulp-wood operator. But let me now introduce the new tree which I am
going to recommend as a more rapid grower.
The Norway spruce, Picea excelsa, a native of northern Europe and
Asia, has become a general favorite in the eastern states on account of its
easy propagation from seed, its rapid growth and its very graceful and
stately form. Wherever planted in Minnesota it seems to do well. On the
Experiment Farm, at St. Anthony Park, I measured seven Norway spruces
with an average diameter of 4.5 inches and about fifteen years old. These
trees having now passed through the earlier struggle for place may be ex-
pected to grow much faster for the next fifteen years. In addition to these
there are in the forest plantation on the farm about sixty-four other trees
which I did not measure, but which are in a very thrifty condition and will
in a few years more furnish some excellent data as to rate of growth in
plantation on Minnesota soil.
On the Hendrickson place in the same section, there are standing some
thirteen Norway spruce trees, which were set out about twenty-five years
ago, when they were four or five years old. These trees are now about
thirty years old, average thirty-seven feet high, with a diameter of 13.6
inches, or one inch growth in 2.2 years. On the Parker place, adjoining the
Experiment Station on the north, are two trees about thirty years old with
a diameter of thirteen inches, or one inch in 2.3 years. At the Rosehill Nur-
sery, one-half mile west of the station, there are eleven Norway spruces,
said to be about twenty-five years old, and which average in diameter 11.68
inches, or one inch growth in 2.14 years.
From the Hendrickson spruces one could cut twenty-four feet of log-
length suitable for pulp. The volume of such a log, twenty-four feet long,
with a basal diameter of 13.6 inches and top diameter ot four inches would
be 13.15 cubic feet; and allowing 400 trees to the acre, it would be possible
to raise in thirty years, 5,260 cubic feet of pulp wood, or about 61.16 cords
per acre. (86 cubic feet volume—r cord). If a paper mill uses twentv
cords of wood per day and runs 300 days in the year, 6,000 cords would be
required each year to keep it going or, in other terms, 96.3 acres of land
would have to be cleared of timber each year. For speculative consideration
we may make this 100 acres per year, and each year for the next thirty years
we will seed to Norway spruce 100 acres of land, or a total of 3,000 acres.
Norway spruce matures in from twenty-five to thirty years, after which its
506 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY,
growth is much slower; so at the end of thirty years we will begin to cut
100 acres a year, and will continue to seed or re-seed the same amount of
land. The mill has now been placed on a permanent basis and may continue
operations indefinitely, occupying only 3,000 acres of land with growing
pulp material.
The figures given for the Hendrickson trees should not be accepted as
conclusive for all cases, as the rate of growth varies with conditions. In
the case of the black spruce cut in the woods at Cloquet, there was an in-
crease of diameter during the last ten years equal to about one-third of the
previous growth in diameter. This one-third growth in diameter for the
ten years represents a sectional area almost as great as that of the whole
fifty-five years previous. The sectional area of the stem with diameter
of 334 inches is 8.93 square inches; with a diameter of 2% inches grown in
fifty-five years it was 4.9 square inches. The difference between these two
areas is 4.03 square inches; which is the sectional area grown during the
last ten years. This increased growth was due, no doubt, to the removal
of surrounding timber trees, which over-topped and suppressed young
growth below.
The great diffe-ence in rate of growth of the Norway and the native
Minnesota spruces is more clearly shown in the following summary:
Black, spruce in woods at Cloquet, one inch in 19.26 years for 65 years.
Black spruce in stock pile. Cloquet, one inch in 11.60 years for 52.92
years.
White spruce in stock pile, Cloquet, one inch in 8.35 years for 79.30
years.
White spruce in Bulletin 49, one inch in 7.50 years for 50.67 years.
Norway spruce, Experiment Farm, one inch in 3.30 years for 15 years.
Norway spruce, Hendrickson Farm, one inch in 2.20 years for 30 years.
Norway spruce, Parker Farm, one inch in 2.30 years for 30 years.
Norway spruce, Rosehill Nursery, one inch in 2.14 years for 25 years.
Whether or not the wood of the Norway spruce is as well adapted to
pulp making as the black spruce, I cannot say, but will make that the sub-
ject of further investigation. It is a heavier wood than either the white
or the black spruce, with a specific gravity of .47 as compared with .4051
and .458 in the others. The black spruce is a short lived tree on dry land
in Minnesota, so that when we find Norway spruce growing to a timber size
in thirty years, around a well drained open field, with sandy subsoil, we may
assume that it has some advantage over black spruce, which is general in
muskegs and other wet places.
* To compare Norway spruce with the red spruce of Maine, which is the
great pulp wood of the eastern states, I obtained from the Third Annual
Report of the Forest Commissioner of the State of Maine (1896), figures
showing that in 106 trees 108 years old there were 1,229 cubic feet, an average
of 11.6 cubic feet for each tree. And for pine, which he proposes to substi-
tute for spruce as pulp material when the latter is exhausted, 121 trees con-
tained 1,030 cubic feet at an age of fifty-four years, or 8.5 cubic feet per
tree. The average for the Norway spruce on the Hendrickson place is
13.15 cubic feet at thirty years, and, supposing that the Maine figures exclude
the bark I will deduct one-sixth, which is the allowance made by the Maine
commissioner for bark, leaving 10.96 cubic feet for a thirty years’ growth.
This. as you notice, is greater than the volume for pine at fifty-four years,
GROWING NORWAY SPRUCE FOR PAPER PULP. 3807
and only .64 cubic feet less than the red spruce at 108 years. What Norway
spruce might accomplish on Maine soil and under Maine climate or what
red spruce might do in Minnesota can only be conjectured.
In closing I would again warn the reader that all comparisons in this
paper are of growths under different conditions, but at the same time it is
evident that Norway spruce is a rapid grower and will, under proper condi-
tions of culture and fire protection, furnish pulp-wood in twenty-five or thir-
ty years, so that the man who sows the seed may live to participate in the
results. And I would recommend that this subject of the rapidity of growth
of economic materials be given a thorough investigation, both by the state
and by the paper manufacturers themselves.
FRUIT CULTURE IN LAKE SUPERIOR REGION OF
MINNESOTA.
R. H. PENDERGAST, DULUTH.
The culture of fruit in northeastern Minnesota has not progressed
enough to show very well what can be done here, or how the results will
compare with those in the rest of the state. Most of the early settlers
thought that we were too far north, and that it was too cold to raise tree
fruit successfully, and it was hard to get any of them to set out anything
except crab apples and wild plums. For this reason the varieties of large
apples that have been set long enough to bear fruit are limited.
Those who did set out a few hardy apples, plums and cherries, find that
their trees are healthy; and the fruit compares well with the same varieties
raised in other parts of the state. Most of the trees that were set out first
were summer varieties.
The late Mr. Smith, of New Duluth, was always very much interested in
fruit work, and he set out more trees than any other of the first settlers. But
he made the same mistake that those who first set out trees in the southern
part of the state did—he set his first orchard on a hillside with a southern
exposure, to protect them from the cold; and the result was that most of
those trees are dead or injured. The next trees that he planted were on
ground that inclined a little to the northwest. This lot of trees were sent
to him by Prof. Budd, of Ames, Iowa, and was a collection of Russian
varieties and such seedlings as were being tried there at that time.
I was at their place lately, and Mrs. Smith informed me that some of
the varieties had died, and there were a few trees that did not look well, but
the most of them showed a healthy, vigorous growth, and they had a fair
crop of apples last year. We had a very wet, cold season here in 1899, and
the later kinds did not ripen as well as usual. She gave me a few specimens
to send down to you to exhibit at the meeting, if you thought best.
Owing to the cool summer and shorter season for growth, the late win-
ter apples do not ripen here; but with the moisture from the lake the trees
make a healthy growth, and I think that those kinds that will ripen will
produce finer fruit than that raised farther south.
The interest in fruit culture is increasing, and many ‘are setting out
trees, so that in a few years this part of the state will make a better exhibit
of fruit than it can at present. In the older towns along the south shore of
Lake Superior, in northern Wisconsin and Michigan, fruit culture has de-
veloped much faster. Especially is this the case in Ontonagan County,
308 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Michigan. The timber on the land was cut to supply the copper mines, and
when the mines mostly stopped working, the people took up the land and
have made good farms, and have good orchards of all kinds offhardy apples,
plums and cherries. Those who live back from the lake will have to take
the precaution to keep ‘the frost in the ground around their trees later, so
that the trees will not open their blossoms until the late frosts are over.
Then they can count on a good crop of fruit.
Most of the farms back of Duluth have a plenty of land that is well
adapted to growing all kinds of fruit that is suited to the climate. Owing to
the cold summers, the apple trees are not affected by the blight as much as
they are in the southern part of the state.
Mr. Dartt: Would it be possible to keep the frost in the ground
any length of time?
The President: There is enough sap carried over in the winter
in the tree branches to cause them to leaf out. I remember when
I was a boy at one time (and it shows exactly what can be done
without waiting for the frost to come out), a rose bush stood outside
the door near a window. One of us was unlucky enough to stick
his elbow through a pane of glass, and made a little hole about as.
large as a quarter ofa dollar. After a while it struck me I would go
out and take a little branch of that rose bush and put it through
that hole. I did so and stuffed it around with cotton batting, and
immediately the buds on that little branch began to swell, and it
soon came out into full leaf. I do not remember whether it came
out in full bloom or not, but I know by the time the snow was gone
that branch was in full leaf, and when it was taken through that
hole in the window the snow was two feet deep on the outside, and
the frost was at least two feet deep under the snow.
Mr. Dartt: There is nothing in that theory that the frost can
be kept in. It has been extensively tried, and the fellow who tried
it found out there was just six hours difference between the time
the frost came out where the ground was protected and where it was
unprotected. (Laughter.)
~~ Mr. Jewett: While it is true that while the frost is in the ground
it cannot affect the limbs of the tree, yet I saw the result of an ex
periment in New Jersey in whitewashing a tree. They made the
wash thick, and it put the tree back some five or six days.
The President: That is a different thing. This plan was to
mulch the ground before freezing.
Onions, unlike most other crops, delight in being grown on ground
previously used for onions. An onion patch, to be profitable, must be very
rich and free from weeds. It is less work to keep one clean if properly
tended the first season.
as OF 2 ee
a
THE FLOWER GARDEN AN INDEX OF CHARACTER. 309
THE FLOWER GARDEN AN INDEX OF CHARACTER.
MRS. FRANCES L. TOWN, MARKEVILLE.
When we start on the journey of life, we find ourselves entire strangers
to all our fellow travelers, but nature comes to our relief, by awakening our
perceptive faculties, and before we have reached the first station we ask
ourselves ‘Who, and what are they?” Young as we are, the study of char-
acter has begun, though it is a long, hard lesson that only the most studious
can hope to master before reaching the last station.
As our actions betray our thoughts, so our surroundings express our
ideals of comfort and beauty. This is why so many homes are made more
attractive by the planting of flowers, and in each of these little gardens you
can trace some leading characteristic of the owner, and as the flower garden
usually belongs to the women folks, of course it is feminine characteristic.
As you walk along a village street, perhaps the first home you notice
will have only the most brilliant flowers in such profusion that you do not
notice the arrangement or cultivation. You will find the owner as gay as
her flowers; you may enjoy her animated conversation but would not think
of asking her advice.
The next is a wilderness of green, with plenty of blue and white flowers,
and only a few gay colors. This is a quiet, sensitive woman that will bear
acquaintance.
In the next you will notice the arrangement more than the flowers;
every line is straight, and every corner an exact right angle. There are no
graceful curves. You are not offered any flowers, she is keeping them all
for seed. Although a very worthy person, you will find her too precise and
particular to be very companionable.
Then you come to a garden with so few walks and so many flowers that
you fancy it to be a wild flower garden. Here you are offered a bouquet,
and treated in a way that makes you feel as though you had met an old
’ friend; but you may hear some one say that she is not “much of a house-
keeper.”
The next garden has only two small beds, pansies and sweet peas per-
haps. The owner tells you that she only plants her favorite flowers. If you
should ever get acquainted, you will find she always looks out for number
one.
Now you can sometimes find a flower garden that belongs to a woman
that never works out of doors; she tells you John planted it one evening
after his day’s work was done; the children have done the weeding, and
that is why it is such a failure; it does not suit her at all, and she would not
try to have flowers only most everybody else has them. You can’t help won-
dering what John thinks of ingratitude.
The next yard is decorated with a wood pile, an ash heap and a clothes
line—may be a few other things. In one corner are a few flowers that have
been nearly hoed to death. The lady of the house will inform you she does
not think much of posies, but her little child likes them awful well; that’s
why she has them. You are glad she loves and sympathizes with her child,
as its influence may change her surroundings.
We have only time for one more. You can see the owner has made the
best use of the time and money she had to spare for this purpose. The
colors are combined so nicely, the annuals and perennials selected with care
810 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
to produce the longest season of bloom; the front yard reaches almost
around the house, so the view from the kitchen window is nearly as
fine as from the front porch. She can show you the favorite flowers of each
member of her family, and in some sheltered spot she will show you some
of the tall, old-fashioned flowers that used to grow in mother’s garden. To
give my opinion of this woman I will borrow a phrase from “Josiah Allen’s
Wife,” and say, “She is always mejum.”
From the vast storehouse of nature we have chosen flowers to represent
the purest and noblest impulses of the human heart; mothers drop them on
the baby’s pillow; the bride carries them to the altar, and we fashion them
in many forms to be laid upon the casket. They are our life long compan-
ions, and through their refining influence one often betrays his true char-
acter.
WHAT CAN BE PROFITABLY GROWN IN THE
ORCHARD.
S. D. RICHARDSON, WINNEBAGO CITY.
The most profitable crop that I ever saw grown in the orchard was ap-
ples. Before the trees are large enough to bear and require the whole
ground, there is a chance to raise something else with profit if the require-
ments of successful apple growing in Minnesota are not forgotten.
That veteran horticulturist of Martin Co., Capt. W. H. Budd, said to me
several years ago, that his experience in Minnesota since 1856 had taught
him that if we did not want our apple trees to blight we must keep the
ground shaded from the direct rays of the sun as much as possible, and my
experience agrees with his. Any crop that must be removed in the fall, leav-
ing the ground bare for winter, should not be grown in the orchard. If I
wished to kill a young orchard I would leave the ground bare and level in-
the fall. I saw it tried several years ago at Granada, Martin Co. The trees
were half dead in the spring, and it was not a very hard winter either.
A man near Amboy, Blue Earth Co., had a young orchard that he gave
good cultivation, but it blighted very badly. He asked Mr. Derby, of Win-
nebago City, what he could do to stop it. Mr. Derby told him to seed it to
clover, and if he cut it leave it on the ground for mulch. He followed Mr.
Derby’s advice, and his orchard stopped blighting.
Last summer I saw in the garden of Mr. Nims, of Vernon Center, Blue
Earth Co., a thrifty young orchard—trees full of apples and apparently not
injured in the least by the trying weather of last winter. The rows of trees
and space between was occupied with currants and raspberries.
Mr. Mills, of Garden City, had a heavy crop of blackberries in his
orchard. He was growing a profitable crop and has a fine young orchard
just coming into bearing.
The orchard is a good place for the asparagus bed. Corn can be profit-
ably grown in a young orchard, then husked on the hill, and the stalks left
standing on the ground over the winter, if the right kind of a man drives the
team when cultivating. Only a man who loves trees and will keep the ends
of the whiffletrees away from their bodies should ever venture into a young
orchard with a team. If the trees are grown with low tops even the ordinary
WHAT CAN BE PROFITABLY GROWN IN THE ORCHARD. 311
hired man cannot get close enough to them after a few years to injure their
bodies; the most he can do is to knock the bark off from some of the limbs.
Hogs managed just right are a very profitable crop to grow in the
orchard for some men after the trees get big enough. Each one must judge
for himself what will pay best under the circumstances and act accordingly,
only do not leave the ground bare in the fall and expect to raise apples.
As Mr. Dean, of Blue Earth City, said to me a few years ago, “Why!
even our native burr oaks would die if we used them that way.”
Mr. Sargent: I would like to ask whether grass or sod should
be allowed to grow in the orchard at any time?
Mr. Richardson: You can plow the orchard if you can get the
right kind of a man to go in there.
Mr. Sargent: Would you keep the grass out or would you let
it sod over?
Mr. Richardson: We will set out some apples next spririg, and
we will seed it over with clover; clover is all right. The first year
you want to keep the grass out, but the next year I would seed it
down and let it grow. I have seen quite a good many instances
where men grew raspberries in the orchard and covered them in the
fall, and then the ground is in good shape.
Mr. Yahnke: Have you ever tried red raspberries?
Mr. Richardson: I have a half dozen Peerless where the
ground is planted to raspberries. Where I plant raspberries, I
plant them first and then the trees.
Mr. Sargent: I have seen apple trees between rows in planta-
tions of raspberries where they kept the raspberries away from the
trees, and they did very finely. The raspberries act as a shade in
summer and protect from sun-scald and in winter protect from
freezing.
Mr. Wedge: We have about a hundred and seventy-five trees
among the blackberries, some Wealthy, and we had to prop up the
limbs. I know a man who has to use rails to prop them up.
Mr. Latham: I think Mr. Stellar, of Excelsior, could tell us
something of interest along this line of apple culture. He is very
successful in growing apples. You probably remember a picture
that appeared in the Horticulturist a few years ago showing a
Wealthy apple tree loaded with fruit and a family group standing
under it collecting them into barrels. That was taken at Mr. Stel-
lar’s place, and I think he is in the picture.
Mr. Stellar: Our orchard is an old one; we do not cultivate it,
but leave it in sod as we found the place. We have set out some
young trees; they were planted some eight years ago and are now
in bearing, and we cultivated them; but those that were cultivated
blighted very badly last summer, and we thought it was on account
312 MINNESOTASTATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
of the cultivation we gave them. Those that were not cultivated
seem to do just as well, bear just as well and do not blight at all.
The President: That part that is in sod, do you allow the sod
to grow up close to the trunk of the tree or do you keep it clear
around the trunk?
Mr. Stellar: It is all sod right up to the trunk.
The President: Is it blue grass?
Mr. Stellar: Well, it is what we call June grass.
Mr, Clark: I want to say a word in regard to Mr. Latham’s
paper. [Iam a traveling man and I met last fall at Fargo a travel-
ing man who was selling apples. The firm that he was working
for had been down to Missouri buying those apples and shipping
them up north, and he would order a carload to this town and to
that town, and then he would go there and sell them. They wrote
or telegraphed him that they had a full carload of Jonathan, and he
wired them to send them to Fargo. He went there and sold every
barrel of those apples for $5 a barrel. Now you all know that the
Jonathan is one of the best eating apples grown, and the point I
want to make is this: I want to impress upon your minds the fact
that you can get more money from a good straight carload of
Wealthy apples than from any other variety. Send them to a large
town and the people will not hesitate to buy them. Go and plant
Wealthy apples and raise plenty of them.
Mr. Jewett: I want to add a word in regard to raising a crop in the
orchard. We can hardly call our orchard a bearing orchard—the major part
was set in ’95—but at the same time we set strawberries, raspberries and
blackberries. We have now about twelve acres all set out with apple trees,
and they made an extra fine growth during the season. We have had no
root-killing, no winter-killing and no blight. One thought was brought out
in regard to mulching of the trees I want to speak of. Our trees are thor-
oughly cultivated, and then they are mulched with a very heavy mulch of
straw. We water the trees thoroughly, water them every fall, and they go
into winter quarters thoroughly wet down and the ground mulched. They
make a very fine growth. This year they did not bear, but one can judge
whether those things help the growth of an orchard. They are set two rods
apart. We run an alley every twenty rods across the orchard, and we know
in that way just how much a quarter of an acre is. The land slopes to the
southeast about three feet.
Mr. Secor, (Iowa): Any water near?
Mr. Jewett: We have a lake to the northeast, three and one-half miles
long and a half mile wide. On the south side the orchard is protected by a
growth of timber and on the east side by the lake. Those trees that start-
ed last spring came right along this spring.
Mr. Dartt: Which is the best for bearing?
Mr. Jewett: Our best bearing trees are the Virginia crabs. They have
borne best, and next to that has been the Wealthy and next to that the
Peerless, and the Shields crab bore very finely.
WHAT CAN BE PROFITABLY GROWN IN THE ORCHARD. 3813
Mr. Latham: I am impressed with the importance of cultivating an
orchard. Probably I have had opportunity to read the reports of other so-
cieties, the reports of this society and the reports of experiment stations
more than any one else in te society, and I have read each paper that is
presented before this society at least three times in the work of getting it
ready for the press, and I am impressed with the thought that the success
that has come to us has been largely in connection with good cultivation.
Those that have cultivated have obtained good results. I want to ask Mr.
Underwood for his further experience in the orchard that he put under cul-
tivation three or four years ago.
Mr. Underwood: I speak of my own experience, and not altogether that
either, but I speak from my own experience and that which I have incorpo-
rated in my own from the experience of others. Our president here is the
first man who put good sense into me about apple growing. He told me
of what he had seen and knew of thorough cultivation. I had been working
along other lines, but I just made up my mind I would do what I wanted
tc do, and that is tu cultivate thoroughly, and I presume I am doing it more
thoroughly than any one else. I like to go into the orchard and say there
is not a weed in it. You cannot do that all the time, but there are times in
our orchard when you can almost say there is not a weed in it. The idea is
to get the moisture in the soil and keep it there. I think in this climate our
failure or success depends upon our having enough moisture in the soil. It
is so dry here. Where we are the soil is dry, and a good deal of the subsoil
is rather dry; in one orchard that we have the soil is sandy, there is a little
mixture of clay in it, and some of it is gravel, but it is a poor place for an
orchard.
Mr. Dartt: How deep is the gravel?
Mr. Underwood: When they dig wells they have to go down a hundred
feet for water, and it is sand clear down to the water, except there may be a
little admixture of.clay in strata. It is not pure sand, still it is what we call
sandy land. I tried mulching and I tried other methods, but, as I said before,
when the president told me they could get along without irrigation in the
Great Bend of the Columbia river and talked about a dust blanket I sup-
posed it meant something like three inches of dust such as we find on the
road in summer; but it:meant simply to stir up the top surface of the soil to
prevent evaporation of the moisture and prevent it going off by capillary
movement. So now when it has rained, and the ground has dried off with a
fine sun and a good deal of wind, just as soon as the ground is in a condi-
tion to stir, the team goes in there with a spring tooth harrow, we harrow it
over and keep that surface loose, an inch or two inches, just a little on the
surface. We have another orchard that is growing on better soil where the
sun is so hot in August that sometimes it will bake the apples on the ground,
and I call that a pretty hot place for an orchard. Under those conditions
we are trying to grow fruit, and I have not found anything that answers our
purpose so well as thorough cultivation,
Mr. Sherman, (Iowa): Do you keep that cultivation up all summer?
Mr. Underwood: We keep it up all summer and until snow flies. We
did not go into winter quarters this year with dry soil, and last year we hada
good lot of rain anyway, but two years ago it was dry in the fall, and I hesi-
tated about cultivating in October, but I said I had started out on that line
whether I killed or not, and I kept up cultivation up to freezing weather—
314 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
just before it froze up we cultivated some of our ground. That is to say, the
ground is loose, and now if a little rain comes it goes right into the ground;
none of it runs off. As soon as we can get on in the spring—and we can
do that soon on this loose soil—we begin cultivating and keep it up, and I
think we are doing just the right thing. :
Mr. Dartt: Will you give us a list of’five of the best apples for profit
in your opinion?
Mr. Underwood: I hardly need to say that the Wealthy is the foremost
and best for profit, and the Duchess is a very profitable apple when other
people don’t have too many of them.
Mr. Burnap, (Iowa): I have never seen a season yet when you could
not find a good market for a barrel of Duchess.
Mr. Clark: They do not ship well in the west.
Mr. Philips: How is the Northwestern Greening in that trial orchard?
Mr. Underwood: They are doing splendidly, and the Patten’s Greening
is a good one.
Mr. Dartt: Would you take the Patten’s Greening in your opinion?
Mr. Underwood: I have not met with the Patten’s Greening very
much. I believe, however, it is going to be one of our standard varieties.
Mr. Dartt: Well, you put that down as the third?
Mr. Underwood: I have not said much about the Okabena. I do not
think I ever mentioned it in this society, but I will say it has a better repu-
tation than I supposed it had. It is hardy, bears very young, is very pro-
lific and is a fair quality of apple. It is the best tree we have in our orchard
without top-working. Take it in this sandy orchard I mentioned, any one go-
ing through the orchard would say it was the best tree we had there. It is bet-
ter than the Duchess with us. For profit just at this time there is more
money made out of a good crab than anything else. They have brought
seventy-five cents a bushel when Duchess have brought only twenty cents.
Mr. Dartt: Which is the best crab?
Mr. Underwood: I like the Martha.
Mr. H. H. Pond: I would like to have Mr. Underwood tell us some-
thing more about that trial orchard.
Mr. Underwood: It is the youngest orchard we have, and it is the most
promising. We cannot cultivate it because it is too*steep. It gets the next
best thing to it. The soil is dry, but it is close to the stone. It is on one
of those bluffs on the Mississippi river. Sometimes we had to roll a stone
away in order that we could dig a hole to plant a tree. There is a good deal
of clay in the soil, with the natural black soil that comes from ground that
has been heavily covered with timber, a growth of oak, white birch and
things of that kind. ;
Mr. Dartt: Do you spray any?
Mr. Underwood: Yes, we spray. I think the sidehill orchard is all
right. We can spade the ground over in the spring and put on mulching. It
is thoroughly cultivated five or six times around each tree, and every tree
has a channel dug to conduct the water to the tree. We do everything we
can to give them moisture, and it is surprising to see the beautiful growth
and healthy appearance of the trees.
PROBLEM OF IMPROVING THE NATIVE PLUM. 3815
THE PROBLEM OF IMPROVING THE NATIVE PLUM.
O. M. LORD, MINNESOTA CITY.
The problem is unsolved, and I fear that I can throw but little light
upon it. I can only mention the lines of work along which we have sought
improvement. My first effort was made in 1866. I had planted, since 1854,
several varieties of the Domesticas, or those commonly grown at the east,
without any success and concluded that it was useless to try those varieties
any further, and that our only hope of plums was in the direction of our
natives. I selected the best I could find and brought them into cultivation
and was very fortunate in finding a very fine variety. I sought to perpetu-
ate or propagate it by selecting the seeds of the finest fruit and growing the
trees, but the fruit of these trees was not what I expected. The fruit of no
two trees were alike, and none of the fruit was equal in quality to that of the
parent.
I have since that time planted seeds nearly every year, with no marked
results as to quality. I can make no claim to improvement of the native
plum, except by care in the cultivation to increase the size of the fruit.
Whatever success I may have reached in producing superior plums has been
secured by a selection of varieties. Whenever I could hear of a variety hav-
ing a local reputation for superior quality, I have, if possible, procured trees
or scions and grown the fruit and have had occasion to discard many kinds,
as in no respect superior, or that were not adapted to my soil or to my
methods. It was supposed, several years ago, that we had gone as far as
we could in improvement by selection from the wild ones, or, in other
words, that the best varieties to be found had already been brought to no-
tice. But this supposition occurred without taking into consideration the
chances of fine production from new seedlings, which chances, though lim-
ited, have sometimes resulted successfully.
Mr. Terry has been one of the fortunate ones in growing the Hawkeye,
Hammer, Milton and some others; Mr. Raymond with the Forest Garden;
Mr. Penning with the Surprise, and Mr. Patton informs me that he has a
new one which is superior to any that have yet been brought to general no-
tice. These varieties are so much superior to ordinary wild plums that it
may be said here is a marked improvement of the native.
Though it is said that this success has been attained by pollenizing,
crossing, or hybridizing, when we consider the immense number of failures
in contrast with the success it is found that we have no specific law to be
governed by to insure success. Van Mons, the French scientist, discovered
several years ago that the plum could be increased in size up to the second
generation with the seed; after which it would revert or retrograde in size
unless crossed with other varieties, and this law has been lately demon-
strated by Dr. Dennis. In crossing the species we know the result is a
hybrid, beyond which we cannot safely go in production; but in crossing
varieties the character may be changed, combining the good or the bad
qualities of both parents.
Many people suppose that the wild plum is stable in character, like the
crab apple, the cranberry and other wild fruits, and that its improvement is
the result of cultivation. This is a mistake, as no wild fruit is naturally
more variable, and upon this fact we base our hopes of improvement.
316 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
We have entertained the belief, that by hand pollenizing we could com-
bine desirable qualities, insuring success. The theory sounds plausible, and,
as I have shown, the process sometimes succeeds but more often fails, for
reasons that we do not know, unless it be want of affinity. Mr. Burbank
has experimented, in this direction, more largely than any one else and has
produced a very few of great value out of thousands of trials, and he con-
cludes that nature does better work than he can do.
We may here refer to the seedling work of Mr. Gideon, with apples.
Out of many thousands he found some good ones, but only one Wealthy.
The question arises, must we depend upon nature wholly for improvement
of the native plum? Is there nothing for the horticulturist to do? Yes, we
can bring varieties together by seeds and by transplanting. That nature
might never do. We can care for and plant seeds in such a manner that
they will grow and make mature plants, where if left to nature not one in
10,000 would mature. Note the immense number of seeds in many of the
small fruits and consider the effect if they should all grow. We can modify
the conditions of growth by grafting, budding and giving protection. We
would like to dispense with its sourness when cooked; would like to increase
the size of the fruit and to diminish that of the seed; to make the pulp more
firm; to heighten the color; to make it proof against insects and fungous
diseases; to make it better adapted to commercial use in carrying and keep-
ing. Are all these things within our province? Yes, within certain limits,
with the help of nature, with what we know and what we may learn, bearing
in mind that with all our knowledge and all our scientific skill, we cannot
make and verify even the seed of a Wealthy apple nor of a superior plum.
Mr. Harris: The experience of Mr. Lord and a great many
others would indicate that our native plums have at some time been
under cultivation and have advanced from their natural condition
until broken into thousands of varieties, and then it reverted back
to its wild state more or less. Here and there there are varieties
found along what were once great highways from the copper region
to the sunny south, such varieties as the De Soto, Rollingstone,
Weaver, etc. I do not presume we can improve those very much
by cultivation, but if we are going to improve the plum we have
to depend largely upon nature. Nearly thirty years ago I spoke
of the time coming when we would have native plums as large as
goose eggs, but it has got to be done very gradually. We can only
increase from one seed in size and quality two generations. The
only way we can do that is to take one variety that has good points
and cross it with another good variety, and nature makes the crosses
that man can seldom make. That is the line we have to work on.
The President: If we cross two different varieties of any living
thing, any biological specimen, the tendency is to go backward.
Now take the Rollingstone plum. Out of all the crosses which
nature made—and I think nature succeeds better than we do, be-
cause nature is at work all the time, continually at work, and pro- °
duces thousands of specimens where we produce one—the Rolling-
PROBLEM OF IMPROVING THE NATIVE PLUM. 317
stone had by some crossing been developed. Now when we cross
that with a native plum, a poor, weak plum, we should be likely to
go backward, and nine hundred and ninety-nine out of a thousand
would be very inferior, because there is a fixity of type in those
native plums that in crossing for years there will be no sport or new
departure from. Now when you plant a plum from that crossing
it is still,;weaker. It only has one-half what the original Rolling-
stone had. If we keep on crossing the best with the poorest we
will seldom get one in thousands of crossings that takes the good
points from both parents. When we get that one we must take care
of it. Perhaps some one else has been at work in a similar way
with other plums, and he has found one that was good. In that
way we can add to our number of desirable plums, and then take
two or three of those best ones that have in this laborious way been
worked out and cross them. A great many think they have made
an improvement and stop crossing. We should keep on crossing
this new variety, keep up the selection, and by and by we will have
something much superior to the first cross. What folly it would be
to throw away that fruit, and then go all over it again in this slow,
tedious way.
Mr. Elliot: I want to ask Mr. Lord whether he noticed in the
Rollingstone any variation in the fruit. Was there any one plum
tree that produced better fruit than another?
Mr. Lord: I have found trees that always bear larger fruit
than others, but I have never been able to detect much if any dif-
ference in quality. The quality will remain the same if the season is
favorable. The drouth will affect them, but the quality will remain
about the same. The size can be materially increased,under dif-
ferent methods of cultivation.
Mr. Elliot: The same tree with some cultivation would produce
different plums, that is, as to size.
Mr. Lord: I cannot say as to that. I manure the trees heavily
and get much larger plums.
Mr. Moyer: I noticed in some plums, especially the Cheney,
the skin became discolored, not a rot, but it became discolored, and
those plums were bitter. I would like to know what the trouble
is and a remedy for it.
Mr. Lord: It is a fungous disease that affects them more or
less, and, while I have not tried it, | have confidence in what Prof.
Goff says, that Bordeaux mixture will prevent it.
Prof. Lugger: Sometimes it destroys the whole crop. The
application of Bordeaux mixture repeated three times will almost
318 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
entirely prevent the trouble. The same disease affects the cherry,
and sometimes reduces the crop to nothing.
Mr. Crane: What is the strength of the Bordeaux mixture that
should be used?
Prof. Lugger: The plum tree is one of a few trees that is in-
jured by copper, therefore one has to be careful, but if applied early
in the season, before the leaves are out, the tree will not be injured.
THE CULTURE OF BEANS.
Cc. F. GRANNIS, VERNON CENTER.
The selection of a suitable piece of land is perhaps of the most im-
portance in the raising of a good crop of beans. We often hear persons,
in speaking of poor land, say, “It will not raise white beans,’ which might
be said of most of the soil in this part of the state, but not because it is
poor soil.
While we do raise some beans, our soil is not by any means well adapted
to bean culture; this I discovered some years ago, and perhaps my experi-
ence may be of some benefit to others.
I have a small field of river bottom land, the most of which is very rich,
but one end overflows sometimes and washes badly and is not very produc-
tive. I planted a patch of beans in this field, the rows running the long way,
some being on the rich land and some on the poor part of the field. Both
had the same culture, were plowed with a one-horse plow, hoed and kept
reasonably clean from weeds. When I came to harvest them, I found on
the poor soil the vines were covered with pods and scarcely any leaves,
while on the rich land there were plenty of leaves and but few pods, the only
apparent cause for this being the difference in soil. I afterwards put a heavy
coat of manure on the poor part of the field and this year planted it to
beans again. ‘Fhe result is only a moderate crop of beans, the effect of the
manure being plainly seen in the growth of leaves.
As regards culture, I shall have but little to say. Plant after danger
of frost is past and cultivate well.
The manufacturers of weeders recommend their use in cultivating beans.
I have never tried them, but am inclined to think they would do well, as they
thoroughly stir the whole surface of the soil. The harvesting should be
done as soon as the pods are mostly ripe and before frost, if possible. There
are bean harvesters, but I have never used them, so I cannot speak from
experience. I have always pulled by hand, and think possibly I am far
behind the times, but for the few we raise here we could not afford to buy
much machinery. :
They should be stacked by setting a tall pole firmly in the ground. Pile
the beans around it, making the stacks not large, but as high as you can,
and cover well with coarse grass, or anything else that will shed rain well.
As soon as well dried, thresh by hand or machine, according to the
amount raised.
In regard to the best kind. I had a tree bean some years ago that had
a stiff stalk and stood up well from the ground, which prevented the soil
from being spattered on the pods during rain storms, which will cause the
pods to rust. I have also raised the small navy bean, and the quality is
excellent; but the best kind is the “baked bean” of the Boston variety.
_Seeretary’s ' Porner.
HAVE You A STATE FAIR PREMIUM List ?—If not, send to this office for a
copy zow and make your entries early.
INFORMATION WANTED as to whether you have filled out and sent to the
secretary the blank sent you to learn what fruits you are growing, etc. Please
give this prom? attention !
PLEASANT Worps.—“This is the first year that I have belonged to your soci-
ety, and I am so well pleased with your work that it will be a pleasure to me
to comply with your request. You are doing a noble work, and I am very
much pleased with your monthlies; they are most welcome visitors.’’—J. S.
List OF THOSE SENDING NEW MEMBERS IN JULY AND AUGUST.—
Pa CHristGHsee 4, srs ssc 1 Wits? Cob DOL ce sactse sede as iis = 1
epee RATIGLOWES nfo. fin siete a veierers to «04 1 W., We Pendercast sores nein: res a
A. K. Bush, Farmers’ Institute... 36 CuHptarndertes(crtie coe eee 1
Don’? FoRGET—to store your fruit for the winter meeting, and it will be
much better to send it to cold storage. If you have no tags for this purpose,
send to the secretary for some. Store fruit for this purpose expressly, and do
not depend on saving it at the state fair, as some do. Fruit at second
hand is not likely to be of the best or keep well.
SEEDLINGS IN THE GIDEON ORCHARD.—A very large number of apple trees
are bearing, in many cases profusely, in the seedling orchards of the late Peter
M. Gideon. As his son, Ansel, now in charge of the orchard, says: ‘‘ This is
the crop father always wanted to live to see.’? The number of seedlings bearing
will run up into the hundreds. It is hoped to have an exhibit of the best of
them at the coming state fair, and such as will keep till then at the winter
meeting of the society. It is too early yet to estimate as to their value.
PRoF. GREEN’S SECOND LETTER.—The second letter from Prof. Green in
the course of his European tour appears in this number. It came very early in
the month, but still a little too late to go into the July number. We are speci-
ally impressed, as before, with the diminishing size of the world. The forests
of Germany are proved to be only twelve days away from the heart of the
American continent. Though other letters from the Professor are expected
they cannot appear in our monthly before the September number, and before
its issue he will be here in person unless some hitch occurs in his plans, which
provide for a return the last of August.
LoNG LAKE Fruit GROWERS’ ASSOCIATION.—The articles of incorporation
and by-laws of this association, organized from among the fruit growers on the
north shore of Lake Minnetonka, are published in this number. We commend
them to the careful study of all engaged commercially in fruit growing and
would suggest the advisability of making a note of where they may be
found for future reference. The association is not a theory, but a solid and
successful fact, and the constitution and by-laws under which they are now
operating are the outgrowth and result of several years’ experience. Some
similar association should be formed in each neighborhood where numbers are
engaged in this business. It will be found that one person can sell the fruit
from ten to one hundred growers much better and vastly cheaper than can be
320 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
done by the individual growers. Get together in a trustful way and try it.
Better prices and lessened expenses will be found the logical result.
EXHIBIT FRUIT AT THE STATE FAIR.—There are a good many growers of
fruit on a considerable scale in our state who have never as yet exhibited at the
annual state fair. They would find it a great pleasure as well as profitable to
do so, and this year will be a good time to make a start. More exhibitors are
needed to take the place of those who grow weary with the work of years and
long and faithful service. It is not difficult to exhibit at the fair and carry off
premiums. A novice is apt to think he has no show alongside the exhibitor of
many years’ experience. But your fruit is as good as any ones, and you can
select and get it on the ground and in place as well with the right effort. You
will find that other exhibitors are only nice, every-day sort of people like your-
self and very willing the judges should divide the premiums with you, if you
deserve them. New or probable exhibitors are invited to correspond with the
secretary of this society who will be glad to give any information on the sub-
ject in his power.
THE APPLE AND PLUM Crop.—The correspondence of this office indicates
that the prospects for the apple and plum crop is generally declining. The
long continued drouth, subsequent rains and high winds have had their legiti-
mate effect on trees in some cases already weakened in a mezasure by a partial
winter-killing of surface roots. Orchards that have been well cultivated or
mulched are now showing the beneficial effects of this wholesome treatment.
There is still, however, plenty of fruit on the trees in most localities,and in some
localities, notably inthe Lake Minnetonka region, the crop continues to give
promise of being a record breaker. A favorable feature this season is the ab-
sence of blight, bringing the old Transcendent orchards into unusual promi-
nence. On the whole, it is likely that Minnesota will gather as much fruit
this fall as can be sold to good advantage to growers in its season.
CORRECTIONS.—There were two mistakes in the July number to which at-
tention should be called. One isa ‘‘sin of omission,’’ and the other a “‘sin
of commission.’’ The first is in leaving out the name of the author of the ar-
ticle entitled ‘‘A Plea for Nature Study Drawn from Experience.’’ Mrs. M.
M. Barnard, the Chairman of the Flower Committee of the Minneapolis Wom-
an’s Improvement League, prepared this article at the special request of the
secretary for presentation at the summer meeting. It is on a subject just now
receiving much attention from those interested in the intellectual training of
the young, and in this work Mrs. Barnard has been specially prominent in
this section. This correction is being made contrary to’ her expressed wishes
that it should be allowed to stand as printed, but in the interest of the cause it
champions we believe that the author should be known.
The second correction is in a famous quotation from Emerson which appears
on the first page, which should read ‘‘the embattled farmers fired the shot
heard round the world.’’ The blunder made had its origin somewhere be-
tween the manuscript and the printers’ ink, just where is the mystery, but
some one other than the author of the article in which it occurs is the guilty
party. If ‘‘ye editor’ knew everything and.saw everything unerringly no mis-
take of any kind could ever occur, but it often happens, as in these provoking
cases, that other parties, often unknown in the numbers through whose hands
the work passes, are also largely at fault. However, it is laid to the charge of
no one in the concrete, and ‘‘we’’ assume it.
COL. JOHN H. STEVENS,
LATE OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
(See opposite page.)
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. SEPTEMBER, 1900. No. 9.
In Memoriam,
COL. JOHN H. STEVENS,
LATE OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINN.
DIED May 28, 1900, In HIs 80th YHar.
A pioneer of Minnesota and one of the founders of our State Agricul-
tural and Horticultural Societies, an honored and much beloved life member
of our society, has gone to his reward.
Col. John H. Stevens died of pneumonia, at his home in Minneapolis,
on the afternoon of May 28th, at the ripe age of nearly four score years.
Greatly beloved by all who knew him and honored by thousands of his
fellow citizens, his decease is to them a most afflicting event. He was born
in Vermont, near the line of Canada, June 13, 1820, and received his earlier
education in the public schools of the east, and later in Wisconsin and
Illinois, and in the latter state he cast his first vote in 1842. He was in that
state at the breaking out of the Mexican war and joined the army of in-
vasion. At the time the writer first met him, in Gen. Scott’s advance from
Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico, he held a position in the quartermaster’s
department, and he served in that capacity until the close of the war. He
was an intimate and trusted friend of Brig.-Gen. Franklin Pierce and Col.
G. W. Morgan and Maj. Wood, of the 15th United States infantry, and
greatly respected by all who had business with his department for the liber-
ality and fairness manifested in the issuance of rations and supplies.
The close of the war found him, as it did thousands of others, in greatly
impaired health, and upon his return to Illinois he had contemplated making
his future home in Texas and only changed his intentions when he had
reached Galena, en route for Texas. There he met John Catlin, a former
governor of Wisconsin, who had just returned from a recent visit to St.
Paul, and became so interested in his accounts of the beauty of the country,
the healthfulness of the climate and the prospects and advantages this upper
country offered to settlers, that he resolved to change his course, and so
he returned to Rockford for the winter.
Early in the following spring, in company with Henry H. Sibley, Henry
M. Rice and others, who were leading actors in the early history of this
gae MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
state, he came up the river on a steamboat and arrived at St. Paul April
24, 1849. Three months later he had secured permission from the war
department to locate a claim on the west bank of the Falls of St. Anthony
in consideration of establishing a ferry for transportation of government
troops across the river. This was a location which he much admired on
his first visit to the falls, which he and his party had reached with their
camping outfit on June 27th, when several days were spent in exploring the
country. At that time he had purchased a claim, paying for it $200, but
before he could occupy it, it was jumped by another party. It being im-
possible to get a title to claims, his party became weary of a camping life
and voted to abandon the colonization scheme, and all but Mr. Stevens and
cne other left for the down river country. He entered into service ior a
short time in the store office of Franklin Steele, on the east bank of the
river.
The house he built on that tract that fall, where the Minneapolis union
depot is now located and to which he brought his young bride the next
year, was the first frame house built on the west side of the falls and within
the then limits of the now great and prosperous city of Minneapolis. It
has since become historic on account of the many interesting events that
occurred therein.
And thus he became the first permanent settler and is rightly recognized
as the founder and father of Minneapolis. The house was noted for many
years as being the center of hospitality as well as of the social, religious and
educational life of the young community. In this house a liberal hospitality
was dispensed to emigrants, explorers, hunters and neighbors, and often the
indians themselves were entertained there. The house was moved irom
place to place as the city developed, and in 1896 was donated to the Park
Board and hauled to Minnehaha Park by six thousand school children.
In 1854 he had 100 acres of his farm surveyed into village lots, the
nucleus of the city and embracing its best business portions. It was here
that Col. Stevens spent nearly eight years of the territorial period, taking a
very important part in most of the enterprises of the times for the advance-
ment of the business, educational and agricultural interests of the territory.
In the fall of 1856 he moved to a farm he had selected at Glencoe the
year before and remained there until 1863, when he returned to his old
kome in Minneapolis.
In May, 1896, he suffered a stroke of paralysis, from which he never
fully recovered.
From the beginning he manifested a deep interest in agriculture and
everything that would elevate and better the condition of the tillers of the
soil, fully believing that upon them depended the greatness and future
prosperity and civilization of the state. He was always ready to aid them
by wise counsel and stimulate them by precept and example to practice the
best methods of farming and stock raising. As a writer on agriculture,
horticulture and forestry and editor and publisher of a number of papers
during a period of over thirty years, he became well known and was held
in high estimation by the people. His was a leading spirit in the organiza-
tion and sustaining of the State Agricultural Society and other kindred as
sociations that have brought our state into the very front rank for its
agriculture, horticulture, education and rural life. In all the papers which
he conducted agriculture was given the most prominent place.
IN MEMORIAM, COL. JOHN H. STEVENS. 323
He was never an office seeker, but always ready to champion and sup-
port the best man for any position of honor or emolument. In the earlier
times he was oiten called upon to serve the public in an official character.
He was the first register of deeds in Hennepin county and served several
terms in both branches of the legislature. During the Indian uprising he
served as brigadier general in the militia and commanded the troops and
volunteers sent to the front.
It was as a member and zealous worker in the State Horticultural
Society that we knew him the best. His name first appeared on the roll
of members in 1868, but the writer knows that he espoused our cause and
worked with us from the first and advocated that we ought to receive some
aid from the state. At that time he was publishing the “Farmers’ Union”
and made it the official organ of the society. To his personal efforts and
his well known loyalty and hearty support of every movement that would
advance the best interests of the state are we indebted more than to any
other person for the act of incorporation and provision for the publication
and distribution of our transactions, which became a law February 27, 1873.
Under this law the first volume of transactions covering a history of the
earliest efforts in horticulture, down to and including the winter meeting of
1873, was published the same year. The work of editing and compiling
this volume was chiefly done by Col. Stevens, and the result was a volume
of great interest and inestimable value to every fruit grower in Minnesota.
He was always present and took an active part at every meeting of the
society whenever his health would permit. and no member was better known
or more universally respected.
No death that has occurred in our society since its organization is more
deeply or widely lamented. The death of such a man is an irreparable loss
to every interest for which they have expended the best energies of their
lives, and all of us who knew him will always remember with pleasure,
mingled with sadness, his sterling character, well tried integrity, uniform
courtesy and great liberality.
Col. Stevens’ family life was a particularly happy one and covered a
full half century. He was married to Miss Frances Helen Miller, at West-
moreland, N. Y., May 1, 1850, and immediately brought his bride to the
house he had just completed down on the river bank. That was their home
for nearly twenty years, and there their children were born. Six children
were born to them. Mary Elizabeth, the first white child born in Minne-
apolis, died in her seventeenth year. Catherine D., the second child, is the
wife of P. B. Winston; the third daughter, Sarah, is not living. Gardner,
the fourth child and only son, is a civil engineer, and Orma, the fifth, is
now Mrs. William L. Peck, of Clearwater, Minn.; the sixth, Frances Helen,
was married to Isaac H. Chase, of Rapid City, S. D. —J. S. Harris.
Best Time to Work the Garden.—Cultivating and hoeing in the early
morning when the dew is on the earth is far preferable to doing it in the
heat of the day. Arise at 4 o'clock and breakfast at 6 in the summer season.
In the meantime devote from one-half to two hours in the garden, hoeing,
weeding, cultivating and gathering cool, crisp radishes, lettuce, cucumbers,
peas, beans, squash, beets, etc., for the morning and noontime meals-
Vegetables gathered when the dew is on them are of the finest quality.
324 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
CARE OF THE BLACKBERRY PLANTATION THE
SECOND YEAR TILL AFTER HARVEST.
W. H. EDDY, HOWARD LAKE,
This is another indispensable fruit, as it fills the interim between rasp-
berries and other fall fruits, and with the appreciation of its medical value
it should have a proper place on every family table during its season.
The second year’s care of the blackberry, I think, rightly begins with
pinching off the ends of canes when they are eighteen to twenty-four inches
high, of the first year’s growth, and at the same time thinning canes out,
leaving four or five strong canes in a hill. We give the ground thorough
cultivation until fall. In the month of October, or just before the ground
freezes, we take one man with a spade and heavy leather mittens and begin
at the north end of the row, by removing the earth four to five inches deep
from the north side of hill. Then the man with the mittens on gathers the
canes together and at the same time with his foot gently presses the roots
to the north and lays the canes Hat to the ground. The man then, with the
spade, places enough earth on to keep the canes to the ground. Continue in
this way until the plantation is laid down. After freezing weather sets in,
say in the month of November, place from four to five inches of rotten
straw over the whole bed for winter protection, also to act as a mulch for
the next summer until fruiting. In the spring, from the middle to the last
of April, take a spading fork or a four-tine hook and, beginning at the
north end of the row, remove enough straw and earth to secure the canes
and then place them upright and press the earth firmly around the hill;
also place the mulching over any bare places.
From the first of May until fruiting time allow the parent canes to keep
their strength by keeping all the young canes down, excepting those for
the next year’s fruiting. (Nurserymen do not always follow this plan.) In
fruiting time we use pint boxes, carried in crates holding from six to eight
boxes.
As soon as the fruit is picked, we cut out all old wood and take off all
straw that will not cultivate in and continue cultivating until fall.
We grow the Ancient Briton and Snyder, but like the Ancient Briton
in preference to the Snyder, as they are heavier bearers and easier covered
for winter protection.
We find this plan of blackberry culture a success on our low land—
rich, black loam and clay subsoil, but it might be unprofitable elsewhere, as
the condition of soil, location and climate have a great deal to do with
success in fruit culture.
Mr. Philips (Wis.): Why do you use pint boxes instead of
quarts?
Mr. Eddy: . They sell-better.
Mr. Yahnke: Don’t the mice bother you in the winter when
you mulch with straw?
Mr. Eddy: We do not put on the mulch until the ground is
frozen, and we have not been bothered with mice. The best time
to put on the mulch is just before a snow storm; if you can do that
the snow will keep the mulch on.
CARE OF THE BLACKBERRY PLANTATION. 325
Mr. Rogers: Do you consider that mulch necessary for winter
protection?
Mir: Eddy: Yes; sir; 1 do,
Mr. Harris: Do you mulch in the summer?
Ming Hdthys AY es sie
Mr. Harris: What is the best mulching for that purpose?
Mr. Eddy: We take wet, rotten straw.
Mr. Harris: Have you ever used fresh red clover?
Mr. Eddy: No, sir.
Mr. A. G. Wilcox: You then cultivate after fruiting? It makes
a good deal of extra work.
| Mr. Eddy: Well, it saves my blackberries.
Mr. Haggard: How do you keep the weeds down?
Mr. Eddy: You must put your blackberries on clean ground;
then next fall put your mulch on the ground and that keeps it clean,
and it will keep comparatively clean until after fruiting; you then
take the mulching off and cultivate the ground and continue that
until fall, which keeps the weeds out.
Mr. Wright: How late in the fall do you cultivate?
Mr, Eddy: About the middle of September.
Mr. Wright: Do you cultivate that late?
Mr Bddy= “Yes,'sir:
Mr. Wright: Does the wood ripen up thoroughly?
Mr. Eddy: It does with me.
Mr. Harris: The best summer mulch I ever tried is green
clover; the Mammoth clover is the best. Put it on at the end of
the strawberry season, put it on thick, and it will last through the
blackberry season, and when you want to do your cultivating it will
not interfere because it will be rotten and work into the soil. It
is better than a coat of manure.
Mr. Underwood: Do you put it on green?
Mr. Harris: Yes;'sir:
Mr. Haggard: Where do you get it?
Mr. Harris: If I were growing blackberries I would grow it
on purpose.
Mr. Benjamin: I want to make the suggestion that I would
use marsh hay in preference to anything else.
Plan for a Few Herbs.—Every garden should have a plot for herbs, such
as sage, ‘dill, etc. As these are mostly perennials they should be planted
where they will not interfere with the plowing of the garden.
326 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
THE WEALTHY APPLE.
A. W. LATHAM, MINNEAPOLIS.
When, nearly a half century ago, Peter M. Gideon, a resident of
Excelsior, Minn., dropped into the ground the chance seed from which
grew the tree now known far and wide as the Wealthy, he conferred a very
great blessing upon the world. A prominent pomologist is reported to have
said that “the Wealthy is the best apple originated in the past twenty-five
years,’ but in the judgment of many well qualified to decide it is the peer
of the very best apple that grows, at least as to quality, appearance and
prolificness.
How fortunate for our state that added to these transcendent qualities
the tree is also hardy enough to winter in this climate and safe to plant
as an orchard tree in at least the southern half of the state. As a bearer it
has hardly an equal in the whole list of standard apples, and the winter in
this latitude is scarcely ever so severe as to cut off the crop, for although the
fruiting buds on the tips of the spurs may be injured there are also numerous
fruiting buds scattered along the sides of the growth of the year before,
which are very sure to be found alive even when the terminal buds have
succumbed to the rigors of the winter.
The tree that bears this splendid apple is not absolutely free from
faults, and it is well for the planter to consider them.
It blights somewhat, but experience leads to the conclusion that the
weakness that comes to the tree as a result of the second fault, over-
bearing, is largely to blame for this.
The second fault is overbearing, and in this, which is probably its most
serious fault, is to be found a cause of injury which often results in the
early death of the tree from blight, or apparent winter-killing. The remedy
for this is a conscientious thinning of the fruit at an early stage. This
would give the tree longer life, as well as greatly improve the size of the
fruit that remains.
It is the misfortune of this tree, rather than the fault, that while bearing
its large crop it is very liable to suffer from the dryness of the ground which
often prevails at that critical time. The remedies for this unfortunate con-
dition are two: cultivation to conserve the moisture already in the ground
and irrigation to supply the lack.
Cultivation, to be efficient, should be shallow but persistent, beginning
as soon as the ground is dry enough to permit it in the spring, and repeated
as soon as dry enough after each rain, and weekly during the periods of
dryness. Should the ground be still too dry to permit the tree to hold its
fruit, water may be supplied by irrigation.
Plenty of water in the ground for some weeks prior to the ripening of
the fruit is indispensable to the harvesting of a crop of full sized, highly
colored and richly flavored Wealthys. This may be supplied to the trees
directly through a length of tile sunk into the ground near the tree, with
its top even with the surface, one to a tree, and put in to remain.
Ii now the planter has given the attention he should to his Wealthy
erchard, as above briefly outlined, has thinned the fruit judiciously, culti-
vated thoroughly and supplied any extra moisture needed, his fruit will hang
on (cyclones excepted) and should be allowed to hang on till it takes in full
measure that wonderful color for which this variety is famous. When the
THE WEALTHY APPLE. Sor
planter has ready to harvest a crop of Wealthy apples in the condition
described, he will find a market ready for them at his own price.
An exporter of fruit to England of large experience has said that
selected Wealthys, packed and handled properly, could be taken to Eng-
land by aid of the present cold storage facilities and would sell there at a
large profit to the grower. It is probable that Jonathan can take care of this
fancy fruit for some time yet, and if the Minnesota grower will get it on
the market in the right shape he can dispose of an unlimited amount. Hand
picked, wrapped in paper and packed in boxes of one bushel each and sold
as fancy fruit, an immediate place would be found for it in the best markets.
If the supply were too great for immediate demand its season could be ex-
tended indefinitely by using cold storage facilities, and even till summer
comes again. }
Whoever plants this famous variety in a right location, and is thorough-
going enough to give it the right care at the right time and to gather and
market it right has assured a certain and rich harvest.
The Wealthy will do something for you even under neglect, but scarcely
anything responds more promptly to wholesome and right treatment.
Try it.
Mr. Philips: I endorse what Mr. Latham says in regard to the
quality of the Wealthy. Some eighteen years ago I procured some
Virginia crabs, and I thought the Wealthy needed more vigor, so
I top-worked. They have been bearing now sixteen years every
year, and every alternate year they bear a heavy crop. When I
planted those trees I planted a row close beside them of three year
old Wealthy on their own roots. They came into bearing and paid
for themselves, but they overbore and died, while the Wealthy top-
worked still remain, and while they bore heavily last year they have
now a large number of fruit buds. That is an object lesson. I
plant Virginia crabs every year and graft Wealthy every year. If
a man will plant apple trees every year he will always have apples
while he lives, and his children will have apples after he is gone.
Mr. Dartt: Did they sprout from the ground?
Mr, Philips: Those that died did not sprout. If a Wealthy
dies down let it grow up in bush form, and it will soon make a fine
tree and get to bearing again.
Mr. Dartt: Yes, it will if it is not killed too low.
Girdling for Early Fruit—The value of a vineyard set on low lands is
often impaired by the danger of early frosts. Such a plantation can often
be made profitable by girdling the vines, which process is simply to remove
a narrow ring of bark near the root end of the vine to be treated. Such
vines will ripen their fruit a week or two in advance of others and thus
escape the frost.
328 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
SOME DESIRABLE FORESTRY EXPERIMENTS.
PROF. S. B. GREEN, ST. ANTHONY PARK.
It seems to me that our forestry interests would be helped by having
a few experiments started as soon as practicable. It is not necessary to
carry on experiments to demonstrate the possibility of securing a stand of
young trees upon the land, nor demonstrate what varieties of forest trees
may be best grown together, nor to determine the rate of increase in forest
trees, for these points can be easily determined by a study of the conditions
prevailing in this state, since we can find many localities where nature has
brought about conditions which give the very best opportunity to study
these matters without any delay; and while it is desirable that studies be
made as to the conditions under which the best wood is produced in this
state, yet they should not be regarded as experiments.
It does seem to me important, however, that a few varieties of trees be
planted here on a considerable scale to determine their value for economic
purposes, for which they seem especially promising. I refer especially to
the introduction of the Douglas fir, red spruce of Maine and Norway spruce.
The Douglas fir, of Colorado, is not nearly as large as those found in the
milder climate of the Pacific coast, where it attains exceedingly large size,
but this Pacific coast form is not hardy with us while the Colorado form is,
and this Colorado form is a rapid grower and makes a good sized log. This
tree should be tried by the sowing of seed to test its power of competing
naturally with other vegetation, and to determine its rapidity of growth
under various conditions. It should also be transplanted on a considerable
scale, for which purpose I think it is exceedingly well adapted, as I have
moved it very safely. There is every indication that this tree will prove to be
a valuable timber tree here and be able to easily reproduce itself. We have
on the grounds of the experiment station several hundred seedlings of this
tree, which have made very rapid growth. We have raised perhaps six or
seven thousand from seed and find that the seed starts easily and surely.
The trees seem somewhat inclined to grow crooked when growing in the
open, but when crowded I think would easily take on the upright form.
The terminal growth seems to be somewhat tender and liable to be frost
injured when it is under two feet high, but as it gets older and away from
the ground, it holds its leader well. I suggested five or six years ago to
Dr. Fernow, at that time chief of the division of forestry, that some experi-
tents be made in determining the value of this tree for commercial lumber-
ing in this state, and further experiments on our grounds at St. Anthony
Park and at Grand Rapids give me increased confidence in its probable
value for moist lands in this section.
Norway Spruce.—It is unforunate that so much of the moist land of
this section that seems to be especially well adapted to the growing of
spruce should be occupied with our black spruce, which is of very slow
growth. Some specimens which I have examined have attained a diameter
of not more than 14 inches in seventy years on wet land. It is also a tree
that does not stand well upon upland, and is really of very little value.
Our white spruce is of rapid growth, but not widely distributed and does
not reproduce itself very quickly from seed, and the seed is very difficult
to obtain. On the other hand, it is found in general cultivation in this state
that Norway spruce holds on nearly as well, even in very severe situations,
SOME DESIRABLE FORESTRY EXPERIMENTS. 329
and makes fully as good growth as the white spruce, which is a much more
rapid grower than the black spruce. I would suggest that, since the Norway
spruce has done so very well on the upland of this state for ornamental
planting, it be tried on a large scale for the growing of spruce for paper
pulp, for which its wood is well adapted. This spruce has distinct advantages
ever white or black spruce. It grows fully as rapidly as white spruce and
produces a large amount of seed, which is a common article of commerce
and can be easily obtained in large quantities. It has been asserted by some
European foresters that the Norway spruce is not adapted to the dry
climate of Minnesota. This is undoubtedly an error, since it is found
growing commonly in the older sections of our state. It is a tree that is
very easily raised from seed and is found to reproduce itself easily and
surely where it is grown in Europe.
The red spruce of Maine is largely depended on there for the large
paper mills, and some of these mill corporations have undertaken to manage
their spruce lands in a systematic way. This tree is scarcely, if at all, found
in this section, and yet it seems probable that it is adapted to our condi-
tions. Any way it is sufficiently promising to make it very desirable to have
a good fair trial of it made here. The increased attention which is being
paid to the manufacture of paper pulp in this section is due largely to the
fact that the spruce supplies of the eastern states are fast being worked to
their fullest extent, and also to the great and increasing demand for paper
in this section and the states west of us, which makes it important, it seems
to me, that careful experiments be made to determine the possibilities of
establishing this industry upon a permanent basis. It seems to me probable
that on account of the small size of the spruce in this state which are being
used for paper pulp it will not be many years before the supply will be
exhausted, and it is important that experiments be undertaken at this time
along this line in order that they may be of the greatest value to this state
and section when their results are most needed.
Prof. Hansen: In thirty years it ought to be two feet in
diameter.
Prof. Green: I believe there is a large area of land in this state
where the Norway spruce could be grown to good advantage. If
we depend on our black spruce, and they are cutting it as small as
four inches in diameter, I do not believe the spruce paper pulp in-
dustry is liable to last long in this state. I believe that we ought
to experiment in raising spruce in the northeastern part of the state.
Prof. Hays: What is the proper size to grow pines to?
Prof. Green: If we were going to live forever I would say grow
them to maturity. Prof. Schenck seemed to be much surprised,
very much so, in fact, that people here could not see that young
trees on land are not worth something. In one hundred years there
would be, let us say, fifty thousand feet of lumber to the acre, worth
$200.00, clear money. If it is worth that much at that time, having
ten years start at that point, then it is worth just one-tenth at the
end of the first year less compound interest at 3 per cent for 99
3830 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
years, and plus the value of the thinnings. Our American people
have not yet got to the point where they consider anything in the
tree line valuable unless it is immediately marketable. I believe
our people could now well afford to let pine grow on their poor
land thirty-five years, and that it would pay well.
Prof. Hays: What size would it become?
Prof. Green: On good strong land I think it would attain a
size probably up to eight inches.
Mr. Harris: I think twelve inches.
Prof. Green: Well, it would depend on the conditions. It —
would have to make an exceedingly rapid growth to get up to
twelve inches in that time.
Prof. Hays: What are the paper companies paying for spruce
per cord?
Prof. Green: I don’t know; I think they are cutting it on their
own land.
Mr. Harris: I did not think that spruce in forests would grow
to any such size, but I am pretty sure that white pine can be pro-
duced from ten to twelve inches in diameter in thirty years. I have
Norway spruce on my place some twenty years old that are prob-
ably fifty feet high and fifteen to twenty inches in diameter.
Prof. Hayes: I visited in Europe where the forests are man-
aged by the government and there were no large trees. There
were no trees over a foot in diameter; in other words, their system
is to grow trees to ten inches in diameter and then harvest them.
Those trees can be grown in fifty vears to that size and cut down,
the practical way of doing the thing, and that is about the line they
are working on. I planted some trees in my boyhood that are al-
ready eight inches in diameter, black walnuts, and I am yet a young
man. I believe we should try to instil courage into the people, let
them believe the work can be done.
Mr. Older: Ex-Governor Larrabee, of Iowa, planted a large
amount of white pine. Mr. Hinckley went out with the governor
and he showed him that those trees were increasing in value at the
‘rate of one dollar per tree each year, and they were set out thirty
years ago. Each tree is gaining one dollar per year. At the mar-
ket value of $18 per thousand they were figuring that the trees
were paying a dollar a year each.
Prof. Hays: How many trees did he plant?
Mr. Older: There were twenty trees to the acre. The gov-
ernor considered he was making money faster than in any other way
he could make it.
SOME DESIRABLE FORESTRY EXPERIMENTS. 331
Prof. Hansen: There was one remark made by a speaker here
that I want to speak of further, and that is the difference in hardi-
ness in trees as related to the source of the seed—as the Douglas
spruce from the Pacific coast is tender while the same spruce from
Colorado is hardy. The Russians have found that same objection
to the tree, and they have planted timber by the thousands of acres
on the steppes. I visited many of those plantations. The Siberian
larch is simply a form of the European larch, and they have found
by actual experiment that it is a superior form and hence they plant
the European larch on the steppes. It is superior in that it is an
upright and faster grower. I found that the Norway spruce of
western Europe killed back and is worthless, while the Norway
spruce of Siberia and eastern Russia was absolutely hardy. Hence
they plant only the seed from the severest part of the empire. We
find the Scotch pine in France kills back, while the Scotch pine of
Siberia extends clear across the two continents. The Scotch pine
from Siberia is perfectly hardy. Therefore, in all their plantations
they pay the greatest attention to the source of the seed. If we
introduce any trees we ought to use the native trees, and if we use
seed we should always get our seed from the hardiest source.
EVERGREEN SEEDLINGS.
CLARENCE WEDGE, ALBERT LEA.
I did not expect to make any report, but Mr. Latham suggested that I
talk a little on some of the evergreen seedlings I am growing and have
arranged in one and two year groups on this frame. I did not bring them
to, advertise the fact that we are growing seedling evergreens; my chief
thought was to combat the idea that the red cedar is a slow growing ever-
green. That slander has come up almost every year, and as the red cedar
is a favorite of mine I wanted a chance to defend it. I do not care to
defend the new accusation brought against it yesterday, that it harbors an
enemy of our apple trees, as I know nothing about that. The red cedar is
a hardy tree that withstands drouth. There is no danger of root-killing
with the red cedar. My experience is that as a young tree it is the most
rapid growing evergreen we have. I have here on this frame a little exhibit
that shows quite clearly the relative growth of seedling evergreens. The
upper row represents seedlings of one year’s growth, and the one that has
made the greatest growth of this age is the jack pine. I think that shows
nearly six inches in height. The next best is the red cedar, one year old,
which shows a growth of five or six inches. All the others make very little
growth the first year. In the lower row we have two-year-old seedlings.
They are all familiar evergreens. Here in the middle we have the slow
growing (?) red cedar (indicating). It is almost two feet high, about double
the growth of the other two-year-olds, and not only that, but it was trans-
planted at the end of the first year and has thus suffered-a shock to its
growth that none of the other trees in the exhibit have experienced.
oon MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Prof. Waldron: What kind of soil were they grown in?
Mr. Wedge: It is a sort of sandy soil.
Prof. Waldron: We have red cedar at the station eight years
old hardly as large as that. They do not do well; they do not do
well on black loam.
Mr. Wedge: Are you sure they are from northern seed?
Prof. Waldron: I think I got the seed from Prof. Budd. I
made arrangements to get some seed from the Bad Lands.
Mr. Wedge: Ours seem to do equally well on either a sand or
clay loam. I have some from the Black Hills that are very nice,
but the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in the way of red
cedars are those of Mr. Sherman, at Charles City, Iowa. Do they
turn brown much, Mr. Sherman?
Mr. Sherman, (lowa): They have changed a little; they do not
keep their silvery color.
Mr. Wedge: I noticed his trees stood the past severe winter
perfectly; they are a great acquisition,
Mr. Philips, (Wis.): Is it not a fact that after a few years the
red cedar is inclined to dwarf and people have come to get the idea
that it is a slow grower from that?
Mr. Wedge: I think after the red cedar has attained an age
of ten or twelve years it grows rather slowly, but the average planter
wants something that will grow fast at the start. It is a very quick
grower in the nursery, and will soon make an excellent hedge and
windbreak if it is cultivated. If it is not cultivated it grows very
slowly. Speaking of soils, I have two very distinct soils, a yellow
clay with a reasonable amount of black earth on top, a stiff clay
subsoil, and a more sandy soil near the lake, but on both soils the
red cedar grows very nicely.
Prof. Waldron: In the Bad Lands the earth is so hard you can
hardly drive a spike into it, and the red cedar thrives very well
there, but at Fargo it does nothing.
Mr. Wedge: An occasional inclination to blight is the only ob-
jection I have to the red cedar. It is something like blight, but it
does not show much as the tree grows larger.
Col. Daniels: That is not the same thing as seen in our black
pines?
Mr. Wedge: No, it is not that. It will occasionally be seen
on the side branches. I have seen hedges of red cedar blighted
around the top and sides. That is a real fault and about the only
fault it -has. There is one great advantage in the red cedar as a
windbreak; it makes a very thick, dense windbreak. The lowet
ONE YEAR SEEDLINGS.
4 Norway 5 Ponderosa 6 Mountain 7 Scotch
a I Jack 2 Red 3, Austrian Spruce. Pine. Pine. Pine.
cp Pine. Cedar. Pine. 8 White Spruce. 9 Blue Spruce. 10 White Pine.
D
o
4
-
=
=
|
4
NM
Zi
3
3
a
oO
oe
co
eS
co)
TWO YEAR SEEDLINGS—Except the Red Cedar, which was transplanted at one year and is shown at the same age as the others but transplanted.
11 Ponderosa 12. Blue 13, Concolor. 14 Norway 15 Balsam 16 Red Cedar 17 White 18 Douglas 1g Scotch
Pine. Spruce. Spruce. Fir. transplanted. Spruce, Spruce, Pine,
334 MINNESOTASTATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
branches do not die out. JI am very much interested in jack pine,
andIam surprised at the growth it makes from the seed and without
shade. The jack pine can be grown with perfect success without
shade.
Col. Daniels: How long do you shade your red cedar?
Mr. Wedge: I do not shade them at all. I have not had a very long
experience in growing red cedar. The seed is very difficult to handle.
Really, I must acknowledge that I have just one good stand of red cedar.
We gather our seed, rub off the pulp, stratify it in sand, and then bury it so
that the top of the box is four or five inches below the surface of the soil,
and there it remains until a year from the following spring, about eighteen
months, in the ground. It is probably safer to sow the seed in the fall and
mulch it well, for if you do not get it sown very early in the spring it will
grow in the box and, of course, be spoiled. I tried by soaking the seed in
different solutions of caustic potash to avoid this long stratification and
found there was a certain solution that would start it the first year. But
in that case you want to let your bed stand two years, as a goodly share
will not even then germinate till the second year, and by pulling out the first
year’s crop quite early you can hope for a fair volunteer crop the second
year. I think the red cedar should be planted more extensively in the
northwest. The Ponderosa pine should also be grown more. It is a great
drouth resister. It grows a great deal slower than the Scotch pine for the .
first few years, but it remains more dense in its lower foliage, and I think
is a far more desirable tree. As it gets older, unlike the Scotch pine, it
remains thrifty. Here are some little Ponderosa (indicating), one year old.
Their peculiar seedling leaves might be likened to baby teeth.
Proi. Waldron: There is one leaf scorched.
Mr. Wedge: Yes, as a young tree it does turn brown quite badly in
early spring, and I think that is one objection to this pine.
Mr. Sherman (Iowa): In regard to the Ponderosa pine searing back in
the spring. The Austrian pine and the Ponderosa are very similar in ap-
pearance; the Austrian is dark in foliage, while the Ponderosa is a bright
green. They are both most excellent evergreens after they get older, four
or five feet high. They keep their color better than any I know of, but
as young trees in the nursery they discolor and are difficult to deliver.
Mr. Wedge: That is a great objection with the nurserymen. They will
sear, and our Ponderosa sometimes look as brown as though they were
dead. I know when they get to be four or five feet high they remain far
more beautiful and bright than many of the evergreens that do not turn so
brown in the nursery. That is true of both the Austrian and the Ponderosa.
I remember that the Austrian pines that we set out in our yard were an
eyesore until they were four or five feet high. My wife used to laugh at me
for allowing them to stand and wished me to grub them out. Now there
is no evergreen on our place that we like better than the Austrian pine.
Mr. Burnap (Iowa): Have you had any experience with the Platte
Valley red cedar?
Mr. Wedge: Not with any trees from that source, but I have learned
to be afraid of red cedar that originated from seed far south. A year ago
I burned up several good rackfuls of trees I had growing which we sup-
posed were all right. They were claimed to be of northern seed, but
EVERGREEN SEEDLINGS. 835
they were not from far enough north. They were badly discolored, and we
burned them up.
Prof. Waldron: I think that is the same as the Bad Lands cedar.
Mr. Sherman: As I understand it they are a little more silvery.
Prof. Waldron: Yes, they are very brilliant.
Mr. Sherman: The silver cedar I have growing is distinct from our
red cedar. It has this peculiarity, the seed ripens in two years instead of
one.
Mr. Wedge: I just want to say one word in favor of the white spruce,
especially that form which is native to the Black Hills. It is a little longer
leafed than the ordinary white spruce. It appears to be about half way
between the ordinary white spruce and the Colorado blue spruce and is,
I think, very much more desirable than the ordinary white spruce. It is
a somewhat slower grower, but it is extremely hardy and very handsome.
Another thing I think every evergreen lover ought to have, and that is
the Douglas spruce. It is perfectly hardy with us. It is something like
the Norway spruce. That irom the mountains of Colorado is perfectly
hardy in our climate, but not so that from the valleys of Utah.
Prof. Hansen (S. D.): There is one word I wish to say about the
evergreen question. I think the jack pine is one of the best evergreens
we have, judging by last winter’s experience at our place in South Dakota.
It stood better there than the Scotch pine. The red cedar stood well, but
not as well as the jack pine. If I could have my choice I would have the
silver spruce, but I think the jack pine is especially valuable on account of
its rapid growth the first few years. The arbor vite is a failure; so is the
white pine and the balsam fir. They failed almost entirely.
Prof. Waldron: At Brandon, Man., they grow the white pine that
you cannot grow at all. I rather think in parts of North Dakota it would
be a rather more severe test than at Brandon.
TOWN AND VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT.
MRS. 0. N. OLBERG, OF ALBERT LEA. é
(Read before Southern Minnesota Horticultural Society.)
We have heard this aphorism for years: “Make the home pleasant and
attractive, and the children will love it and be loth to leave it.’ Let us
change these words, and have it read this way: “Make the town, village
and country beautiful, and the inhabitants will love them and be loth
to leave them.”
Persons having land about their houses or having procured land upon
which to establish a home, no matter how limited the area, should carefully
study its sub-division and furnishing with a view to making it quite as
much a part of the home as are the rooms itself. So with a citizen of any
town or village. Having become a resident and established a home, the
town in which you live should at once become a part of the home, as the
rooms are of the house itself, and it behooves every broad-minded, public
spirited person, man or woman, to co-operate with their officials in making
their town or village a dwelling place of health and beauty.
Acknowledging this fact, the constitution of the State Federation of
Women’s Clubs provides for a standing committee, known as the Town
336 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
and Village _ Improvement Committee, the object of which is to study into
the needs of towns and villages, to arouse and encourage general interest
in the work of improvement and to suggest simple and practical methods
for beginning work. ‘The cities are planning constantly to make their sur-
roundings more beautiful, thereby involving the expenditure of vast sums of
money. They are awakening to the fact that generous park systems are es-
sential to give them prestige with the great traveling public, to say nothing
of administering to the pleasure and comfort of the residents.
The smaller towns and villages need to be aroused to action, to realize
the needs and possibilities of their own surroundings. It is a mistaken idea
that we are responsible for our own yards only. If we, through education
and other advantages, are fitted to keep home grounds in perfect order,
it is only part of our duty to do so; the balance of our duty requires us to
help others to reach the same standard. Of course, a slovenly kept yard
cannot be entered and put to order, but the streets which are the common
property of all, the grounds around all public buildings themselves, can be
operated upon by arousing public sentiment,and very soon the owners of all
unkempt and unpleasant looking places will fall into line and keep step in
the march of improvement, if only through self interest in the value of
property.
To quote from Miss Danforth’s paper: “The work of an improvement,
association is both suggestive and executive, both preventive and reme-
dial; but it is more suggestive than executive, and more preventive than
remedial. It must work through individuals, through city councils and
through the legislature. An improvement league should be formed in every
town, village or country neighborhood. Plans for work should be decided
upon, and the best methods for carrying them out should be thoroughly
discussed.”
Aside irom improvement league or committees of the State Federa-
tion of Women’s Clubs, there is still another organization doing similar
work. It is the Women’s Auxiliary of the Minnesota Horticultural Society.
Its objects are to advance public interest in improvement of home, school and
village grounds, in the observance of Arbor Day, in park and in cemetery
work and in flower culture for the house; to study the relation of household
economics to flower culture, to aid the horticultural society in the fur-
therance of its work, and to affiliate with the Minnesota Federation of
Women’s Clubs, especially in the department of country and village im-
provement.
In these days of women’s clubs, it must be explained that this is a club
for both men and women, and the officers are usually men.
Cannot the mental vision picture the outcome of such an order of things.
Surely we have a glorious future to look forward to.. Mrs. A. E. Paul,
street cleaning inspector for the first ward of Chicago, has organized the
school children into efficient auxiliaries in the work of keeping the streets
clean. The children will be taught the value of sanitation and will be
asked to closely observe the condition of alleys and streets in their neigh-
borhoods and make daily reports in the school session. Mrs. Paul says she
is determined to devote herself to some means of organization among the
children of Chicago in the line of good citizenship, so that boys shall be
taught to be honest officials, and not to think that every man in a public
position is a thief.
a
TOWN AND VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT, ~ goe
Children are the closest of observers, and let them be convinced they
can be really useful and they will work with the greatest enthusiasm. This
is true education. It is the beginning at the bottom. It is teaching
children that they are a part of the general community and that their in-
fluence has its weight. Col. Waring found the assistance of the New York
children of utmost value in his big task of renovating that city. The league
recommends the organization of local teachers in order to influence the
children.
The matter of beautifying the school grounds should receive attention,
and when the principal is especially interested the grounds may be made
real beauty spots. I would urge teaching the children the care of the plants
and the turf, a task not difficult to secure with the co-operation of the
teacher. The pleasing effects of the children’s arrangement of flower beds
which I have seen on several school grounds and window boxes are very
commendable, although I regret to say no attempt at flower culture has
been made in the schools.of my own city.
If a child is taught to be clean and orderly, thoughtful and considerate
of the comfort of others, the habit formed will follow him through life
and will manifest itself throughout the larger aveuues of experience. This
thought evidently influenced the town and village improvement committee
of our State Federation to put forth the card of “Do and Don'ts.” If one
child alone is educated to adhere to these suggestions, it is well. One
home will be made happy. But if all the children of a community, genera-
tion after generation, are similarly brought up, what a paradise on earth
we would have. Is it not well working for.
Every town and village should have a park commission, to whom would
be instructed the care and management of all public grounds, streets, al-
leys, roadway, etc. The members should be selected for their interest in
the work and the fitness for the position. In the absence of such a com-
mission it is well for the improvement league to co-operate with the park
committee of the city council by the arranging for and placing of flower
beds, fountains, seats, etc., and above all the mowing of the grass and gen-
eral tidy appearance, and you need not be surprised if the park commission
look so favorably upon the work of the league as to ask them to take full
charge of the parks, as is the case with the park commission of my own
city. The first year the work was ordered by the ladies and the bills sent
to the council for approval and payment. This year a certain amount is
appropriated, and the entire supervision is in the hands of the improvement
league.
Perhaps you have not heard of Adamless Eden, a pretty New Jersey
town governed entirely by women. I read an article stating that men
there were a-plenty in the pretty New Jersey town, but that they did not
amount to much in the face of 200 women who had gained control of the
town. It further states that the common council was a pigmy compared
to this women’s league. The women had looked up laws that had been
dead for years. They have kept the streets clean, have driven bill posters
away, have preserved trees from mutilation, have forced careless property
owners to keep their lawns well trimmed and their premises in artistic con-
dition, and other big reforms have been accomplished, and it was all through
moral suasion, explained Mrs. Wilson Smith, its president, as they had
really no legal authority back of them. What they did was done through
their influence as women.
338 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
A report comes to us from Petaluma, Cal., that the leading women of
that place, two years ago, in mass meeting assembled, resolved to teach
the men a lesson. The parks of the city were barren weed patches, the
streets in many places were deplorable, sprinkling was considered nonsense,
so were shade trees, fountains, seats. It had been declared by the city
fathers that money could be spent for more sensible things, but fifty wives,
sisters and sweethearts took a different view of the matter, and for this.
reason Petaluma’s parks, streets, drives, flowers and fountains are now
among the most beautiful in the state of California. The women did it, and
are still doing it. This club was organized because of the deplorable con-
dition of the public squares, streets, etc.
Anti-garbage parties are all the rage in the fourth ward of Chicago.
Contractor Haurahan says he stands ready to enforce the law in every case,
providing the women will stand by him. Mr. Haurahan sees in this move-
ment the solution of the garbage question. ‘There is no use talking,” he
says, “the laws on garbage questions will always remain a dead letter unless.
the women themselves take up the question. No man is going to have a
woman arrested for mixing ashes and potato peeling. If a woman wants.
to throw an old mattress or feather bed into the alley, the men of Chicago.
cannot hinder her. But let her think other women will look down on her
for it, and it makes it a matter of pride for her,’ he chuckled. Three ladies.
now form an active committee in the present movement.
In our neighboring city, St. Paul, the women wield a potent besom, and
the city officers recognize the services of the new agency. The women of
this league have especially interested themselves in the extermination of
noxious weeds. They have studied the city ordinance compelling the de-
- struction of burdocks and Canada thistles. The committee has been much
assisted by the earnest and eager co-operation of the city officials. The
- mayor has given special orders to the police to extend every courtesy to
members of the league. He also met with them and when asked to speak,
said he had come because he had the honor of membership in the league.
- He was proud to hear how much the ladies had accomplished. The league
members were on the road, he thought, to achieve much, and he wanted to
accompany them.
A law enacted by the last legislature is of a particular interest just at
this time to the street commissioner and road overseers. It provides for
the cutting of weeds along the public highways and upon streets and al-
leys of our villages and cities, and requires that this work must be done
not earlier than July 15 nor later than September 1, of each year. The road
~ overseers of the various districts of the several towns of the county and
the street commissioners of the villages and cities are the parties named
by law to see that its provisions are carried out. By this act the above
named officials are authorized to reserve a portion of the road work to do
the job, and they do not call out all the road work earlier in the season and
thus neglect cutting when the proper time comes. The above named officers.
now have the authority to order out those parties who have mowing ma-
chines, scythes, etc., the same as they now: order them out with wagons,
- shovels, plows or other tools used in road work. This law is one which
’ should be carried out to the very letter, as it would in addition to removing
' the unsightly forests of weeds along the highway, prevent them from ripen-
ing and befouling adjoining fields with noxious weeds.
TOWN AND VILLAGE IMPROVEMENT, 839
There are hundreds and thousands oi people who seem to be saying:
“Our trees must be destroyed, our forests must be destroyed, our lakes must
be destroyed.” The village improvement association says, and not yet
hopelessly, ‘“These things must be saved.”
PRACTICAL AESTHETICS.
WARREN H. MANNING, LANDSCAPE ARCHITECT, BOSTON, MASS.
The greatest art of a landscape designer, whether he be a person making
this work his profession or a property owner doing his best to make his
home surroundings more attractive, lies in the ability to recognize and take
advantage of the attractive elements of existing conditions rather than in
destroying these conditions and substituting for them mere copies of some-
thing that has been done by others. This applies as well to the broad land-
scapes of a public park as to the mere fragment of a landscape comprised
within the limits of a front or back yard.
In designing grounds of any character, one must have a regard for
practical as well as esthetic considerations. Too often, however, it is’ as-
sumed, and even stated, that zsthetic considerations are of no practical
value, yet every man and woman does recognize in one way or another that
there is a value in beauty, which is only another name for perfection. It
may be that they only recognize the distinction between a soggy, wrinkled,
smeared and blackened loaf of bread and one light, crisp, well rounded and
delicately browned; or between a bitten, distorted, mildewed, off-color ap-
ple and one that is perfect in outline, in color, and free from all attacks of
insects and disease; or a skinny, bony, mangy, slab-sided “plug” and-a
horse clean of limb, well rounded, sleek, healthy and full of life, grace-and
spirit. Many persons who are keen to reeognize beauty in these forms,
who fully recognize its value, and who would neglect nothing that would
help to bring it about, do absolutely neglect to do anything that will tend
to make the surroundings or interiors of their homes grow in beauty from
year to year. Such persons will usually keep their places in an orderly and
tidy condition, but orderliness and neatness, while they go hand in hand
with beauty, are not beauty. You can improve the appearance of a dis-
reputable old ‘‘plug’’ by keeping him in an orderly_and neat condition, but
you could not thereby make him a beauty.
That you recognize the value of orderliness and neatness, with a place
for everything and everything in its place, goes without saying. This con-
dition prevails in the interior of many.of the homes and farm buildings
where the disordered exteriors do not indicate it, and you will usually find
a clearly marked distinction between the best room, the bed room, the
kitchen and the woodshed, with something of beauty added to some rooms
to distinguish them from others. It is seldom that you find such clearly
marked distinctions in the grounds about the farm buildings, however.
Usually you do see some planting, either a few trees that are attractive as
elements of landscape and often as individuals, if not too overcrowded, or a
few unhappy looking shrubs and flowers, unhappy because no one cares for
them, and uncared for because they have little reason for existence and not
enough beauty to become an object for regard. If you will use your shrubs
and flowers in a reasonable way, give them their place and their work
3840 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
to do, you will care for them. Little do we care in these days for the
beautiful woman who is of no use in this world.
Your trees, your shrubs and your flowers should help to make your
buildings a part of a beautiful picture. They should be massed against the
high blank walls of the barns, sheds and fences, to merge them into the
landscape. Are they not now too often the most obtrusive objects in the
landscape with their hard angular lines and great bare masses, as conspicuous
as a brazen city hoyden in a crowd of quiet country folk and as garishly
colored at times, too? All your buildings should grow out of a mass of
trees and shrubs, which, in their turn, grow out of and seem to be a part*
of the landscape. You say this is a purely aesthetic consideration; it is not.
You can arrange your fruit trees to be a part of this mass. You need the
mass of trees in these places for protection, and belts of trees and shrubs
will form the division sometimes in connection with fences and sometimes
without, between the different parts of the ground; such as the barnyard
with its surrounding fences, buildings and sheds; a service yard, perhaps,
at the kitchen door, in which to deposit supplies and set out house wastes;
a laundry yard with its sod surface and its surrounding plantations so ar-
ranged as to hide clothes from the living rooms and street. These would be
the working parts of the grounds. There would be, besides, the front lawn,
thrown open to the street in the hospitable country way; and a side lawn
or flower garden, so intimately connected with the house that the family
could step into it from the living rooms as they step from room to room,
and so screened from the entrance and road as to give seclusion. It should
be an outdoor apartment of the house, so large, so inviting and so con-
veniently arranged as to be the common meeting place of the family in
pleasant days for meals, for sewing, for neighborly visiting, etc. It may
seem rather absurd to suggest more of an outdoor life for the farmer, but
many of you will find, when you think of it, that there are some in your
household who do not get out of doors as often as they ought to.
When you decide to study out a plan of your grounds, first look about
to see what existing conditions there are that may be utilized to give your
place a distinction that will set it apart from all others, There may be a
fine view or one may be secured by cutting a few trees or moving a small
building; there may be a fine tree or group of trees or thicket of native
wild shrubs and flowers; or a mossy boulder, or a graceful undulation of
surface, any one of which would be an interesting feature of the pleasure
ground or out of door living apartment.
When you plan, have regard for the trouble of maintenance; avoid
when possible all walks and roads that must be weeded and edged. Walk
over the grass or use stepping stones. Make good roads. Plant your
shrubs and flowers in thickets so close that they will drive out weeds and
care for themselves. Cut your grass with the lawn mower or scythe or a
tethered grazer.
After you complete your plan, you may not be able to fully execute it
at once, but whatever you do may be directed toward its ultimate execution.
Do not assume that all this means much expense or trouble. You can do
it all yourself. You can use the native trees, shrubs and flowers, which are
as beautiful as any that grow, and are of sufficient variety in size.and habit
to meet all special conditions. You can collect these for your main planta-
tions, and later add for variety the cultivated plants. If you would know
PRACTICAL AESTHETICS. 341
more of your native plants, look through the files of the Minnesota Horti-
culturist for the several admirable papers relating to them.
In making plans for the house surroundings, do not forget to consider
the views over the farm. Every practical man well knows that thickets of
shrubs and many fine trees cannot be retained to a great extent in farm fields
without making these fields less valuable for farming purposes. There are
usually places, however, on every farm, in swampy places, along stream sides,
on steep or barren slopes on ledges, in narrow strips of land along the
roadside, at the junction of fields, that can never be made of much value
for farming purposes. Almost every reasonable man will see that it is
more desirable to retain the trees and shrubs on such land, for it adds to
the beauty of the landscape without detracting from the value of the farm.
It is often a measure of economy, too, to have the steep slopes covered
with a thick native growth in order to prevent them from gullying and to
prevent the expenditure of useless labor in keeping them in order. A
thicket of trees and shrubs, if let alone, will take care of itself and require
no especial attention. If it be sufficiently extensive, it will also be practica-
ble to secure from the growth upon it pieces of timber that are required for
the repair of various farming implements, or for firewood, without destroy-
ing the few fine trees or the groups of fine trees, that would be reserved
as interesting objects in the landscape. Other men, having appreciation
of the beauty of fine trees, will be willing to sacrifice a small piece of tilla-
ble ground for the sake of preserving now and then a specimen to add to
the attractiveness of the fields and meadows.
You say such places harbor weeds and vermin. As a matter of fact
there are few harmful weeds in such places, and they can be weeded out
without much trouble, and as for vermin, if your Minnesota boys are not
able to exterminate them for an inducement or for fun, then I am sadly mis-
led as to their make-up.
If you own extensive tracts of wild land from which you derive no in-
come, especially land having particularly attraetive landscape features, do
not forget that you may confer a favor upon posterity, and build for your-
self a more lasting monument than can be made of marble, by making a
gift of such land to your town as a public reservation, where your fellow
citizens, who are not blessed with broad acres, can roam at will with that
secure feeling of possession that they can never feel when they are en
croaching upon another man’s land, however amiable that man may be.
To Stop Late Growth.—A tree bearing a heavy crop of fruit is not likely
to make a late growth. Trees one or two years planted are more likely to
make a late growth, and to be unripe when winter sets in, than the older
and larger trees. Such trees should have a cover crop sown about August
1. For this purpose many sow oats. Mr. Morrow, of Michigan, is in the
habit of sowing oats, the growth of which shades the ground, assists in
catching a little snow in winter time and lessens the freezing and thawing,
The following spring, when cultivated in, they add needed humus to the
soil. Nurserymen sow oats in young nursery stock for the same purpose.
A leading small fruit grower of Wisconsin sows oats among his raspberries
and blackberries, to assist in ripening them early in the season.
342 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
THE BEE OR NOT THE BEE, THAT !S THE QUESTION.
MRS. C. E. FLITNER, ST. PAUL.
Certainly since the days of Solomon, and we know not just how long
pefore, has mankind been especially interested in observing and investigat-
ing all forms of life; earnestly and often laboriously striving to understand
the divine plan in nature.
Solomon himself “Spake of trees, from the cedar of Lebanon to the
hyssop that springeth out of the wall,’ and was doubtless familiar with all
branches of knowledge. Especially, we believe, did the sciences engage
his attention, and his advice to the sluggard has been followed by saints
and sages through all the intervening centuries, the humble, wise little ant
becoming teacher and inspirer of many notable students and writers.
The study of botany was at first little more than a catalogue and de-
scription of known plants, increased through the centuries by each succes-
sive writer, as new specimens became known.
About the middle of the seventeenth century, when the number of plants
known and described had increased from a few hundred to more than five
thousand, the microscope inaugurated a new epoch of the science, for now
the structure and organs of plants could be examined more closely, and
vegetable physiology became the highest department of botanical research.
Classification, imperfect before on account of lack of knowledge of
structure, became more systematic, and when the great Linnaeus and some
other earnest contemporary students gave their contribution to the world’s
knowledge, near the middle of the eighteenth century, a long stride was
made toward perfecting a system of classification.
But the science of botany, as we know it today, has so far outgrown
even Linnaean proportions as to be scarcely recognizable. Now, a botanist
must be familiar with phytonomy, organology, vegetable histology, phylo-
tomy and morphology. Then he may clothe the skeleton of all this knowl-
edge with living flesh and spirit. Then may he sit humbly at the feet of
some modest little flower and hearken to the soft flutter of the tiny wings
of its insect lover, and learn—if he can—some of the riddles that perplexed
students for years. Why and how does this plant attract this particular in-
sect? Is he true to this flower alone? What does he receive and in what
coin does he pay for his dinner? In short, what part in the great scheme of
nature do these representatives of two great kingdoms bear? Then is the
formal botanist become philosopher and seer, a true follower of the inspired
Sprengel and Darwin, who so complemented each other’s thoughtful ob-
servations as to interpret to the world the divine significance of a simple
flower.
And what is the secret which remained so long hidden from the ques-
tioning gaze of nature students, and which, when partly guessed by the
English botanist, Nehemias Grew, in 1682, was scoffed at and disbelieved,
even when Sprengel, nearly a hundred years later, discovered the interven-
tion of insects. It is the nuptials of the flowers, fully explained by Darwin
less than a half century ago, when the question of ‘“‘the bee or not the bee”
was practically settled. Our school children now know what the wisest
never guessed a hundred years ago, of the value and uses of the different
parts of plants, their relation to animal life, the interdependence and self-
regulating power of the great machinery of nature in all her various depart-
THE BEE OR NOT THE BEE, THAT IS THE QUESTION. 343
ments. For example, a bee is formed to subsist upon nectar, which is se-
‘creted in flowers. Were the flowers themselves thinking, reasoning be-
ings, they could not have devised more clever plans, devices, tricks and
‘pranks to lure the insect to a delicious feast only to make him the flowers’
own servant. The feast is never spread till the flowers’ organs are just in
the proper state of development to assume the right position when the bee
. enters the doorway. All unconscious of his part in a great scheme, the nec-
tar-bibber, while imbibing, is powdered or plastered with pollen, upon just
those parts of the body that will come in contact with the waiting stigma of
another flower of the same kind, sure to be within the bee’s circuit, and
‘quite as sure to be visited by him. And to make the cross-pollenation sure,
the stamens have sometimes shed all their own pollen before the stigma in
that flower is ready to be fertilized, or are so arranged that the pollen can-
not reach its own stigma. Then there are varieties of flower clusters in
which there are blossoms in all stages of development for this same pur-
‘pose.
Our late lamented true naturalist, Gibson, thus expresses some of the
“social customs” of Flora in the reception of invited guests:. “The garden
‘salvia slaps the burly bumble bee upon the back and marks him for her
-own as he is ushered in to the feast. The mountain laurel welcomes the
twilight moth with an impulsive multiple embrace. The desmodium and
genesta celebrate their hospitality with a joke, as it were, letting their
threshold fall beneath the feet of the caller, startling him with an explosion
and cloud of yellow powder, suggesting the day pyrotechnics of the Chinese.
‘The prickly-pear cactus encloses its buzzing visitor in a golden bower, from
which he must emerge as dusty as a miller; and the barberry lays mis-
-chievous hold of the tongue of the sipping bee. The evening primrose,
with outstretched filaments, hangs a golden necklace about the welcome,
murmuring noctuid, while the various orchids excel in the ingenuity of
their salutations. Here one presents a pair of tiny clubs to the sphinx moth,
gluing them to his bulging eyes, while the cypripedium speeds its parting
guest with a sticking plaster smeared all over his back. Occasionally the
welcome becomes aggressive, as in the case of certain arums and, milkweeds,
the guest being forcibly detained or entrapped for life.”
Thus, as the insect is dependent upon the flower for food, so is the
flower dependent upon the insect for the propagation of its kind. For it is
‘proven not only that the pollen must be deposited upon the stigma that
the ovary may develop seed, but that the pollen from one flower should
reach the stigma of another flower to produce the best seed. So various
insects and the wind are called to assist their neighbors, the flowers. The
plants which grow an abundance of pollen, like oaks, poplars, birches, pines,
sedges and grasses, may afford to lose some, for the wind is the agent that
unites the essential parts, and as he is not a very careful fellow much is
spilled and wasted. So these plants have learned to provide a plenty. Hav-
ing little need for the service of insects, these plants do not greet our senses
with such gay colors and sweet odors as those which have adapted them-
selves through ages of natural selection and survival, according to Darwin,
to the particular insect that serves its purpose best.
What a revelation was this cross-fertilization to those who had con-
sidered flowers only as ornamental accessions, designed alone to gratify the
senses of superior man, their color, shape, markings, position, merely mean-
ingless freaks!
344 MINNESOTA.STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Every flower that blooms has become “a manifestation of a beautiful,
divine scheme, an ever-present witness and prophet of divine care.”
Do we know the flowers we meet every day in summer? The homely,
common roadside weed is as full of riddles as any conservatory orchids.
Observe the size, shape, position of stamen and its relation to the other
half, the pistil, and ask why these bright, decided lines point to the nectary,
or those spots or hairs happened to grow just there. Also why such variety
of color, shape and odor? All these are eloquent sermons, could we only
understand. If the nectar is hidden in a deep cup, or sac, it is quite safe
to predict that the plant has adapted itself to an insect with a long tongue,
as the sphinx moth. If you have patience to watch you will doubtless find
this true, and you will know why your honey bee seeks the white, and
_ the bumble bee the red clover. Gibson tells us that, “Some years ago the
grangers of Australia determined to introduce our red clover into that
country. They imported American seed, and the resultant crop was lux-
uriant in foliage and bloom, but there was no seed. Why? Because the
American bumble bee was not consulted in the transaction. The plant re-
fused to be reconciled to the divorce from its animal counterpart. When
the bees were transported the clover flourished in fruition as well as bloom.”
He also relates that while studying this most interesting subject he
found a group of a certain plant with only staminate blossoms. For some
time he looked in vain for the pistillate blossom and at length discovered it,
far across a swamp, a thousand feet distant, with the pollen grains upon
the stigma, ‘doubtless a welcome message brought from the isolated affinity
afar, by some winged sponsor, to whom the peculiar fragrance offers special
attraction.” Thus we see that “botany and entomology must henceforth
go hand in hand.”
A Californian writes in the last Popular Science of ‘ ‘Bees in Relation to
Agriculture.” He thinks that fruit men are not appreciative enough of the
value they receive from bees. That as oranges, apples, lemons, olives, some
pears, cherries and plums would not produce half a crop but for the in-
sects, beekeepers should be encouraged to locate in the vicinity of fruit
farms.
“So we may learn that even among insects and flowers those who do
most for others receive most in return,’ and “that the forces of nature,
whether mechanical or intelligent, are one and all the voice of the Great
Creator, speaking to us of His nature and His will.”
High Feeding for Plants.—Interesting experiments have been carried
on in plant feeding by G. M. Sherman, of Hampden Co., Mass. His plan,
in brief, is to supply liquid fertilizers by means of a porous jar buried a foot
or more beneath the surface and filled from time to time through a tube
projecting above the ground.
The roots of the plant or tree collect around the porous jar and absorb
the fertilizers. Patent has been applied for. Mr. Sherman’s experiments
have been mostly confined to rose bushes, which in many cases appear to
have made enormous growth, shoots extending several inches per day in
some cases.
PROGRESS OF FORESTRY IN THIS COUNTRY. 845
PROGRESS OF FORESTRY IN THIS COUNTRY.
GEN. C. C. ANDREWS, CHIEF FOREST FIRE WARDEN, MINNESOTA.
In New Jersey the annual report of the state geologist for 1898 con-
tains over a hundred pages that are devoted to the subject of forestry, com-
prising, among other papers, a valuable “study of forest fires and wood
productions in southern New Jersey,’ by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, and very
richly illustrated. This is, probably, one of the most valuable papers in re-
gard to forest fires that has been published in this country. Mr. Pinchot
makes the striking remark that “there is no doubt that forest fires en-
courage a spirit of lawlessness and a disregard of property rights.” The
state geologist of New Jersey remarks that “the question of forest protection
in New Jersey is really included in the greater problem of the state’s water-
supply and its conservation.” He is of the opinion that the forested regions
in the highlands should be reserved and held in forest to maintain water
supply. “Their value,’ he says, “as great gathering grounds for the un-
failing supply of pure water to the many sea shore towns and settlements
and the cities in the valley of the Delaware is such as to make the reserva-
tion of these tracts for this use a question of public importance.” The in-
vestigation of the forested lands of New Jersey by the state geologist are
still in progress, under a law passed in 1894.
Under the title of ““Timber Trees and Forests of North Carolina,” the
geological survey of that state has published an octavo volume of 227 pages,
handsomely illustrated and comprising a report on the timber trees of North
Carolina, by Mr. Gifford Pinchot, and a report on the forests and forest
conditions in North Carolina, by Mr. W. W. Ashe. Among other illus-
trations there are many small but neat maps, showing the areas in which
the different sorts of trees are found and the degrees of abundance of each
sort. This report serves as a model for other states to copy and reflects, in-
deed, great honor upon the state. The work being done on the princely do-
main of Mr. George W. Vanderbilt, at Biltmore, North Carolina, is a bea-
con light in the forestry movement.
Last year the forestry commission of the state of Wisconsin made a
valuable report to the legislature accompanied by a bill “to establish a
system of state forests and provide for the management of the same.” The
bill, though discussed in the legislature, was not enacted, but probably will
come up at the next session. The arguments in the report fully sustained
these conclusions, namely, that “the establishment of a system of state
forests is a necessity, not only for the protection of the climate and water
flow of the state, but for the purpose of providing a sufficient supply of raw
material to the various lumber and wood industries of the state,’—that the
momey expended to establish the system “will, after a reasonable time, return
into the state treasury, and the system, once fairly established, will yield a
large annual income, that will, to a proportionate extent, do away with the
necessity of taxation.”
The legislature of Michigan, at its last session, passed an important
act creating a forestry commission of three members, charged with a
thorough inquiry into the forest resources of the state, the injury being
done by forest fires, etc., and to report by bill or bills to the legislature
which will meet in 1901. On its recommendation the state land office is to
withdraw from sale two hundred thousand acres of land belonging to the
346 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
state. The commission is authorized to receive, by deed to the state, from
the owners, any tracts of land which, in his judgment, may be suitable as
forest reserves.
The report on the trees and shrubs of Massachusetts, made fifty-three
years ago by George B. Emerson, one of the school teachers of that state,
was one of the important early contributions to the forest literature of this
country. Massachusetts still keeps up the good work. Her wood land
is worth half a million dollars more than it was thirty years ago. She has
an influential Forestry Association, with 239 annual members, eighteen life
members and five patrons, of whom several have contributed to its permanent
fund over a thousand dollars each. A law in that state requires that each
town shall annually elect a tree warden, who has sole charge of and is
directly responsible for the roadside trees and shrubbery. There are good
prospects that a stringent fire warden system will soon be created. A cam-
paign of illustrated forestry lectures is now in progress, and various com-
mittees are studying different matters pertaining to fcrestry.
The forestry commissions of Maine and New Hampshire are doing
much to educate public sentiment on this important question.
It is in the Keystone State (Pennsylvania) where women have been es-
pecially active in influencing public sentiment on the forestry question, and,
as a consequence, we there see the cause holding its onward course. This
is well shown by a law passed the 28th of April, this year (1899), which
authorizes the commissioner of forestry to purchase all such unoccupied
non-agricultural land as he deems expedient, for the purpose of creating a
forestry reserve, and at a price not exceeding $5 per acre; and the auditor
general is required to draw his warrant on the state treasurer to pay the
grantees.
I think we are all willing that the Empire State of New York should
still take the lead in forestry. She has the most efficient staff of any state
in the Union, and is expending more money in the work than all the other
states combined. The present year her legislature appropriated $300,000
for continuing the acquisition of land in the Adirondacks by the Forest
Preserve Board, and $50,000 to extend forest preserves in the Catskills, in
the counties of Delaware, Green, Sullivan and Ulster. In all, the legislature of
New York, within about a couple of years, appropriated $1,800,000 to buy land
for park and forestry purposes in the Adirondacks. About one million
acres are held for purposes of recreation by clubs and individuals, and still
another million acres are owned by private parties for ordinary purposes.
The Catskills, having grander scenery and being much nearer the great
metropolis, a movement is on foot to increase the state’s holdings in that
beautiful region. An excursion ticket from the city of New York to the
Catskills by railway, costs only $1.75, and it is, therefore, a great health and
summer resort for the masses. There are many excellent hotels and good
roads in both important regions. The State College of Forestry, connected
with Cornell University, is having good success, and a part of its endow-
ment is a demonstration forest of 30,000 acres in the Adirondack park,
and which was purchased at the expense of $165,000. Such facts speak for
themselves.
With reference to our own state the facts are in some respects trite.
Minnesota has the oldest forestry association of any in the country; and
although the state has expended nothing for planting trees in forest regions,
PROGRESS OF FORESTRY IN THIS COTNTRY. 347
it expends $20,000 annually in bounties for tree planting on the prairies, and
in all has expended for that purpose over half a million dollars, a record
no other state can show. It is one of the very few states that has tried to
enforce a law for preventing and extinguishing forest fires; it has a school of
forestry connected with the State University, and the last legislature created
a State Forestry Board to administer, on forestry principles, such non-
agricultural lands as may be acquired by the state, either by donations or
purchase for forestry purposes. In this, as in many other states, it is to be
noticed that the press is doing valuable service towards instructing the pub-
lic mind on the needs of better forestry methods. Women’s clubs are also
interesting themselves in the question. There are probably about three
million acres, in detached localities, of idle non-agricultural land which would
begin tc earn a good revenue as soon as it could become forested. Our
soil and climate being so favorable to the growth of the white pine, the
most valuable of all trees, a wise and courageous forestry policy would be
of immense benefit. Our state can well be in the front rank on this impor-
tant question, if it will but improve its opportunities.
Finally, it is gratifying to notice what great progress has been made
by the United States government in forestry within recent years. The policy
of permanent forest reserves has become established. The United States
government has set apart 46,000,000 acres of mountainous lands as forest
reservations (not including those in Alaska), and has appointed superintend-
ents and rangers to assist in their administration and their protection from
fire. These reservations are now being surveyed under charge of the di-
rector of the geological surveys. It is significant that thirty-five pages of
the last annual report of the commissioner of the general land office are
devoted to the public forests.
On the whole, it would seem that more has been accomplished for for-
estry in this country in the last five years than has been accomplished for
a long time before, and the prospects for the cause are certainly very
encouraging.
Seedless Fruits——The cause of seedless fruits has not been ascertained
as yet. There are several other kinds of fruits besides oranges in which
seedless varieties occur, as, for instance, in the grape, banana and others.
Seedless fruits cannot, of course, be propagated from seed, and in order to
propagate these varieties they have to be grafted or budded on seedlings of
other varieties of the same kind of fruit. Grafting does not change the char-
acter of the graft, the stock serving merely as a medium to grow on, the
same as the soil does in the case of cuttings. Seedless fruits can also be
propagated from cuttings or layers.
The best known seedless orange is the Bahia, or Washington Navel. The
original trees were imported from Bahia, in Brazil, some 30 years ago, by
Mr. William Saunders, of the United States Department of Agriculture.
They were first grown in the government greenhouses at Washington, and
three years later, when enough young trees had been raised, they were sent
out for trial to Florida and California. In Florida they have not proved
very successful, but in California they flourish beyond all expectation, and
bear an abundance of fruit of such high excellence as to supersede all other
kinds.
348 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
CULTIVATION OF THE TURNIP.
VINCENT REEVES, CHAMPLIN.
On all subjects pertaining to horticultural and agricultural pursuits we
should endeavor to get at practical facts. I will state that the turnip is of
more importance in some countries than many of you are aware of. That
little spot on the other side of the Atlantic known as Great Britain, with
an area little more than the states of Minnesota and Wisconsin and a popula-
tion of 40,000,000 of people, has an agriculture subject to great competi-
tion, for it is the dumping ground for the surplus products of the soil for
all nations. Comparatively speaking, very few of the agriculturists own
the farms they cultivate, and they pay heavy rentals. The soil has been
cultivated for centuries, and is more productive than ever, and why? The
reason is they are a nation of turnip cultivators, and the failure of the turnip
crop would be a greater calamity to the British farmer than a failure of the
cereals, for the reason that bread foods could be obtained from other na-
tions, and turnips could not. When I speak of turnips, I mean mangel
wurzels and all other kinds pertaining to root crops. It must be borne in
mind that the English climate is particularly adapted for the cultivation of
root crops. It is nevertheless true that in the plain zone in which we live
the turnip is not a crop to be depended upon; perhaps three years out of
five we get an abundance of moisture, which is so essential to produce a
good crop when other conditions are right.
You may as well dance jigs to a mile mark as to expect a good crop
of turnips on poor soil. You would naturally say we want a rich soil to
produce a maximum crop of anything. We raise corn and beans on rather
poor soil, but if you keep account of your labor and interest on value of land
you will find you receive a small remuneration for your labor. The soils
best suited to the growth of turnips are those of a free working, loamy
character, plowed to a good depth and well manured, and add, if you have
any confidence in commercial fertilizers, from 200 to 500 pounds of super-
phosphates sown broadcast and well harrowed in. With sufficient moisture
you ought to get 1,000 bushels per acre, at a cost not to exceed three
cents per bushel, which does not include storing. I will tell you how to
get them to market in a few minutes. From two to four pounds of seed
should be sown to the acre, in rows two and one-half feet apart. As soon
as you can see the rows don’t-wait for weeds, but commence cultivating.
On light soils cultivate as soon as they are in their third leaf, which is
rough; then with the hoe thin to four or five inches.
Such as the Purple Top Strap Leaf, or the Milan or White Flat Dutch,
and such varieties, are the best for market gardeners or family use. There are
about twenty varieties of the English turnip, and almost the same number
of ruta bagas, among the best varieties of which there are many strains,
as Carter’s Hardy Swede and Skirvings, while the Monarch Swede Ele-
phant, which has recently been introduced from England, is gaining favor
wherever grown. These varieties must be thinned from ten to twelve inches
apart.
Some of you may say if we all went to turnip growing what would we
do with them? You never want to sell turnips; the market for them is on
your own farms. Prof. Shaw has been for several years endeavoring to
impress on the minds of the farmers in the northwest the importance of
sheep husbandry; he has demonstrated that it is not necessary to run over
CULTIVATION OF THE TURNIP. 849
a 4o-acre lot to produce what really should be produced on ten acres. I
would advise all to investigate his method if you have more land than you
can grow fruit on. It is simply growing turnips, sorghum, rape, sweet
corn and all kinds of forage and feeding it to sheep by folding the sheep
on the crop, and the excrements enrich your land and save the labor of
hauling and spreading manure.
If you will follow this plan you will find your soil so enriched it will
be a pleasure to harvest your potatoes and corn. In the place of forty or
fifty baskets to the acre, it will be nearer two hundred. Prof. Shaw’s
method is not an experiment. I was familiar with it in my boyhood days;
that is just the method today that enables the British farmer to pay his taxes
to the government to fight the Dutch Boers in Africa with.
Now I seem to hear some of you say, if we all go into sheep, that will
be overdone. Never fear! The great state of Illinois does not raise sheep
enough to supply the city of Chicago with mutton; the whole of the New
England states does not furnish enough to supply the city of New York;
and we are importing millions of dollars worth of wool annually. While it
is true sometimes there are reverses in that industry, when such is the case
you have a rich soil to fall back on that the sheep has created. Another
thing we must remember, the vegetarian societies of Europe and America
are only in their infancy, as yet, and as long as the human family re-
main a carnivorous race of animals, it will be better to become a nation
of consumers of mutton and less of hog.
My fellow tillers of the soil, when you receive those beautiful illustrated
catalogues from the windy seedsman next year with liliputians on ladders
climbing to the top of a cabbage head and hand spikes to roll a turnip
up an inclined plane to secure it in the wagon, and they call those mon-
strosities mortgage lifters, and they invite the mossbacks to jump into the
band wagon—I suppose they want us to play second fiddle—that is thetime,
my friends, to paste in your hat, that turnips, sorghum or any other forage
that sheep will eat when folded, to enrich the land, is the true mortgage
lifter, and don’t you forget it!
Mr. Yahnke: I enjoyed the paper very much. Turnips can
be grown as a second crop on the farm, after early potatoes. This
year I sowed turnips so, and they make a fine stock food. They
can also be raised after barley. If the ground is not rich enough
put on some rotten manure and sow your turnips on it, and you
will be surprised to see what your second crop will produce. I
know it will please you. If you sow your seed before the roth of
August, you can raise a good crop of turnips.
Mr. Reeves: I will state to the gentleman that I have raised
three crops in a season, on the same ground, and the last crop was
turnips.
Prof. Shaw: I was not in the room when the gentleman read
his paper; I do not know whether or not he stated the kind of turnip
the farmer should grow. That is an exceedingly important matter,
the kind to sow.
350 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY
Mr. Reeves: For a late crop I should sow the Flat Dutch or
the Purple Top.
Mr. Brand: I was very much interested in Mr. Reeve’s paper.
I think the turnip has not heretofore received its due amount of
consideration. Let us look back a moment and see what the turnip
has done. You go back and learn its history in detail, and you
will see that the turnip developed the Polled Angus and produced
some of the greatest milking cows on record, and developed the
Devons like the Polled Angus and the Scotch Galloway, and how
many other breeds of cattle I do not know. The turnip played a
most important part in the development and improvement of those
great breeds. I think it would be better for the farmers of America
if they would pay more attention to the turnip in dairying than
they do now.
SOME SMALL EVERGREENS FOR LAWNS AND YARDS.
MRS. A. W. MASSEE, ALBERT LEA.
There is nothing that so adds to the appearance, the homelike look of a
place as evergreens, judiciously selected and located. They are beautiful in
summer, but in winter they are a joy—such a relief to the dreary prospect of
a northern landscape. They are not only a source of pieasure and pride
io the possessor, but speak cheer and comfort to every passer-by. The
successful planter of evergreens might be (although I think he rarely is), a
very selfish person, but that cannot prevent the public enjoying the fruits
of his labors. And why should we not plant for the public as well as our-
selves? Is it not our duty as far as our circumstances will admit to add
to the pleasure, comfort and prosperity of the community in which we dwell?
And perhaps in no way may we do this as well as by making our home sur-
roundings attractive, comfortable and cheerful in winter, as well as in sum-
mer, by planting evergreens.
Just imagine every farmhouse in this county surrounded by clumps and
hedges of evergreens judiciously placed. What a transformation in the
face of the country!- It would not be recognizable. It would be a different
country; I believe a different climate. How much would it add to our com-
fort and enjoyment? How much in dollars and cents to the valuation of
the county? This last would be no mean sum, and the subject might well be
studied by those who care more for the financial than the esthetic side of
the question. Yet we see very few’evergreens either in country or town.
Why? All admit their beauty and usefulness. I believe the main reason is
this: it is thought by most people that the conifers are exceedingly hard
to manage, very difficult to transplant, and that only a favored few can have
any luck with them. And they are partially right. You cannot have
any luck with them. They are not built that way. Still, if you know how,
and do it, they are just as easily planted and managed as any other class of
trees and shrubs, providing the trees, or rather the roots, are all right when
received from the grower. In the past, quite a considerable number of
evergreens have been planted but the planters mostly failed, because, per-
SOME SMALL EVERGREENS FOR LAWNS AND YARDS. 351
‘haps, in the first place, the roots had been made worthless by injudicious.
handling before being received; or, through lack of knowledge by the
planter of the nature and requirements of the evergreen, he simply killed
them by his mode of handling and transplanting after coming into his
hands in prime condition. Then, again, an evergreen is an evergreen, and
he often bought those that were not suitable to our soil or climate or the
particular location in which they were planted. In most cases they were a
failure, rarely surviving the first twelve months. So planters were dis-
couraged and went back to the cottonwood and willow, which, if you only
stuck in a hole, would grow and flourish without care or culture, and they
had any amount of luck with them. But now, information in regard to the
nature of conifers, their management, mode oi transplanting and culture,
the best and most suitable kinds for our locality, and the purpose for which
they are planted, either as shelter belts around our dwellings or simply
ornamentation of grounds, is so widely diffused through our horticultural
publications, and by the courtesy of the nurseryman, that there is no reason
why any one should not plant at least a few evergreens around his buildings
and be reasonably successful, if he will only do as he is told, and reap a rich
harvest for his labors.
In planting evergreens, study your grounds, know just where you
- want to put them and the purpose they are to serve, and then make your
selection according to your grounds, and the results aimed for. If your
- grounds are large you can have more varieties, and more of one variety.
You can plant those which are naturally of iarge growth. Avoid straight
lines. Nature does not plant in that way. Do not crowd. It is our most
frequent error. The little trees are so small, and we are so anxious to make
a show at once we are not willing to wait for growth; in fact, we cannot
realize that they can ever be crowded. They will grow much better if not
- crowded and make far better specimens. Some kinds are beautiful planted
in clumps. Even then they should be planted some distance apart, if of the
taller growing kinds. Of this class; the white spruce is beautiful planted in
clumps at the sides of the grounds, never directly in front, as they would
- obstruct the view. If there is a view from your window or door that is not
desirable, plant a clump of evergreens to intervene. Do not plant too near
the house. Give chance for the sunlight. In fact, as I said before, look well
to your surroundings, and plant with purpose, always keeping in mind that
these small trees will, ere long, overtop your head.
There is a class of evergreens of which I wish particularly to speak,
that are very beautiful and are not subject to the objections of the taller
growing kinds. These are the dwarf or shrubby kinds. They may be
planted any and everywhere, on large-or small grounds. They never grow
high enough to obstruct the view or sunlight. They may be grown as single
specimens, in clumps or in hedges. They are very hardy. I believe they
are the easiest and safest to transplant. They retain their beautiful bright
' green the whole year, and seem particularly adapted to our soil and trying
climate. They grow quite fast with good care. I believe any one could
- succeed with this class, although on large grounds specimens of the larger
growing kinds would add much to the beauty and comfort of the place; yet
if none but these were grown it would convert many an unsightly place into
a thing of beauty. On small grounds, village or city lots, they are just the
thing. No plot in village or city is so small that it could not have a single
352 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
specimen, or a clump of three or four mountain pine. In summer they are
as ornamental as a flower bed—more so on small grounds, and less care;
in winter such a rest to the eyes from the prevailing bareness and dreariness
of a winter landscape. Ii every lot in a village or city could thus be
adorned with evergreens according to its capacity and situation, in a few
years it would assume an entirely different aspect, would not be recognized
by the oldest inhabitant. If the property owners of a village or city wish
to improve or beautify their town, make it a town to be proud of, talked
about at home and abroad, to attract strangers and home seekers, they
could do nothing more effective than to invest a small sum of money for
each lot in evergreens, and then take care of them. It would be the best
investment they ever made. A large and the better class of people natur-
ally desire—will pay considerable sometimes to gratify that desire—to live
in a pretty and attractive town. I believe the beauty and attractiveness,
either natural or acquired. of a town has much to do with the general
morality of that town. A beautiful, homelike place attracts a better class
of people. I can hardly believe a really hardened, vicious individual would
feel at home in a place whose every lot was adorned to make it a thing
of beauty. He would feel out of place and hasten to get out of that place
and hie himself to one where the surroundings did not continually remind
him of the great Creator. A person of low and degraded habits or in-
stincts never courts the acquaintance of Dame Nature, but rather seeks
the slums of the city where his eye never rests on a blade of grass, a flower
or a green tree.
I have mentioned the Mountain Pine (Pinus montana). It is the ever-
green par excellence for the masses. I can’t see why any one should not
succeed with it. It is a shrub, very ornamental, hardy, easily grown and
may be used to great advantage on either large or small grounds. The
Pyramidal Arbor Vite is another beautiful little tree or shrub, suitable for
both large or small grounds, but particularly adapted to small ones. It
grows upright, like the Irish Juniper, ‘and can be kept in perfect pyramidal
form. It will bear shearing. It keeps its bright color through the year, as
does the Siberian Arbor Vite, which is much prettier and seems hardier
here than the American Arbor Vite. It can be sheared and kept in any
form desired, and is very ornamental, either on large or small grounds.
There is the Juniper (Juniper communis), hardy here, grows well in dry
situations, and can be made very useful and ornamental. For a low hedge
or screen we have the Juniper Savin, which leaves nothing desired in the way
of hardiness and surety in growing. It never grows over four or five feet,
and as it bears shearing closely it can be kept at any desired height. It is
beautiful along a drive, for borders of lots, to shut off a back lot from the
lawn, or anywhere that a hedge is desired, and nothing in the way of
utility or ornamentation is so desirable as a well kept hedge. It is also
pretty on small lots as a single specimen or in clumps, and may be sheared
to suit the fancy of the planter. These hedges for the first two years should
be kept free from weeds and grass by stirring the surface of the soil fre-
quently or by mulching; the former method, I believe, will give the greater
growth. After that, with an annual pruning they care for themselves.
In buying evergreens be sure and get two or three times transplanted
plants. These, though the tops may be small, will have a large quantity
of fibrous roots. It does not matter about the top so much if you have
SOME SMALL EVERGREENS FOR LAWNS AND YARDS. 353
the roots; the top will come all in good time, but the roots, and lots of
them, you must have in order to be sure of success. You might succeed with
a large top and less root if you were very careful and painstaking, not lucky;
but the chances would be against you. The transplanted plants cost more,
but they are worth much more and are the cheapest in the end, if you are
planting with a real desire to succeed. It is also good policy for the planter
to buy his stock of a reliable grower who has good plants of the varieties
desired, as near by as possible, to minimize the chances of removal and
transportation. In planting in the lawn, a space in the sod must be cut
out sufficiently large to allow the roots to be spread out in a natural posi-
tion, and some to spare. I should say a space with a diameter three times
the spread of your tree, and sufficiently deep to give mellow soil beneath
the roots. In planting the roots should not be exposed to the air one min-
ute, and must not be from the time they leave the nursery until they are
safely under the soil again. This is the main secret of luck in transplanting
evergreens.
Have everything ready before you begin. In planting in the lawn it
would be well to have some soil ready other than that taken from the lawn,
and have it fine. Having put good fine soil in the bottom of the hole, put
in your tree so that when the planting is completed it will stand a little
lower than in the nursery. Spread out the roots naturally and proceed
quickly to cover them with fine soil, working it in between the roots with
the fingers, and shaking the tree to facilitate the work. After getting the
roots covered, stamp the earth firmly down, and then put in some more
dirt and stamp. Have the soil very firm around the roots. The sur-
face of the soil should be left loose, say, about two inches deep, to prevent
baking, and allow the water to penetrate the soil. If you wish trees to do
well you must keep the sod cut away from them and keep the soil stirred
with a hoe, or else mulch them. I think they grow faster if you stir the
surface soil frequently and not mulch. I certainly would do this the first
year or so after planting. For mulch on the lawn I would prefer gravel.
It is neater and, perhaps, will keep the grass out better than anything else.
You must fight the grass for best results until the trees are large enough
to care for themselves. We have used lawn clippings as a mulch with very
good results.
If you have transplanted trees and set them properly, they will need no
shading, and you can be reasonably sure that a large per cent will live and
thrive, with ordinary care. This is especially true of the dwarf kinds. I
would not advise you to buy expensive transplanted trees and just chuck
them in a hole, as you would a cottonwood or willow, and expect them to
thrive or even live. “‘What is worth doing at all is worth doing well.”
We do not plant for ourselves alone but for future generations.
Carbon Bisulphide is a liquid that is so volatile it quickly becomes a
gas. This gas is deadly when inhaled. Hence it is great stuff for killing
prairie dogs, woodchucks, skunks, etc., in their holes or vermin in buildings
that can be tightly closed. Now its use as a fertilizer is suggested. Appli-
cations of carbon bisulphide increased to a marked degree the yield of oats,
corn, potatoes and beets in European experiments, but why it should do so
has not been explained.
354 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
HOW THE FARMER GROWS BLACKBERRIES.
G. W. ANDERSON, LONG LAKE.
The farmer usually plants his blackberries with the expectation of tak-
ing good care of them and of getting bushels of this delicious fruit; but,
alas, he has too many irons in the fire, so some will get burned. Small fruit
not being with him a money crop, he looks after his field crop first, and, if
he has any time to spare, his garden and fruit afterwards. Some are fort-
unate enough to have a good wife to look after them and make them care
for the garden first, but usually the small fruits are left to take care of
themselves. Of all fruits that are grown there is none that will disgust him
more than to run into his blackberry patch, and especially if it happens
to be after dark, while trying to catch the pigs or calves that have hap-
pened to get out of the pen. The blackberries, being left to themselves, in
two or three years, if they happen to survive the first summer, which is
seldom the case, will have grown into a perfect jungle, almost hog proof
and boy proof. Then, if there should be any berries, he must wade through
to pick them. Thoroughly disgusted with his failure and especially if he
tries to cover the patch, as he has been told he must in order to succeed,
he hauls up loads of straw or old hay, thinking that must answer the pur-
pose, as he can not cover with soil, which he finds out to his sorrow. But,
alas, when spring comes he finds the mice have girdled most of the canes.
So for all his work and trouble he gets but a few berries. So, when he and
his good wife review the failures and successes of their small fruits some
long winter evening, he—not his wife—comes to the conclusion that he can
buy blackberries cheaper than raise them.
A lady near this city told me the other day that they had blackberries
once, but had them all grubbed out, as neither she nor her children dared
to go near them. ‘Would as soon have barb wire strung here and there in
her garden as have blackberries there.”
The blackberry will never be a popular fruit with the average farmer
until they have been taught how to take care of them, and that they must
be taken care of to be a success. There are exceptions, but where I have
seen one fine patch, I have seen ten that have been almost as described.
Nearly all farmers who have started to grow small fruits have a variety,
so that they can have fresh picked berries during two or three months of
the summer: First, the strawberry, then the red raspberry, currant, goose-
berry, black raspberry and, last of all, the blackberry.
The blackberry is a native of this state, and, no doubt, ere the foot
of the white man trod its soil, when the fawn bounded over its hills and
drank of its streams, the wild savage regaled himself with this delicious
fruit.
If there is anything that will make a western farmer’s mouth water, it is
a sight of a fresh dish of blackberries sprinkled with sugar, and some rich,
sweet cream poured over them. I have never known of a serious case of
cholera infantum or other summer complaint where children or, even, adults
had free access to fresh, well ripened fruit, and I consider the blackberry
the healthiest of all. In behalf of your bright-eyed children and noble,
self-sacrificing wives, I appeal to the farmers of the northwest to provide
a generous supply of home grown fruit for thcir families.
HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 355
HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN OUR COMMON
SCHOOLS.
JONATHAN FREEMAN, AUSTIN.
All who have given thoughtful consideration to physical, mental and
character building, will unhesitatingly acknowledge that the environmen#
of a person, until twelve or fifteen years of age—such environment includ-
ing birth, food, clothing, example, teaching, reading, conversation, asso-
ciates, employment, etc., will always be a controlling influence throughout
his entire life. To me it seems surpassingly strange that, while during the
past twenty-five years our lawmakers have provided facilities for instruction
to the general farmer and horticulturist in the way of state schools and ex-
periment stations for young people over fifteen years of age, they did not
at the same time provide ways and means for presenting elementary in-
struction in the same line in the rural or common district school. The
former are much better than nothing, but they cannot accomplish all the
work desired until pupils are prepared in their earlier years to appreciate
and utilize the later and fuller opportunities.
Within a few years Nature Studies have been introduced in our high
schools. This is well, but how much better to also have elementary work
in the same line in the common schools. All who are deeply interested
in the best welfare of the masses are decrying the fact that so many of the
farmers’ children are rushing to the cities. It is not strange, when we con-
sider the little that has been done in the way of educational laws to in-
terest and instruct the child in his surroundings upon the farm. Even the
laudable effort of providing libraries for our rural schools will largely fail
in fulfilling its purpose under the present arrangements. A large per cent
of our country population ought to remain upon the farms. Then how im-
portant that we provide methods and forms of education that will, first, in-
culcate a love for country life and labor and, secondly, such a knowledge
of vegetable and animal life as will enable him to thus utilize and control
the laws of nature, so that all possible financial returns may be obtained.
’ In a recent number of the Popular Science Monthly, W. E. DeReimer
has an exhaustive and interesting article on agricultural and horticultural
education in European countries. They are far, far ahead of us in every
phase of the matter. France has 3,362 experiment fields and many schools
and laboratories. She has 3,600 pupil-teachers in training for teaching agri-
culture and horticulture. Prussia maintains three grades of schools, lower,
middle and higher, and pupils are trained in the culture of forests, shrubs,
vines, fruits, flowers, etc. After giving a condensed review of the above
paper, the “Ohio Farmer” writes as follows: “In view of all these facts,
America has little to boast of in facilities for agricultural education. We
should learn a lesson from France and popularize such education; begin it
in the rural public schools and provide for the training of every boy who in-
tends to be a farmer. We shall never make the progress we should in this
direction until the foundation is laid in our public schools.” Prof. Conway
McMillan writes in ‘“Minnesota Plant Life’: “An intelligent study of na-
ture is one of the foundation stones of useful citizenship.” Pres. C. M.
Hobbs, of the Indiana Horticultural Society (which has twenty local so-
cieties like our own), in his last annual address, said: ‘‘There is no better
all-round, thorough means of a full, well-rounded mental development than
Nature Study affords. Every American citizen should own a home; and a
356 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
home is not worthy of the name without its trees, shrubs, vines, fruits and
flowers. So horticulture appeals to every man, woman and child in a
greater or less degree. I hope this society and each individual member will
press this matter home upon the educational authorities, until the study
of nature in the common schools of the state shall be an accomplished fact.”
Mr. L. B. Pierce, in an address on “The Books about Us,” before a coun-
try village club for practical information, after extendedly noting the wide
field about us, covered by botany, zoology, entomology and chemistry, and
that all could be studied in the nearest road-side thicket or neglected fence
row, said: “Now, my friends, if you have followed me thus far, you per-
haps have detected a decided leaning to practical results in studying the
books we have around us. I think, if we observe closely, we shall find
there is not nearly so much study at the present time simply to satisfy curi-
osity as there was fifty years ago. because scientific research has all it can
do to keep up with the practical demands of civilization. In a few weeks,
we shall be pining for the odor of freshly turned soil, for the hum of in-
sects and the song birds. Nature will open volumes on every side. Let
us peruse them to the extent of our abilities.”
Now, the question arises, how shall this wide scope of instruction be
carried out, in an elementary way, in our common schools? Permit me
first to present what you may consider an ideal method, although in many
respects it is already an actuality in one or more instances; to be followed
by suggestions of what can be done in the local district, until the present
ideal can be attained, with a view then, doubtless, of something far better.
Ohio has a law for the centralization of the schools in each township.
Gustavus township, Trumbull county, of nine school districts, has been
working under that law the past season. They have a central building,
55x45 feet, two stories, with all modern arrangements and fixtures. There
are eight routes and eight covered vans, with blankets and robes, with room
for eighteen to twenty scholars each. The routes are let to the lowest re-
sponsible bidder, who gives a bond for faithful performance of all duties
specified, and good conduct assured. Average expense per day, $1.08. Cost
per pupil for schooling for the year, $15.00, and many more pupils at-
tending school than before, severally, at the nine schools. No tramping
through the mud, snow and slush, and all are shielded from storms. Here
we obviate the small schools of from two to twelve scholars, with short
terms and full expense, have room and opportunity for good and well
selected libraries, full length terms, regular school habits, as tardiness is
abolished where there is free delivery, and much more time for additional
studies under teachers of varied accomplishments. Good opportunities are
here presented for the study of things pertaining to horticulture and agri-
culture, from the most elementary step upward.
Now, locate this building within a campus of from three to five acres,
having, at first, a landscape gardener; lay out the space, including the play-
grounds, walks, plats for gardening, flowers, nursery purposes for fruit and
timber trees, shrubs, grasses and grains, vines, ornamental grasses, etc.
Let this be done within view and hearing of all the teachers and scholars,
with the general reasons therefor given by the gardener. Have a time each
day in the curriculum, as for any other recitation, in or out-of-doors, ac-
cording to the weather and circumstances, when a part or all of the scholars
shall be taught why and how, and to do the work of setting, planting, culti--
HORTICULTURAL EDUCATION IN OUR COMMON SCHOOLS. 357
vating, trimming, grafting, naming, etc., etc., the students to be marked
as in other class-work. The teachers may not be capable instructors in all
these lines, but without doubt within each township may be found a man
or woman perfectly competent to give instruction in any line with which
the teacher proper may be unfamiliar, who would be glad to render the
service upon the day of said recitation, such as setting of trees, trimming,
grafting, potting of plants, examining buds, insects, worms, etc. As often
as possible have lectures, professional or otherwise, on some division of
Nature Study; and in summer take the individual classes or the whole
school into the forest for a pleasant stroll to name the trees, the plants, etc.,
having them tell their natural characteristics and differences, and again into
the orchards, both when in blossom and in fruitage.
To illustrate the benefits of this line of teaching and practice, permit me
to quote from a report of the last annual meeting of the Ohio State Horti-
cultural Society, pertaining to a lecture given by Mr. F. H. Shuey, of Day-
ton. “Mr. Shuey gave a lecture on home beautifying, illustrated by stereop-
ticon views. The firm with which Mr. Shuey is connected has some 2,000
employes, and pays large sums in wages to citizens of Dayton. One of
the innovations introduced in its dealings with its employes is the setting
aside of a plat of ground whereon the children may make gardens and com-
pete for prizes. Last year thirty-three boys competed, each having a plat
10x130 feet. Some of these boys grew more than enough vegetables to
supply their families.’ The report proceeds to show why this gardening
on the part of the boys was directed by the company. It was to keep them
busy and out of mischief, because the vicinity of the employes homes had
become of ill-repute. The next step was to clean up about the premises
and to enter into a regular system of landscape gardening, resulting in a
short time in this vicinity being the most beautiful part of the whole city,
the children becoming orderly and interested in the beautifying of their
premises, even to the back-yards and alley-ways. Again I quote: ‘Small
children became so expert and interested in the work, that they would criti-
cize various attempts at ornamental planting with a good deal of judgment
and acumen. In looking at the work as shown on the screen, one could
not but note that some of the finest effects were with very cheap and easily
obtained materials. Morning glories, honey-suckles, climbing nasturtiums
and moon-vines were most used for porches and fence screens, while the
beds and groups were of easily grown annuals and bedding plants. For
heavy planting, the castor bean, canna and caladium were used, being often
massed with a very tropical effect. The fences were universally covered
with vines, often poultry netting forming the fence for the vines to climb
upon. The same material was used around verandas.”
How much better for child, parent and community, both for the pres-
ent and for the future, for the scholars to become interested in such scientific
study and practical work than even to spend the time largely in studying
Latin, continually drumming upon the piano, doing fancy work, reading
trashy, blood-curdling novels, gossiping about their neighbors, playing
tricks of various degrees of meanness in the community, not to mention the
worse than wasted time in dancing, playing cards and rehearsing vile, foul
stories. All thinking, unselfish people are today, as never before, seriously
pondering over the best and most practicable methods of eradicating or
effectually controlling the great and destroying evils abroad in the land,
358 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
like intemperance and vice in all its forms. Whatever else may be attempted
or accomplished, it is evident to me that greater and still more strenuous
efforts must be put forth to keep the youth, from their earliest perceptions,
busy in mind and body, by study and work upon all lines as displayed upon
the varied pages of the voluminous book of nature. The active, observant,
diligent and informed person, in the direction herein mentioned, will sel-
dom become a subject to the grosser habits or evils, but the indolent, ig-
norant and careless person will almost assuredly become a menace to the
family, community and the state.
During the time elapsing before the above specified centralizing system
of our rural schools shall be adopted by us, which I verily believe and
hope will soon be accomplished, what steps shall be taken to partially car-
ry forward the suggestions already offered. Let the school board, parents
and teachers counsel together and utilize the existing small plats at present
surrounding the school houses to the greatest extent possible, with flowers,
ornamental grasses, the smaller varieties of foliage plants, shrubs and run-
ning vines, as the limited space will not permit the culture of fruit and forest
trees, grass and grain plats, small-fruits, gardening and the larger shrubs,
plants and vines. If the teacher has not taken a course in biology in the
high school or elsewhere, and has not received a practical knowledge of
gardening and fruit and forest tree planting and culture on the farm, she
and the older scholars may read and study botany, Prof. Green’s “Ama-
teur Fruit Growing,” “Vegetable Gardening,” and ‘‘Forestry in Minnesota,”
Prof. Bailey’s “Nursery Book,” and Prof. McMillan’s “Plant Life in Minne-
sota,”’ imparting to the younger ones orally as they progress with their
studies; also, reading singly and collectively the writings of John Bur-
roughs, John Muir, Thoreau and Horace Bushnell. Frequently all together
take practical lessons in the yard, neighboring gardens, fields and for-
ests, not in the manner of bad boys, without liberty, to destroy and steal,
but by arrangement with the owner, for information and enjoyment, re-
questing the owner to give them actual illustrations of skilled work in the
yard, garden, orchard and shelter-belts. John Burroughs says, “Nature we
have always with us, an inexhaustible storehouse of that which moves the
heart, appeals to the mind and fires the imagination. To the scientist, na-
ture is a storehouse of facts, laws, processes; to the artist a storehouse of
pictures; to the poet, a storehouse of images; to the moralist, a storehouse
of precepts and parables; to all she may be a source of knowledge and joy.”
I have been informed that by planting a few castor beans here and there
in the garden the cutworms will be destroyed. A lady friend planted a few
of these on the south side of her pansy bed as a protection from the sun,
and she found that she had accomplished more than she had intended, for
in the morning when she went to look at her flowers she found numbers of
cutworms dead on the top of the ground. It is thought that the worms
eat the roots of the castor bean and find them fatal.
Transplanting Beans.—We have been successful in planting lima beans
in pans and boxes and transplanting them to the open ground. They need
to be planted as early as possible in order to ripen before early fall frosts.
A Desirable Flower.—One of the best entirely hardy plants we have is
the new rudbeckia, Golden Glow.
_Geeretary’s ' Porner.
SuccEss.—‘‘We have been very successful in our horticultural and forestry
work this year.’’—T. A. Hoverstad, Supt. Agricultural Experiment Station,
Crookston, Minn.
You ARE COMING To THE STATE Farr?—And don’t forget to bring or send
something to help along the show and increase your interest in it. State Fair
week is Sept. 3 to 8 inclusive.
REPORT FOR ’75 WANTED.—We have a call from one of the members for a
report of our society for 1875. If any one has a copy that he can spare,
kindly notify the secretary.
A Goop REPoRT.—‘‘Will have 500 bushels of Wealthy, and they are the
largest I ever saw them at this time of the year. I set 450 appletrees this year
and do not think I losta dozen. Very old trees have made a big growth although
bearing a big crop.”” J. A. Howarp, Hammond. Aug. 7, 1900.”
A DESIRABLE ToMAtTo.—Mr. T. T. Bacheller brought into this office a
basket of Fordhook’s First tomato, which for rich color, uniformity of medium
size and absolute smoothness of exterior are worthy of special mention. In use
they proved equally worthy, being rich, sweet, meaty and free from an excess
of seeds. Have you tried the variety?
How to Know AND FIND MusHROOMS.—The mushroom exhibitors at the
state fair are preparing a little folder for free distribution, giving plain descrip-
tions of several of the more common mushrooms, hints as to where they are
most likely to to be found and directions for cooking them. Visit this exhibit,
which will be found in our building, and get a copy.
OuR ABSENT ONES.—Prof. S. B. Green, who has been spending the summer
in Europe, is expected home September 6th, so the writer is informed, and
will probably be at his post again at the State Agricultural School soon after
this number comes to hand. Pres. W. W. Pendergast has gone to the Pacific
coast for three months. We shall hear from him there.
THE CHENEY PLuM.—A number of specimens of Cheney plums have been
brought in lately, some for exhibition and others for identification. A basket
of very fine specimens left by Mr. T. G. Gearty deserve special notice. Of all
the varieties the writer has seen this season none surpass in appearance this
one, and the trees are bearing full. It is said to be especially valuable for
“putting up.”’
ARE vou AN EXHIBITOR AT THE STATE FAIR?—If not and you are grow-
ing fruit you should be, if only to the extent of one plate of apples or plums.
Don’t forget that the management have promised to have everything in place
360 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
when the fair opens Monday morning and plan accordingly. To bring in fruit
to set up Monday morning will be too late to secure recognition from the
judges. Grapes may come in Monday afternoon, but all other fruits must be
in place at 8 a. m. of that day. Minnesota horticulturists are on time and will
be on this occasion.
WILD GRAPES WITH LARGE FRUIT.—In a letter from Prof. N. EK. Hansen,
Professor of Horticulture at the South Dakota Experiment Station, extracts
from which are printed elsewhere in this issue, he expresses a desire to ‘hear
of any wild grapes with specially large fruit.’’ The professor will be glad to
hear from any one on this subject. There is undoubtedly an opportunity to
improve the native grape by selection, hybridizing, etc., and the purpose of
the professor to get a desirable grape hardy during a dry, snowless South
Dakota winter, merits the assistance of any one interested in the development
of northwestern horticulture.
A HEADQUARTERS SOCIETY TENT AT THE STATE FAIR.—Arrangements have
been made to pitch a large tent opposite and close to the west entrance of
Horticultural Hall at the State Fair grounds. The tent is to be furnished with
tables and chairs, and some one will be in attendance to look after visitors.
Members of the society in attendance at the fair are urged to call and register
and make themselves at home. It is intended to make this a place of rest for
members and their families and friends and to furnish an opportunity for en-
larging acquaintance and social conference. Be sure and visit the society
tent and enjoy with us its comforts.
THE AMERICAN FORESTRY ASSOCIATION.—This organization has lately is-
sued an appeal setting forth its urgent need of an increasing membership,
“especially in the middle western region, where it now has hardly any repre-
sentation.’? Organized in 1882, and witha membership including every state
in the Union, it is doing a useful work and has been found an important factor
in the efforts now making to care for the forests of our country. Its objects
are well set forth as follows, in a circular they send out:
“‘A business-like’'and conservative treatment of the forest resources of this
continent.
“The advancement of educational, legislative and other measures tending
toward this end.
“The diffusion of knowledge regarding the conservation, management and
renewal of forests, the proper utilization of their products, methods of reforesta-
tion of waste lands, the planting of trees for ornament, and cognate subjects of
arboriculture.”’
The annual dues of this association are $2.00, and $50.00 constitutes a life
membership. Besides the regular annual and special meetings it also issues a
monthly publication, THX FORESTER, which, as the official organ of the asso-
ciation, is sent free to every member, and occasionally reports and papers,
giving results of investigations bearing more or less directly on forests and
their utilization, are sent out. Should the reader’s interest in this special field
of work be broader than the confines of his own state an alliance with this
organization is earnestly commended to him, and in aiding its unselfish pur-
pose to foster this important public work and in sharing in its certain triumphs
he will be fully rewarded. Its president is Hon. Jas. Wilson, the Secretary of
Agriculture. Remittances may be addressed to the Second Assistant Secretary
Henry James, 202 14th St. S. W., Washington, D. C.
‘OOGL ‘SIVA HLVIS VLOSHNNIW “TIVH ‘IVHALINOILAOH TO HHNHOD V
THE MINNESOTA
HORTICULTURIST.
VOL. 28. OCTOBER, 1I900. No. 10.
HORTICULTURE AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR
IN 1900.
A. W. LATHAM, SECRETARY.
At eleven o’clock, on the night of Saturday, Sept. 8, 1900, the forty-first
annual fair of the Minnesota State Agricultural Society came to a close, lit-
erally in a*blaze of glory, the last number of the program from the grand
stand being a magnificent show of fire works, and all the buildings being
brilliantly illuminated. The fair was well appreciated by the public, the
number of patrons showing a considerable excess over the year before. The
attendance was well distributed through the week, there being only on one
day anything like a crush.
As far as other parts of the ground are concerned, the writer is not
prepared to make comparisons, but in the horticultural building, concerning
which this article is written, there was a notable increase over the previous
year, and increasingly so over other years. The fruit growing interests of
our state may well be satisfied with the show made this year, the entries
for fruit being much in excess of any previous fair, and the increase in the
number of exhibitors and the plates of fruit shown keeping pace therewith.
The exact number of entries of fruit is not this moment available, but
the number of plates in the single plate list, each of which should represent
an entry, amounted to 776, with the number of entries for collections seven-
ty-five, amounting in all to 851. This is approximately the correct number
of entries in the fruit department. Below is given somewhat in detail the
facts summarized. The footings show that there were exhibited in this hall
for competitive purpose a total of 3,741 plates, which includes something
like seventy-five to a hundred jars of plums in glass, a number not only very
much in excess in total, but also in detail, of the figures of the preceding
year. The largest increase was in the plum exhibit, where gor plates were
shown this year, as against 258 last year. The new sweepstakes premium
of $50 had much to do with this increase, but it was made possible also by
the unusually large crop of plums this year.
NIPAPIL ID Se
Bet nee ene EINC SHG 2e 8) ohn syd Glas ccs os cco en diese ws ead ee es 729 plates
Wolleeno@ls,. professional, 4Entries ) 20... Skee eich ee cele e's 336 plates
PeeMatiOMss Miatemns T2-CNtHES 2.6. ast lk ec ed ee ee ees 417 plates
rece (o MulUSMERL NRT SGU) Pele) shite. sie-Searo's. vsid sve Sale aed eicb deed Sale dle 378 plates
emp EE Rey PIMP ERLIAES eles L.0.) dae tis M seer va clas edn deeeee ee 410 plates
Wolleciiogs of 16 varieties,’ ¥5 entries... (5.2.2. Poe. ele 150 plates
aaa Pie RTA So PTAMEREIES ss ay. kivlel aT Gea Ysa Te ceed ale 146 plates
2,560 plates
362 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
PLUMS
Sweepstakes; 10: enthes Seance cine ics alone igs Meteor cl tree 679 plates
Collections “in -elass-a4 entuicses..- ce eee eee ee 60 plates
Collections motrm glass) ageutiies: ce) swe ple igs. oss eae ts) e- 42 plates
Single *plates,) oinin -50
Tetofsky—
Sibiarmiss Wa OnreSGOmt tomer wieloisie o\nieje classless nis eielel= cle slelsiclewicin's © 1.00
Te AIC ee ATE TOM Mere ieee ci cicisisnie's vio lovels cota wictaicceeielnin Bits)
"Wedge, IN cfs a Bld LY be ano Gants CO SEE OSUC Sa SOCROCDDOC IOS IOOS -50
Utter—
Sea eriss lia sO TeSGCOMmt te. ae civeieie’e cies isisisiovs ei nico aie We piaisianoleniaisin. 1.00
W albridge—
S. Harris, La Crescent ..
L. Parker, Farmington .
M. Lord, Minnesota City
Wolf River—Wm. Somerville, Viola 1.00
White Pigeon—Wm. Somerville, Viola ...............-+. 1.00
Yellow Sweet—
GI WCAG ES Aer tees se tereiectets oe orcla else pinie eielmisiereicjorsieie sjev'sinccic's 1.00
Mifeae srsloegerm ailiken | Wot Gy weae Aagssdson a AURaRArioC InCganendoe ator .75
Yellow Transparent—
Aa lors apillae Wali sesnaacacsr a Saseceroussiado JNCno ODS GdauC 1.00
@arencenwWedse AIDE uiea te pece cnceironsmacicec ct lssice= oe seein “aD
Craw: Sampson, Eureka
400 bad
~
or
1.00
15
og 4 gy g
-50
1st 2d 3d 4th 5th 6th
Duchess of Oldenberg—
COOWs= sanmpsons -BiuUrekay a accesace os ssn $1.75
Wan ssomerville: (WiOlat ios ccle cies. sss $1.50
De Searriss lua) Oresecent. so ccensanase $1.25
Thos: “Redpath,” hone take 2. -..2.-.. $1.00
iW. i: Parker: Harminetom —....-.-.....< $.75
@iwiedze) cAlbert Wea Oise. acs aces see $.50
Hibernal—
Gl iWedae> Albert, Saear eos. cae cece TTS
CW Sampson) -RHIneK aN sere tects see nee 1.50
ie Erase piVeCnGGta a Bere csece cess ce 1.25
@). M:. “ord: Minnesota City’ =s...-.-.. 1.00
Thos. Redpath, Long Lake............ AES
Gust’ Johnson, Eixcelsior <..:.-.r---.-<-
- .50
1st 2d 3d
Okabena— Prem. Prem. Prem.
Wi. las Parker. Sharmin tonnes censcak sie cssniwcce scone ccne 1
$1.75
Thos) Redpath, HuOne esa Ke Sees cer cee acs oosicc ce «nics o'jeapicis $1.50
J. S. Harris, La Crescent
er
$1.
1st 2d 3d 4th 5th
Patten’s Greening— Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem.
GW Sampson, Bite al. eee eceeracisicciastncins's oe $1.75
We 3h, (Parker Sharmin escOM ee se cciciteesteleisteters ete. $1.50
Wan. (Someryalle:) Viola castes sicie lerciwcramenion cis $1.25
Je Se HE aArrisy ap CTESCEMER. . sence ee mesic noise sta alate
GP Wiedee Albertliear een. vccs da. Se Oaner $.75
1st 2d od 4th 5th 6th
Wealthy— Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem.
Gust Johnson; “ixcelsior <.-.)...\<--.-.- 7
$1.75
Ciwedge, Alberterieay tue. caw cetncice sare $1.50
GW mampson. Mureka ties... ecerescses $1.25
A. (Gideon! WE ZCelSIOM wesn cde. asses see one $1.00
As tsheiaicuenGy IDeh Gi vesicles Gaaaonneucosnanacactioc $.75
Brand & Sons, Faribault .............. $.50
(For Amateurs.)
ist 2a 3d 4th 5th
Collection (hybrids and crabs excepted— Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem.
J. F. Peterson, Waconia 5s
WwW. S. Widmoyer, Dresbach 10.00
Ditus Day, Mapleton .........
J. A. Howard, Hammond
Chas. Leudloff, Cologne
$4.00
ae
PREMIUMS AWARDED AT MINN. STATE FAIR IN 1900. 367
Ist 2d 38d ss 4th Fth
: : Prem. Prem, Prem. Prem, Pren,
Collection of hybrids and crabs—
TRI sy JETS TS eth cho Bn (0 0 pena ee ieee ahr 5.00
tive wong, BIOOMINE TOMO ccs otc era cent cce. 4.00
Mrs G. Gordom Lone maker) oss. cadens 3.00
Sark SeLUck. -EVSGEISION. costco roe cen acne ciie ee ces 2.00
ADU SLL Ye eT LEO eracrmtcoaisien cme ereiass cede sale te 1.00
Ist 2d 3d
Antinovka— Prem. Prem. Prem.
Eee Peri e Hix Cel Simian cnn seh eee eae as be ceec a vem dams sites $1.00
{hoo Mais ARWei ope MEAs UCT ORR A oAtriae Ae coo ree Hones mE eaEee $.75
H. P. Eberhard, Mound Prairie
Anisim—
Eph ge BUSSE Ap VENITLer OLS! s,s «soc ae nels neteisteiaces ers eis orete
IV sel VIAN er KEERGCCISION 2..ciesicidie eelate seme clea moneeatiotas
H. H. Heins, Lydia
Blushed Calville—
er EDOWALCS. ELAMIINIONCE 5 cts cecctots o aielote aretsreysictorersiola sla peice Save 1.00
Beal eet CLOT SOM... VWVicLCONIAY .c c,ccteictesis as Slaice ovine Said sion, oot os eieiointcienfos
Breti—JI-cA. Howard, (elammond: ..sasncccccesnebonthe douse 1.00
Ben Davis— ;
WEE Soe Lil Oe TOMO SACI Sots inciccists ordi trols arelareteiciclacvews ola elaiaverote 1.00
VTL OR CORG TCC DLINE” a1 ceraai cscs cate a ce ree oints ete oie 6 oloiarecioiohore fee Ae
Dar Nears] NVM IO Maced ATA TTLOIIG vata s\aisierd oc namic Sajaciciociuieaee Me nnlefeeece -50
Charlamoff, Peterson’s—
3 PE TINE HELD ICD DG has ce ttes ie vie. ciovevew eas! ele a eisian oo 8.0 dee waio'e Semtaatec 1.00
EE ELOISE GLIA en chon cake veer orcie wie nieva¥e‘avcie erect o76 o-eiciere wegen -75
7 Talbert, Long TRIO eerste cierener e aice once oi ce isicile canis obese -50
Christmas—F. J. Peterson, Waconia
Cross—
Dewain Cook, Windom
Cha swe yUrO le COLO RTIC™ boos tasers oc nine clave ore sie. soi sisle nvegereie’s.otace:ofaysre
Pee CLET SO la AVY UC OMI aie ise ee ance «i baccicsle So tewiceioan ss oe aeaeemes 50
Fameuse—
W. S. Widmoyer, Dresbach ;
eee A CNIae AA IEETII LOT vei ccistatove x xe oie eacsiove aiciers nisininace o henwwwieeion -75
Eee ebpernardy MOUNGY Prairie’ ele ul ce oasis cia sve civ alas siviwieleWkin oe. ayaa 1.00
Qik) hazy boyz i o Weel Bray oh eats fei Some Sree een a Pre a ERI) $765)
MrsioaGs Gordon!” Wont uate. os vsecdssncesseoedee vwsoseehene 50
Whitney— ; ,
TSA EAs bon aaeR COSI T weve moe delerseitsaa.s < vws x o-. csmata .ss52 acts BSR re Are at (7)
ee) ela Ch 4m HX COS LOL ie. fe asin eracideteis chasctate are s'e' earn atin s Aa -50
SEEDLING APPLES.
1st 2d 3d
Prem. Prem. Prem.
Collection, excluding crabs and hybrids—
eI EON, LEX COISLON Nirvit aso wetnee rn scien tuations s/c: Waa vnarenicle CoE 8.00
Ds he Akin, Harmine ton? ....
H. M. Lyman, Excelsior
Collection of crabs and hybrids—
PACE GIGCOLR, ©. HreCOlSIOM 6 « ... salsa othe ee ereiniconc Sasia/era/ og trarc asi hNaOeens 6.00
ES Dye me DIST OM | fe ccerad Seine ic tela elena a oaranle sro cece ree 4.00
pte Vien Many TNATI Ss BEX COLSIOM 2075, o7a7015, visinsoloya CebaSaiesiesnrarainievasa eeriraale wate ols 2.00
Fall variety, not sweet, never having received a pre-
mium at the Minnesota State Fair—
eee PLOTTISS «17a | COLESECIE 2 .50
W eaver—
Isle iB heee aUagobien Ha spanecnemconodeccpacanboccos sda sc°onoondane 1.00
Goflins Hamline. . 2... 0..s%e iain clatcrsraeta clove oiersiasainraleloromolomaateiatla sy
Gioia) few \yiptove opon, edecsudreoonnGdoUcoCCUnGLobboonucsrnotocingccots -50
W olf—
SM ICO eH an S COM saves aziels eicicje ule stale, « asteisleletasista cieietelcle’s 1.00
BPE UNIT SIT ay CLUS cxaratoteictacarereiolsje/siacare miotate, siolol sie ale of sieve (otererMetatate fe velajese a6
182, (Clbetienthoep MA WISI elo bids) Gonce en podacobertoUdeCoocobocHacanuT 50
Wyant—
W. S. Widmoyer, Dresbach .......... Sele ce cis aractoscicie sieciate areeiers 1.00
OFM Toran OMInnNeES Ola “CI Gy. cisicjsicersiessdeioenascicinss drsleaisicse dose 75
PSEC OOK WANGOMG Sree sc nicictee tacos seleiss ale esine(aansiareivin's sieidg ce deine .50
Windom—
Mal © OO OAV Y LTLE OMe ccaiaraiso'a'e cigis.c.cle's o-cle sineleiee siielejsie = V\s'a\nie' sis wie .sicleleis 1.00
=I
ol
Q
NO OF UM Uso 440 UD
Om
-50
q Yan goa gyo by
bf
372 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
1st 2d 3d
Prem. Prem. Prem:
Seedling, to equal or excel the De Soto plum, never
having received a premium at the Minnesota State “ot
Fair—
Martin’ Pennines (Sleepy By 6 tice cise onic vets a 'visilelois cle slates aiciateia re 5.00 /
Chas. (Hause aMenGd ota ee eee cielcoee ee ace vlclelee oeistecote eereaeteeets 3.00
Brand V6) SONS gee pel Gee cei win ete crolele oicinie ciwiclatelalpreerets HAS 2.00
Pears—
J. R. Cummins, Washburn 5.00
GuWedrer AlPertyeae: ccaosoc cuss cane ae cree ce som ebnien sletiemeeerees 3.00
Peaches—
As SIT Ca CH eH sC CISIOMAR onal. ate J. eee ee Stewie t ce o'wiciere renlcenmmictte 2.00
Wie Se) Widim Over eDres DACs acac's sre 21s nipisicie oo1e's alee eeieteietele 1.00
SUNDRIES.
Sand Cherries—C. W. Sampson, Eureka ................00. 2.00
FLOWERS AND PLANTS.
(For Professionals.)
1st 2d 3d 4th
Prem. Prem. Prem. Prem.
Collection of foliage and decorative plants—
RR: JvMengenhall, Minneapolis) Fecccwec.cacewis cies tetsietee $35.00
hm Nagel & Co: Whnneapolisme.s scccie woes dacs sne oe een $30.00
Jacob lHartman,, Minneapolis icccsccacs nce accunneeesee $20.00
John” Wasatka, Minneapolis) cncccnccccecccciesn secucaute
Collection of greenhouse plants—
Re J. Mendenhall; AMinnGapolisa soescscc0 a> veccsctecaee 20.00
Jaco eHartman., Minneapouss --sscesan anes tncs + cence 15.00
Johns Vasatkar Minneapolis, soacscsees secs cae kececcneee 5.00
Collection of climbing vines—
Jacob Hartman, Minneapolis
E. Nagel & Co., Minneapolis .. 1.00
John? Vasatka, sMinneapolis: sa. ssaseeeeeteas cee. ns cnet -50
Collection of five hanging baskets, one of a kind—
Jacob -Hartman, Minneapolis... aeesmeenn oe sseene 4.00
Ry. iMendenhallg Minneapolis) -;.cacceeeeciests ose coe 3.00
Collection of coleus—
Jvacobuciartman, Minneapolis” =... ssesee eee rse ser 2.00
Jonn. Vasatka,, Minnéeapolisisc so... .scbeeeene sens ane 1.00
Collection of tuberous-rooted begonias—
BeeNagel .& (Cor, IMinneapolisiecco: css. c tee nes oo cake 4.00
John ayasatka, MInNeCADOLIS® = apssehes ono c Seana 3.00
Single specimen palm—
Reed. wtendenhall, Minneapolis’ 2.-.2-5-.2..eeeeeneeeee 4.00
Jacob Hartman; Minneapolis”... scsce. .0 a2. eee noes 3.00
JoOnnOVasatka, “Minneapolis iccsccccewcsccss Lona tenee nee 2.00
BeNaeely sé) Co:, Minneapolis sc. scctccncn Jenene eee 1.00
Collection of geraniums in bloom—
Jacobmilartman.. Minneapolis: 225. 20estes.c2s sc dee 4.00
Jonn) asatka, Minneapolis (os. f.25ce.csncewen «seco 3.00
BUNA EL 6s (\CO4 MUIMNNECADONIS) ao sencctcnsccece eeu c anna 2.00
Collection of carnations in bloom—
HINA eioone@ Os, MINT ADOLIS: ea. ccnsenic sec cece ee cnr 3.00
JOnneMVaSatikas MINNEAPOLIS msct ooh eee. convene 2.00
Jacobenartmans MMinneapolis. .s-.cics aces nce sc cence 1.00
Vase filled with plants at the fountain in horti-
cultural building—
EeeNageleé Co; Minneapolisnsscsnisos ese caicinocs ces sss 4.00
Jacobmitartmamn: oMinneapolis << 5.5. cescwe co ceeecie one 3.00
Rod. Mendenhall, Minneapolis’ 2550 ison io lee areee 2.00
Jonn Wasatika-) Minneapolis) «.2s.2-...05...2s cess eeaneek 1.9
Collection of asters—
Jpeartman mVviinnea polis. aoa... .c sec Ace ocidcres vclacuree 3.00
E. Nagel & Co., Minneapolis 2.00
iH. J- evlendenhall, UMinneaepolis) cscs ce. cc ac cecescres 1.00
Collection of carnations—
Ra J, cMendenhall) IMimneamolis mac caccciac ccc cic ceisienaue 3.00
JOUnE was atica. Minneapolis! scsenscoorcisauasn oe etece 2.00
Bie NAP el ecu Os) WEIMMEADOIIS: 5 scpeueceieensiesireislittaacte 1.00
Collection of roses—
Raw wendenhall> Minneapolis: 4.0. de cceoaecec ce sccres Ot 3.00
PENS dc OO: HVTINMEAM OLMIS. var c.scvosricsiactctaieiane crocs 2.00
Johnwavasatka,, UMinneapolis , occ .c-sincwentocenmanncnenBe 1.00
Collection of petunias—
Ape viclstena fey Wik tra yoVetsh oo) h COR ee en ere See Rae es 2.00
Mrs: ‘Geo ohilers it) aR i oia,secteisicuteicies sevelectaores saa 1.00
PREMIUM AWARDED AT MINN. STATE FAIR IN 1900.
DESIGNS, BASKETS AND BOUQUETS.
Ist 2d
Floral design, Gates Ajar, 30-inch—
MONCGCL G2, CO-, MINDNEAPONIS <5 cpanel asics es ob a0 . $15.00
J. Mendenhall, Minneapolis ...
Eiarpinan., NEUnNDeapOlis es catkccweceieneceiescetien: ay
Put asacka MINTICADOLIS Ss oes Pees we cc acca. neeme
Twelve-inch basket of flowers—
J.~Mendenhall,, Minneapolis: o. 2. ccc. cca. nancceccccs 5.00
NAL! SCO. MINNEADOUHS—.tence covers cece alse ce be 3.00
hm Vasatka, iMinneapoliss s4be.c. 5). descas's Revive os
lariman.) IMInnCaDOlS:. «. cms aos acts laut oeelas sts visa ice
Pyramid bouquet—
Nagel & Coz IinneapOls: ty. cycp ie niciatenteie's.t obs canaee 3.00
pelrartiman, - Minhea policies sect cachet cor ccesien. eects 2.00
J. Mendenhall, Minneapolis .....0......ccncccccecns
Reyasa lea. Minin aD OME witeuoss «ce vthin cc renretdenieccietieres
Hand bouquet, 9 inches across—
PNA el 1h COLe NinNeaADPOlISs. - ach ances ranccee ceesee ne 3.00
Jzviendenhall, Minneapolis. .2 n.ncose sunset sees 2.00
Reo taArimaha IMMINeAONS 4 ccce> one ancre en ae ees fo
PaNViaserhicain MinmMeapoulsSynicere.. sete wacinesiio succinct
Bridal bouquet, white flowers—
Je Mendenhall VENA OliSie..c. sostesceeecyetesinice 3.00
MINA PE lnde Or, eM MCADOLIS: Sc «sccm scence meee sees ore 2.00
ELM aes LANE ANOIS .. > oeenjicme descniecsictee cnn eset ee ee
ORME Veasatika, MANNE ADOIIS: A). ciscssecavelcsscasseeaceus
ey
$10.00
BI SORE SWE So SM
ou
PLANTS.
(For Amateurs.)
Ist
3d
$6.00
2.00
1.00
1.00
1.00
2d
373
4th
$4.00
1.00
-50
-50
-50
3d
Prem. Prem. Prem.
Single foliage plants—
ems lar eT este SATICOIY: aT Keouhxtsaiccineicaewre sions oie en's ere $1.50
ESL OVS, VEITITIE A PIOUS | cleicicc sie.cielecleis' ob dane cPeleaasacenee cise
Single geranium, in bloom—
Main Bell Brown, MINNCADOUS =o. sjeccas oc ccsmjewiescsss ess ccd
Single begonia, in bloom—
iss At At ESrOWlls WMANTICATOLIS 5 fopiidtes sce cclktocdcensttcescse
CUT FLOWERS.
Collection of asters—
SE Re AC UTA N TSS Cone HEA ER VIRLTRN G7 al orcs coO siete alae: veivtalore’ atalclers le syeseralslole-essiee 6. af. 2.00
Tae Or STORIE a Ue FAIL ais. c clove, wcrc ociclauyl Goa dtslejaleoataven vere
EM UIN ACTOS LAY EO Ul lier ate nie deisiere ausieie Oo dlastely cap Ae eames oem
Collection of coreopsis—
1D) KE he ycheg MoT eh Sh seg Sd 1] 0 er pe ey ies ar gS Rea ce 2.00
Collection of dahlias—
BIeS Mm Ceret TNL LEN Ta ys tiny CATE tec) owe teeta etens azoiah aie veil oh
Collection of zinnias—
Maman View bite, Minneapolis) i... .tsse seeere oe 2 $1,666,666.67
Balanceror purchase price minpaidiy. jee .-)r).feiiee cies cele $1,338,570.83
ANNUAL INCOME.
185 feet, board measure, per acre annual growth on 100,-
000 acres would be 18,500,000 feet, board measure, which
can be cut each year without intruding upon the normal
growing stock, 1. e., the principal, at $4 per M.......... $74,000.00
For fishing and hunting privileges, cranberries, rents
AIG PASUUITE Ve! {i cavencs bis, ayeey «+ Giereeteyh Meret S Greek a hoe Miah RSA 21,500.00
Total anntialGincome: cases settee oe ree naeoe eee $95,500.00
ANNUAL OUTLAY.
Interest ait S. $13.37
jes.) aris, expenses -Pxecutive Board: .-.%.'.:.. < 20.00
J. S. Harris, expense Seedling Committee...... 15.04
Adjourned sine die.
WYMAN ELLIOT,
Chairman Executive Board.
A. W. Latham, Sec.
Record of meeting held at secretary’s office, Minneapolis, 7:30
p. m., Dec. 5, 1899.
All present except S, B. Green.
The following list of members it was decided to recommend to
the society for honorary life membership: J. G. Bass, S. H. Ken-
ney, R. Knapheide, O. M. Lord, Wm. Mackintosh, Wm. Oxford,
=. 1. Richardson; (N..E) Hansen and-C: G. Patten.
The secretary was instructed to draft and submit to the society
for action an amendment to the constitution which should restrict
498 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
voters on any amendment to the constitution or by-laws in the same
way they are now restricted as to election of officers.
Adjourned sine die.
WYMAN ELLIOT,
Chairman Executive Board.
A. W: Latham, Sec.
Record of meeting held in the secretary’s office, Minneapolis,
7-30 Ily, HEC. 4 7," VOOo.
All present except L: R. Moyer.
The following delegates were chosen to represent this society
at various horticultural meetings:
C. E. Older, to South Dakota State Horticultural Society.
O. M. Lord, to Iowa State Horticultural Society.
Frank Yahnke, to Wisconsin State Horticultural Society.
Wyman Elliot was elected chairman of the board for the en-
suing year.
A. W. Latham was elected secretary for the ensuing year, at
a salary of $75 per month.
The salaries of the president and treasurer were fixed at $25
each for the year 1900.
J.S. Parks, of Pleasant Mounds, was appointed superintendent
of a trial station, to be located at his place.
Upon the request of Clarence Wedge, the trial station on his
grounds was discontinued.
A committee consisting of Messrs. Elliot, Green and Harris
was appointed to look after the apple seedlings growing on the Gid-
eon place.
It was decided to refer the question of giving plant premiums
to all members annually to a committee consisting of Messrs. Lath-
am, Green and Elliot, with power to act.
The standing committees for the year were re-appointed the
same as for the preceding year, except that the name of Prof. N. E.
Hansen was added to the committee on nomenclature.
One hundred dollars was appropriated to pay expenses incur-
red by Prof. S. B. Green in connection with investigations to be
made in his proposed trip to western ‘Europe along the line of
adaptation of horticultural methods in that country to Minnesota
conditions.
Adjourned sine die.
. WYMAN ELLIOT,
Chairman Executive Board.
A. W. Latham, Sec.
EXECUTIVE BOARD, 1900. 499
Record of meeting held in county commissioners’ rooms, court
house, Minneapolis, 5 p. m., Dec. 8, 1899.
Present, Messrs. Elliot, Harris, Andrews, Green and Latham.
O. M. Lord, the treasurer-elect, having declined to serve, H.
M. Lyman was appointed by unanimous vote of those present to fill
the vacancy till the next annual election.
Adjourned sine die.
WYMAN ELLIOT,
Chairman Executive Board.
A. W. Latham, Sec.
Record of meeting held in the secretary’s office, Minneapolis,
8 p. m., June 18, 1900.
Chairman Wyman Elliot, Pres. W. W. Pendergast, Clarence
Wedge, L. R. Moyer, J. S. Harris and Sec. A. W. Latham were |
present. |
The secretary’s bill for expenses from Dec. 5, 1899, to date was
duly examined, audited and allowed, namely, i
Us WHOS, TEGO 0 TRS Gl ene | eel ee ae $908.74
The “Gideon Memorial Committee,’ J. M. Underwood, chair-
man, reported recommending that the sum of $1,000 be raised for a
fund to be called “The Peter M. Gideon Memorial Fund for the
Promotion of Education in Horticulture,’ which fund when collect-
ed shall be deposited in trust with the Board of Regents of the Uni-
versity of Minnesota, the interest only of which is to be used as
premiums for members of the class, or classes, in horticulture in
the Minnesota School of Agriculture, upon such conditions and
under such circumstances as a board, consisting of the dean of said
school of agriculture, the professor of horticulture of said school,
and the president and chairman of the executive board of this so-
ciety, may from time to time decide. This report was unanimously
accepted and adopted, and the secretary directed to prepare and
send out a circular letter to the members soliciting subscriptions
to the proposed fund.
Adjourned sine die.
WYMAN ELLIOT,
Chairman Executive Board.
A. W. Latham, Sec.
500
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
LIST OF ANNUAL MEMBERS, 1900.
Annal Members.
Aeklin? Ho'G: 35 3) 1024 Miss. st., St. Paul
INI 3 Se areas skonons ection. Deephaveu
Archibald GAS ee a eats) > ke ome Big Lake
Aid erSGNEWNIIS. <1 es) eo) = Lake City
ASVINGSGH AT EAL ete i eeteo cite ie Kirkhoven
Andrews, Gen.C. C . 833 Goodr’h av.,St. Paul
ANGETSOn AATISIG. Weia cae eeu al Norseland
Anderson, J. D, M. D. 1920 2dav. S., Mpls.
IAS CORES OH bd Sa oS pyro Sb Faribault
Anderson, G.W. . 3114 Girard av. S., Mpls.
{AU RS anes Obl Gg Cte rtome Homer
Anderson, AGolphiy. = < = © 1 ~ Es Renville
Amderson, Louis’: : 2). =.- > « « - Rochester
Anderson. FLiks. «eos js + o< = 5 ‘Lake Park
Agnes; Peters. Sede es oC . . Lindsay
ADIGersOnl ty Sir Alacms [otlesee Ketect i etes Dawson
Aschenbeck J. H.. . . 731 4thav. N., Mpls.
Andrew, J. E.. . Stillwater, Rural No. 2.
Alderman, Mrs. Laura A. . . . Hurley, S. D.
Arneson sAl C2. cars s tse Basta a Fosston
Ain eSB ee oe eineigone) a Farmington
Alderman I. Ros se 6 ce. oe ee Hurley, S. D.
Andrews, Joseph. ...... . Hurley, S. D.
SENSO DS cA Niro isis tal vag) ate its) fe ieeitt= Wegdahl
iAeneSon ACA) ce -ee eee eeieae Bete eel Wegdahl
AniderbergnO Aish =! eo eae Montevideo
Anderson, Mrs. Henry. ..... Montevideo
ANGE TSO RE: cer cee) nee renee Kandiyohi
Adler Color & Chemical Works,
100 William st., New York
Alin ANI = 4 icq) hh isto ees Fullerton, N. D.
Armstrong, OCs ci oral mi neicueats Albert Lea
Albert, Lea Mer. Co. 5 2.) optics « Albert Lea
Anderson RODE sa. i eats) =, en cue ele Belle Chester
Bulli See woe. se cata yeh ce 6 «+ ~browusdale
Becker]: iC. y cca ihcd ee eee ebie Adrian
Browning) (Geo!) ss. oss sh cn tae Fulda
BurtzZlof# seal... cis + once acer Stillwater
Brinvhall sWe Hass. 2. codes ee Hamline
BenjamineRiG.te ise. Aces Hutchinson
Bussee wel h ei ose.) cae Station A, Mpls.
BartOmeMrsal: .) cachet «= oleae. Excelsior
SSS ol ECs Seo) Golo Ghides | Newport
BANE Rois, 2 eas) cus, whe ie Bloomington
BOWMSOS SNES S sais tel clin eee Howard Lake
Barsness:VJocA: sc. 5) stsscal en es Spring Creek
Pao S (A Ml en ain Saal tus oo > » « @ONGrStrand
Blair iC. E. 20s) eo = Lee Urness
Burgess. BY. 5. S.< Ges sys ake Amor
Bratidhapen\@-jHs'<) & s= en ean Rothsay
Tee CCRIN Seo AS Bc Ao gS Fergus Falls
Bost (As A: oo ot rb. ps oS eee Excelsior
BoraassnSyGs 8s cr. cero wee Cerro Gordo
Baker A..F isos, ede & Sele tae Britt, lowa
Bisbee. JOON . 5 is sks ~ ox 6 eee Madelia
Bradt (HSH Gs cf Spec. otks tae Eureka, Wis.
Brown, Mrs. E. J. . 3027 Pleasant av., Mpls.
Blom Ole vs 4%. fF os.0s \e 2" a ae Hagen
Batley, MigiCent 7394 )0te ease menos Newport
Brobercg, Pheo.. <2. o) neers . .Waconia
BicksHon: Daniel’: 9+ 4 see Maukato
Buttermornre kh. Hs). |< . idole Lake City
BOLUM B pissy Coals . Belvidere Mills
Bedford: Sse (4 -): . . Montrose
Bailey pe G ss ie fe eet otk ones Elk River
Blaisdell) Alfred) .< is. 3: -<-da Elk River
Herthelson+Christ)}: 0 thee Albert Lea
Berd quist, (ClO. 2. ee) = ante Willmar
Boelk, Ferdinand. ..... Lansing
BUnNeS, Seer 5A). co hse ae Pleasant Grove
Bak Wen yiACO ois eet Fes tee Albert Lea
Browi9s (ONG oaks cise sl ween Albert Lea
Blacker Dr sass. 2 ee Se ee Albert Lea
BrGwitsck Do, cosa ue fee ee eee Albert Lea
Blackmer: Loren). .0-4./2 « Sane Albert Lea
Blackman Bo. S sc cc) 2) ee Alden
Bocock= Ai, .) 1.2092) 25a lee ns Grogan
Bramble, Frank S.... . Watertown, S. D.
Burtuess; Ms Hoyo va ker ep eure Wilmington
BUEUCE Wea iers oe renee sé «_« » splidlewaral
Burgess: (AW @ tal. 7a to ie eeu St. Peter
Bells Warte scien c1.o 0 ene Redwood Falls
Brobere. JA: Je opi) a S kee eae Dassel
Beckley si) SH. ee. et tase . . Worthington
BUSS: Ove Ee. ens aac tee pee Fe ee ee Edgerton
Backelval jee} ut oeenie - - . .. Holmes Crky,
BachellerideeE «hens =~ . . Box 1000, Mpls.
BOTSt. PaeWiel fone ous 4 an acetates Lakeville
Black: Rasmus oie) 0s ested austes Lake Benton
Birendemuehl, Dr. Fr........- Moorhead
Brow. Os Hei: ea eee Willow Creek
Burnham Geo. 0. <1 eee we one Jackson
BUSH AH eee i setes cekesu done Cantons Grand Meadow
Bis he vA Key ane) eerie > « - Dover,
Bigelow; wee, co foe ae . Rochester
Bang: Christy). 40 sus) cuce casts tee Minneota
Cashman, M.R. s0dy ots a Wayzata
Fryer, EWES Eiiernw: eS Rue ton Ro Je, bP lS) vc Genoa
FACING EA. tee cli sicheles Spring Grove
Son yO Her tn) «henna ten Luverne
[ler bivee Uliteracy Ay meen Ae Garden City
Fitzer, Chas. . . 1329 Fremont av. N., Mpls.
Fredrickson, S: c 1S eta Sa ae Cobden
Ferguson, IN oe ek ont, et Chatfield
Friedholm, Wart) oa) ey ce 6 ore Albert Lea
Kreemani jonathan, ¢ i. . tis.s 2: Austin
Frankland, Thomas. . Stonewall, Manitoba
Biny em (RHOMmAS ss oss os 2) ow 0” ce Spring Valley
Beta Ze We line ot ey oF hielo Reo Battle Lake
Parmar; Paka 5 se © oca' White Bear Lake
HaCeysUMiei inn: oy heh ek sure shoeteluot ehiniee Preston
HEI IRODEtch tie “sy ev isk Base ee Oe Easton
Ferodowill, F. X.. . 403 Washfav. S., Mpls.
Frederickson, Aug 6 Ritcaunleae Bernadotte
Gerrish, Rife ae fe ee St. Charles
GomePromersSis see) ee fake Madison, Wis.
Gastfield, A. F. . 2112 W. 2d st., Duluth
GIATAISNG 7 Bees he sct sce pe) Vernon Center
Goodmans Dee so. 4 8 oa aa Faribault
Griheleyosepitey a ei orn tenle New Ulm
Gperdsen pee Sl ers iste es. ste Victoria
GrimestGalvitis Pee as Re Northfield
[SRR at NS) See or eho o ood cas Hastings
Green! Prof: S)B.. 2: .. St. Anthony Park
Gisbisriy 1s Ai eee ia eae Sleepy Eye
Gibson telhOSi i a2. soa do, ah eter e Duluth
Greenshts IeeGzts en, we la Se aelhs teh hls Morton
GRAMS OHM reste 16d is) tes ccna ah ieihe Linwood
GhddinesiSubies 7 Soa es Elk River
GuEne yy CAA ce as eee Yankton, S. D.
Gres ose oy oh eh cn a Suellen Montevideo
Geant yesle Ge tit sia ei ais yc cre Robbinsdale
GLOVER resets ofan escorts Zumbrota
Grimm aR ns wee. Watertown, S. D.
CRESS nig oct Ne aed ae Gee Hopkins
Gillyeshwantt 2? 3, od.) ee Wegdahl
Jensen were An. mit Genie vo ene Rose Creek
Johnson; Ro Alex.” 3). < . .. Hanley Falls
Johnson & Chamberlain... . . Albert Lea
Wome evo tas GAS oo oa od oo Albert Lea
enSen sis ce cneie veto crete: sae Albert Lea
JACK Maines ire Asi elke gece a emcee Northfield
James, Henry. . . Rural Route 1, Red Wing
OHNSONS CORA s yews aes) eens Mens Clay Bank
Jones job 2s cs be Gist cet ~ Luverne
johounatwerot.i Cee. ones St. Francis
Johnsons) ees te eas el co ere Hartland
Tohnsom@ferP hai, os: see eh eee St. Peter
Jat ea yee An cue: s om" ekee® a . . Dovray
JOycemaniesee. i... kee ae Grand Meadow
Johnston sas eee coe Seren Sherburn
Johnson UM Bs. <3 Tian Nicollet
Kinney iSiGieeas 3. =. = meee Owatonna
Kellysfobnibo as 2.) eee Biddeford, Me
Karbouski, Aug.,
Sta. B, Route 1, Milwaukee, Wis.
Kording. John: 2 5 2%. 2s sects eas Hayfield
Kingsbury, Mrs. D. L.,
1996 Milwaukee av., Merriam Park
Kil bowene EM 5 ese) nates hoes Lakeville
Kren nedyay yeni is eich cp ousiete Beuee Lake City
KilevarinePawlP) ate cena e eee Starbuck
Kiaenvni iG ocs cian 2211 24th av. S., Mpls.
KatznereRevaya ots. cn ptenens Collegeville
Knudson, Mrs. Martha,
514 Cedar av. S., Mpls.
KSrmMe cere OR is: else uke tae Roan ee Homer
Klemz, Herman,.. . . .Pleasant Dale, Neb.
EVIE WED asben ie, euros) Geek teeters Faribault
Kapphahn, Gustavus... ... .Alexandria
Ket bal Pe Wreas) ts hiowres letle tree te erenicer ee Austin
KiniseRs SOOM aces ele a) eine Welcome
Kenn @nas). i.) nel eset ee . -.. . Osceola
TTAMSS a Cie) Velicints, este seh a ee Morristown
KitiballvAs Coat ot cereiot en Champlin
KSC AVS: VAC Wi sea, tt notes ORR t oiatsI or Elk River
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Keasiimo wGearve. .f: 0-8 wees Elk River
Kelley Rr. oles eee Worthing, S. D.
Kartvedt-; G.'Si. 0...) tose Canton, S. D.
Koren, J.D. N. P. Ry. Co., St. Paul
Kingslev, Mrs, Ida M. ae . peu Stewart
Koha soni. Git ou.) o clecheneee Montevideo
KaAnikkberg,O..J <<: =... ies eueee Pennock
Kaeninier Menry., <4: < <\ aoe Albert Lea
KeniAtvola Bs bi.) sie sede: 21s Lene Albert Lea
Kennedy, Mrs.A.A....... Hutchinson
Kaen Zhi MGs ove eel a vas usris North Redwood
Knoff, MEME Alu ose Winnebago City
UReiiteleoh i Don) Se Bee oueececl clo. c Gitendale
Were ey sh 18 UO A On Woodstock
ARS D I Wa WWir ay ios © ee coi . sposd oe eh eeeoanemn Greenleaf
Mathiesen "Ho... 20. Watertown, S. D:
Manderfeld) Henry... - .- = - New Ulm
Wayman. Weis calesicickc wanens Sauk Rapids
IAEA. Wien otek east once omn ena Excelsior
WELTON eA 2 ce) ot ee coe New Auburn
MMatso mi(CieGaoes aioe. hel aie tee Lindstrom
MOESEr PIS ky chs. lsu erro St. Louis Park
GUO EIDE 5 Glpes Gla se ond c Garden City
Mover “ER Pie Cae node te Montevideo
Miller, Miss Annie. ....... Silver Lake
Mesenburg, Frank. ....... .St. Cloud
Modlin? OME sie. 2 + casio) eee Excelsior
Marsh, EF, 1 UAE e oerian oe GtieO. to Champlin
Meyer inenny. Albert ea
Tifo je) Keg WPA By Pelee a Manchester
DNMEZSCHE RUINS iso ac) eet! wae) east es Fulda
INGISOIMC SUING Voc, aie is! tan’ he Se ese elmo d se. % Amo
INGISOn HYP: 5. ss wan ao -e. Montevideo
INTEISO Rep OUTS t.ho oan! sy ah wills ety ote Ortonville
DVOMES eVVse El cv op wes es Claybank
NES US ttietey Ce ic) 5.5) s Nell's before) (oie Lafayette
MVETCATOM Panes. sn oaWectl ot aha Lerdal
OROM CHAS pects sors ewe hry ents Marietta
MIGere CRE es cap tue euie aa means Luverne
Omens Mi Ate et cus yes Lumber Ex., Mpls.
Ouystad whi ye a se le fate Pelican Rapids
OBSro MAeCUHY cia bat esau 2, «dels Kensington
OeataeRe Aree Tees aie Uenst s Kenmore, N.D.
Ogilvie james Sr. sta. se lelel sts Blue Earth
lesa Nate sic cence cele ae eeto vette Wegdahl
COVED A SHC [os f San es See aa Ce Ren ee Badura
ORE MeSS aera iach ala-P ao es iis Wastedo
OSTA ae OLET ss; hans) ge hat: oye nae ey Hoyt
OUST A UG I ee ae a Oe I ie Hartland
OPES TT CAPS ACen, DARE eric eee Easton
Peters, Henry. . 411 S. Wabasha st., St. Paul
gC OAT Ei: 2°. io.) a2 ot LEE DYE
Pracna, B27. ... 117 Mainst. S..B.. Mids.
Paul, Mrs. Mary. . . .Spring Valley
Pennel, Prof.C.S St. Anthony Park
Penney, jone Cushing, Wis.
PONG WE UR ane uty s,os,50) oa tas Bloomington
ond eaet, RVUfeaNWpaweren.! Ronee foi Hutchinson
PRISE TARWN leen ou? Doe kos tn, Farmington
PPA TICS SRO CM ee eh ete. silat ke Pleasant Mounds
Aten, Wey hls Sos. 6 Se) See River Falls, Wis
IEEE VaNGar ort anisiveuraihe sd) itsias, te Farmington
Pond, H RPI Td cso arc) | pe Bloomington
Reninition vice eet yc) ssc) Sa ar ene Sleepy Eye
Pell, Wim. a MD Regs caltee sill 4 col ake,e Currie
Pitssemaer Wn tie ar. es White Earth
BAStermefOMNeM. £055 0.cs\a ce fs eure Marietta
LGMtate me AIRS eae kek bad ca cere) eee Le Villard
RANE LN cy vauvel ct eursitee Vets) \ggece Kasota
Pilleya itch =, ohio ter ediah oe Te SNe coke Lewiston
PRAENA SH AW Jilis umole eee New Ulm
Aven mie leet me ee are vay ool wal be Faribault
Peterson, Mae nus vic. cola 06 )-twks Willmar
AULT ETea Wepela ma ica Ne oscuro. ethers Browndale
ieee sel. Boy are eetaen Auertch oc Caledonia
503
PCLELSOM ehew Pcie ro uct o vemicnce Tse Waconia
ASIC VI slic tempter emaies stuck a) = Ts,73) ee Ceylon
PATKG WESSEL gabe a cok sks) cule seus st 3 Benson
J atot a5 1a Ned Gee Os OGL, BOGS EO re ee Austin
Parke hally Resmi ce vhs caissiee tel tas Chatfield
Palace. Kurniture(Co..2 55 2s). Albert Lea
Panerwep Wisdtinntim was ciel . shiets Albert Lea
IPYESCOLENG ED. Eleaeiy calvt is vo) eee Albert Lea
Pepkins Fn esis, sar n=) feat Red Wing
Rattersonmepib age a oleic Aaa Red Wing
Balmersw es Ato i) af sie jenlsss Hetland, S. D.
Rependecie Otis). 45.8) Se bs Luverne
ParicescAltr ilar ss ier s,s meeese ase Luverne
FARE SEOM iter, Oran oa. a), os del en catches Luverne
Petit Ohiy BWM say ares ah ocene Minnetonka
IPREGESO MOLI) oye fof apn dy ay oe Lafayette
Wee! 1B DE AEA Ronee aCe at, LeRoy
Pendergast, Mrs. Abbie l,. . . . Hutchinson
STL VG Reelin sy ai ai~ he 8 sls Toul cise 1s Excelsior
OUISE PRA ec se 20s nal cetee Winthrop
Reeves, Vincent). = -". . Champlin
Red pathy HOS cms: ort < lebseetmeats Long Lake
ROW GMSHAS TS Sal op ifuay chiki ey Ericwents Hewitt
REVEL CHAS reat a) doe noel ve, Sateen ee St. Peter
Renton Johar. iso, ce Deloraine, Man.
Richard eDavid.g as) fra 7e) veka ae Shakopee
IISHTONG Ea) ses cm ee bes) « Spearfish, S. D.
ROpgers Wry Price ben sun tas) tas ere Excelsior
Robinson, M.
a . 640 E. 19th st., Mpls.
Radabaugh, Nac.
| . 2438 24th av. S.. Mpls.
Sains Etre AS Moers so tiie an oc Wayzata
ROENIENO NEY: Sigcuicd ctioe seed aes Moland
Row Elise El oror.u oy aes cucu Progress, Mpls.
Robertson, Prof. Wm . St. Anthony Park
RACLIEZ A GCOn ny os het oh oh Pht etch = Wayzata
RICH ET GEL: o> Setebed se Leechs . Plainview
REE {CADE AWWEas. fea sh hao oe eee Glencoe
RasmuUsomaGleS ieee tel cele cement eas Svea
Rolph fain. oa x Samer nce ee Albert Lea
Ruehter William chs. a ee as Red Wing
RIOT lee IG eee hen awed Sneha) cae uous Starbuck
ReeltpbaGt Hite esc 2e0 so) seen ae hts Excelsior
FRESCO S a eieee culate Aas, oie bse Webster, S. D
IO DIIGO Pare he xontets | is uanes Meee ke Fairmont
FREY OLE SM Ua IB resus tes felye, ve, of eis Eagle Lake
RaSmuUusony Ro Coser iS cs sue enn eae Tyler
Schatn TO. Pes me Sse s coke hones Hoyt
SHIGE AGH OS) for ea aout a) coe haat eEte Kasson
Stenger, Rev. P. Stephen . Selz, N. D
Sutherland, O. P. . . 429 Nicollet av., Mpls.
Shepherd, Alton M.,
Bloomington av. and 47th st., Mpls.
SGSIIA TEA ap EL. toile) cers art aortas Sleepy Eye
Sather, Spee ts iS ee vs Red Lake Falls
Sprune. ee Hs. oc Sas ic bossue bepiene eee Ada
Schaleben, Wm....... Oe ee Madelia
Stevenson AY Po 20% 5 Shoes Nelson, Man.
Savaliteiee Ward ooo 0. Syed cee? sees White Bear
SteienS AG EL ce Shs Vel ol enone aoe he eis Racine
SindbereyChas. Avs. 3) sive Worthington
Selanne OMe gers a ve: ttc |e ales Rose Creek
Stanley bn aioe) shen ee ase Maine Prairie
SERCCEAAT OER es seers: | a atteh elie Albert Lea
Sutherland’ DHOSw. S020. is este Hutchinson
SGHiE Dey CAS TF <5 eet ceie lor a cal hades te Parker
Siero ey kui sap aihe) cents wel san eater Excelsior
Siirtasts bet Weiser iss vente. nom cies . 1. Excelsior
SOUGKHSOM Sse? arse iedlel au et ane Me Buena Vista
BOWED UB inal s GP ee or cy de aes Eagle Lake
SECOR MUA vIdii reso yeys uel fons Winnebago City
Solent oRev Orn. wey ee ee Halstad
Stoltyiinecn sie. so 1007 Wash. av. S., Mpls.
Swenson Albert. 3.2). 5% « a. Chisago City
Sprague, Mrs. lL. E. P.,
324 Union st. S. E., Mpls-
SalitermvMissvClagays ty elt Sela lo8 ote Victoria
SAU aUtry Capri carl ts crys va) ds, detefer vel ie Deephaven
SALSetE Mins GiiG: oy Shc. 3) s) cof sus Deephaven
ULE MVTIIGMN Esc Uailay of fo) verve st ss a) Ostrander
SHE UMOREO marcia pe. ate) a) at ieh eae vs New Ulm
Smitha Caleby steaks st. Site « Farmington
SWE miOe ny Gn). «cn fe ets, es Welcome
Swensom Solomon. 5 ss ales Winthrop
Sherman iHaG. i.) 2 5k. Sterling, Colo.
Sniper tl c's. 3. 6) eta we G Wrightstown
SLAG LION ae sre oist ei iiira., tink wi foo Albert Lea
504
Spickerman, Robt........ Fergus Falls
Smith cha Ts. i. Si. os a BOX 23o 7 Mot pray
Srey ee aiies wo to us! deo ae? Poke Mankato
Sandrock: Wis 26.5) =. <5 4 Money Creek
SamrpsomiC W552... - algae osc Eureka
Shelliinijacoby- ie! cs) as pe ae ee Godahl
'Steatte rug ols «cs 7s) olay at es Dawson
Smith iGeorge.s 332 © ue pert ean Madison
Smith, Silt) Such amon Suse} x uk us mastte Foreston
Selwiow CiGe reycensered suis) eue-y eon eon Willmar
Sackett, D. P. Scots Vonks spies hoa Fairmont
Snyder, Fremont... . . Freeborn
Simonson, Hon. H... 225 Cedar av. , Mpls.
Siebenaler, Mathias. ....... New Trier
Stewark Robt). 2). 22.7 Redwood Falls
Scotts WwaniG. = i Winnipeg, Manitoba
Stoneq I Hemamen oa. SPELL ty ehteate wee Excelsior
Schwabi{jacop > wanes) eae dee Anoka
Sandersontehe AS oe et Se... RRA OKA’
SEGUE Webley oer... anise rs. ot irs ours Champlin
Sleepy Eye Library Association, Sleepy Eye
SHIEH SR Wintel eet ne ecto el oe Lake Park
Strand 7AinGdrew?., 20-5 os sale ste. Christiana
SavitdaesiC inc ter ee Rel oer seas Lakeville
Smith SAC je pice ss te yin er eee Parker, S. D.
Snyder Cab. = fe. = sjeeey clea ne Preston
Simons (COW sae eb, wl eas peer Montevideo
Seiler, Kaneman'. 3. 5. sgn Montevideo
SHaW HOE WALT 2 c\S ste) cubeessl oun enbe Austin
Scotts JO le Wiirins ts aiesis or oe ae . . . Austin
Sweet: OAV ssc 6 oo eases ie Albert Lea
Sweet iweRo wee a ae . . Albert Lea
Stiles; Ottemmeteye cs ess Albert Lea
Skinner {Berks - |. wo ele os Albert Lea
Simonson & White. ..... . .Albert Lea
Se ee Sec oS Go ofa ae o oe Faribault
Scher jAnGa ssc bree. © Red Wing
Sarsent (ClAG tne, ae ot a ete Red Wing
Syoeretel(Ga5 9G Gg ota cece Geo € Montevideo
Syne Ged s ces 6 EF oho uw Sup tees Markville
Swanson /Auvidiee sue oee cee Edina Mills
Semmens I Teio 6:5 Geos North Redwood
Smibhs Aq De ies s.oc, sl cee Redwood Falls
Saxony@Rasoyl 5. va, lucie siis valas Worthington
SUMMONS vAc as. leh eens) ea coe Greenland
SHE ea iy ey eins 5 A 5 cg 5 Sues Janesville
Slavia ogy Sea O ade Bl aos. Horton
Storer Almony c\vet soe tertecto ben C Stillwater
copainenocn a 4 Gan oo o.oo one Hartland
Steiiens; a2. cteses Sack oe Spring Valley
Sibilaid Ks SBiae) se) 3 aca Cees Hartland
Skierenud)G ON oe = = cron . Hartland
Sibiirud CB As 5s ee oes Hartland
Smiths WymanSe 5) eile snot Long Lake
Sartell, Mrs. OSH = cue ee . St. Cloud
StoddaradWbDr: AMGi.9 30 in. es oe es Fairfax
Spickermans (© W.9... <0: . Excelsior
Sharp; awn fe vcw es i) to occ eeauronte: pate Slayton
SOneHSany CHagies sreiem. tei eee Tyler
Shaw, Prof. Thos... .. .St. Anthony Park
Strong, H.A... . .616 9thav. S. E:, Mpls
StévernsVGAGH os ss sw of see Rushford
Stubbs; Rolla es col. a eee Bederwood
Struck, CIES 2 fo. < 636 Boston Blk,, Mols.
Sherlock 7Av- os) eke 334 E. 17th st., Mpls.
Sprague Hd. Co. 25 |: eo ae Madelia
Tracy, (Giang aa. Gee yer ee Watertown, S. D.
sucker RICHMONd gene cMislie lense Hayfield
Taylor, *Weelj- = frase i ctietes Litchfield
Danner. Vii tees a) ere ey eel eae Cannon Falls
SPingleywWwiss iewsus Slee eo ae Stillwrter
Turnbull; Joun =~ =... : =) en) =| Crescent
Town, Mrs. Frances... ... .Markville
ALEAGCY, EVE ecu e, isies ss. ey ler eermabie Lawrence
Tollefson, Mrs. Thos... . . Houghton, S. D.
SPECHMATIVSNE iy cus: eh muon come Alexandria
TUEMECE PEA 3 Ge se cok . . Wrightstown
Duves SO cron Box 1499, Fergus Falls
Maylor Ge Dr cus ns ek ee ee Fulda
Thompson; Lorked’. 2. & . << Lewiston
2479 Kenmore av.,
Edgewater, Chicago, Ill.
Thompson, Thos. . . . Grand Forks, N. D.
TRS Ao DS bier ala: HEMP rio en 5. Alot Rushford
Thomas, A. A.,
MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY.
Tonnalin, W. H... . . Kildonan, Manitoba
Taplin, Mrs:Bugene. «2.5.2.2 Oak Grove
Wanner, AORYSSES 6: icy ee) ost eine Cannon Falls
‘Thorson, Hon. Thos’... . . = + Canton, S. D.
LOGG MRE. Ji Dress ss. céyg ch oh Albert Lea
PLOWHCAC HE tc hsis, ve 4 le eles Albert Lea
PR OCLLCE SES caret wh. 5) 16:42 seh ae eee Albert Lea
Taylor ys AV es lees =<, 0) A Faribault
AL YSOMPIOSHie Maes cake Yon sae) ce Redwood Falls
Ane pings od Cop] Sed AN panty Re er teh Se Hudson, O.
Wan DEE Nite, wi" of a. see) Luverne
HOT PHAMSIC.2 (aii). is, shes eigen Otsego
LALRITAS, JiscNiisirens ch isle) sects) oe Cee Osakis
We landweyealy ns) ic Ore, oS a) noe ee Minneota
MWSHERISIW lies, cpt vee ahieeaee Park Rapids
LOS Ey VG A GAS ee Edgeley, N. D.
WOME PINEISE «So Nidievictot & le ee ee Tyler
Van Loon, John. . . Box 813, LaCrosse, Wis.
VanilHoesen, KBE e | "| Alexandria
WATtUesWanelin Ooi. ts ey ee lan eh a eee Medford
Van Atstetn Bs Mit). € nets ae Princeton
Watley airs: Jessie...) cies Clear Lake
Maillessisaact’ st) 8. ims tes . Ecklund
WatlenweirderiCarlea.) ye) 0.) LaCrescent
Vallquist, Rev. RR. .-... . Holmes City
Vt ASIN Gus) ay eaten cetieeanen Owatonna
WVGleox WALG® .-c. 5 wit kee cee eee Hugo
Wall Derg ae uircige: me. vi fer io) eee Rose Creek
Ww iedenmann, Otto. ee Ulm
Witte SH. Kab wh a '.on 629 5th st. , Mpls.
Woodruff; Co Ole sie usec eo eae ene Hacc
Waidmoyer, WeS® . sas 240 o ale Dresbach
Walrath;, BD)... . Watertown, S. D.
White, EmmaV.. . 818 Nicollet av., Mpls.
NYS) Fl eG See oe meee ce . . . Hastings
Wedre Clarence. 2.9. ae Albert Lea
Widser IGM isc scence Gren . Chatfield
Westfall, W. P 616 Globe Bldg., St. Paul
Wad SOS: cies ieee tees ee Windom
Waren ig: ee cr so is, hae asics Fergus Falls
Weaiaee aaa, cried ecie aeene Sauk Center
Weaver siViint cet, sis 2 suse Wrightstown
Witlson RODE. CTT: © is. nce eee Glenwood
WachhinelwWinl: 20 Sn.) yc) as ees Faribault
Wield shew B. oo) @ mete “S Wels euaeh cae Rockford
WAS rr Ds Hae. ee bs. eo ee ee Winthrop
W ATerBUpenes cic.” a, teers Clinton Falls
Wessinger, W. A., Fairview and
St. Clair sts., Merriam Park
Wittman, Aug., Fairview and
St. Clair sts., Merriam Park
Wendie Tyee dsm oer here Eden Valley
Wicklund, John... .. .. . . Kandlyohi
Whitney ii Beco 2 ahs tat Blue Earth City
Whitestone, Dr. Mary S.,
305 Reeves Bldg., Mpls.
APIS leGe sec 6 dg okt dst | Kimball
Wihittne "Cease . 2.9. -ee- Yankton, s. D.
Warner, Hon. H.C.... .Forestburg, S. D.
White: CWeB > vans eee bs 5 . Olivet, S: D.
WTEC AT RRENS © o route 2 ee ewok on Seer Crystal
Wied seriir yA AC Mews. uadsaeee eae Albert Lea
Wilwerding Auto 2s jase ote Freeport
WSUS Selle 88 Bowe sm oeckeso ecu clas "= Herman
IWiliereée At diy oo orn a rueene Cleveland
WATE S SHI pertinent ae igs) i) lc meeet oan Janesville
IWATA pyiWisitag ore ce one) come otis Kasota
Wanker Ered) yo. ren on = renin kee Klossner
WantpleryAculi-mcmcmei cman amas - White Bear
WESCOLE SWS EL cr wise cunou <8 ton eptene-nee Lakeville
Wiad: Cras oye) eee toute. Heron Lake
Wilde Mildredleas .0.0.) suena nee LeRoy
Wilcox, DRAW sah ele cee c Winnebago City
Wilcox, Frank. ........ West Concord
Weavery WelA." . fo8. uate aceet West Concord
Wilcox, A.N.. . 3035 15thav. S., Mpls.
WioliiOseari se ise) <<) setwae ire Holmes City
OMS Wi Eences) ie: a eaneelalee Owatonna
Yahnke, Frank. . . . Homer Road, Winona
ZeNerelounys.. cmcbice nce eae New Ulm
ZAMINETMAN SAS hoa meee ee Mone Arlington
ZMNETCHErPETCGi. a. 1 eles en eee Excelsior
TACSKE* CUA iris are Zumbrota
LIST OF LIFE MEMBERS, 1900.
LIFE MEMBERS.
PNGATHS SL fot Law hls talc mao a tala Ore Glenwood
Stunts 5! Ro oes) to Meteo eeu Washburn
Clark, Chas. B. . 1513 Bryant ave. N., Mpls.
Danforth, Wm. Jr A ache apriocworr Red Wing
ERE ae) 2 Seals Maitet Seiten, “o) Kaulre Owatonna
WEGON WA Sheet tec ony okey -c Taylor’s Falls
Doughty, RgCOLES easter ct ews, wets Lake City
HMANS! SHEIAONGe ets a ce wre) <): LaCrescent
Gardner, Ghas)'F... 22. S. = 27: Osage, Iowa
Cae SES inc an a) Se Ree oeoeee Hader
SV STO OW ie On ey ares keene Sleepy Eye
RA EIS Ea esr ofan wee ot on A fat (Growing, Hl (GuerdsSen soe ae cei oeccieylo aw = lols i2'4)olvloisl nin pleqetatatcets
Apple, Siberian Stocks forthe, Prof, IN EH. Hansen 2.0.2... ccc oc erciecente
Apple Stocks. Cte. lard yaw E LOLs IN oie ELATAS OMe scl croc lsialels i= ele ote lelele!=leteteiet rarer
Apples srher: Milwatkees (Ac, we GEM IET OS a. seis nce Telos = lofereds che oieraiola!stelereistefoveinteletetanaes
Pooley AMoey Wi bnbldates AE Se daleieeisy Saks an aoonccscgne qo sboCoeaaoccgntonoooDood
Apple; The Wealthy, As, We. ret reen oar acre ale rein cestareinletale clateia siecle aiateleisle cteleiclorer/aiete
Apple Tree, A Thousand Dollar Premium for an, J. M. Underwood......
Apples trees, Boxines broth 5 iss Gr COM ese rieete ote elec sketelelislei-tellani= aiclolmele eters
Apple Trees, Root-Killing of, Prof. N. E. Hansem .................:eeeeeeeeee
B
IBAbCOCK, “We Mes, MAUSRPOOMSK Aoi cce s serctas cleiee cscs rere nies ce sie sitio mace cre mraieta oer eee
Barnard, Mrs. M. M., A Plea for Nature Study, Drawn from Experience.
Beans; The: Culture’ of; (©. BS (Grannis: sac ciscesteeticsjcrsctg cis oise's Sielsineis hisses
Bee or Not the Bee, That Is the Question, The, Mrs. C. E. Flitner ......
Bees; How Lf ManarevwNiys (Ci Phenlmamnm or feces ccsinr © cots o ole stein ial storearaieta ie eee
Bee, That. Wonderful Insect, The, Mrs: I. CC. Miller “7.22.2. 52.5--020sse5ee
Bell, Dr. J. W., Desirability of a Forest Health Resort ..................
‘Biography of Mrs Annie -BOnmiwell fice ccmectoctsee io seis aivele tee ich eeniaeieice
Blackberries, How the Farmer Grows, G. W. Anderson .................+.-
Blackberry Crop, ‘Harvesting the, Ga ghin WAGE CR eee eiciicicletes «eisls sie celateleletsrcteteretets
Blackberry Culture, Drawbacks: to, Thos. Redpath...................ccccees
Blackberry Culture, The Profits of, W. S. Widmoyer ...............c-ccss«
Blackberry Plantation, Planting and Care, Etc., W. P. Rogers..........
Blackberry Plantation the Second Year till after Harvest, Care of, W.
AS ie O10 (0 \ dee ee A Saas ome tie RR aE Sreorica em aac aUD OAD er io -
Blackberry, Pruning, Fall Cultivation and Winter Protection of the, R.
AY SW TIS | cscgercce eae wisee io. Dice isie asic Gol aroele Sates awaloreletcte slo) otra clesione-nelascreeteee ees
Bonniwell, Biography Of Mrs) PAmmie jasc nace ten dc cien neon eee
Box, Wim., How, to Raise Wee Plamts) sec sces acc ceca trmec amen spleens ones
Brand, ©.-f.) Tribute to “Peter M:; (Gideon) e2n.c.-s acs oe = ee eee ecient
Burbank, Luther, and His Horticultural Creations, Prof. S. B. Green ....
Bush, Ay Kk, -hichoes) from: Harmers, nsStitutennaeececeeeascc ete ee eee 36, 118,
Bush, Ay Ko Recognition tof Seedlings’ fen. csen sets ces eee eee eee eee
Buttermore; Ri wi; (Ours Test Winters acc vjacmenc cess teense eeenee eee
Cc
Catalpa. for, Minnesota, Then J. 20. (Gmimesien.-cesme secretes eee ee ene tere
Celery, “IN: Je 'TOHMSON sa. h sets nedendon seen nee aCe eeu eee eG eee
Central Station, Annual Report, 1899, Prof. S. B. Green, Supt. ............
Central Trial Station, Midsummer Report, R. S. Mackintosh, Asst. Supt.
Children’s’ Playgrounds; | Prot 48. Ba Green! fiance. seen ee eee ee eae
INDEX.
Cook, Dewain, Locating, Laying out and Planting the Plum Orchard....
Gook, Dewain, Supt, An. Rep., 1899; Windom ‘Trial Station..............
Cook, Dewain, Supt., Midsummer Rep. Windom Trial Station............
GOMIMICLCSS SeAMaIIS y LOM 1900 i ccrefocis ciate. o: 0's o8) <0: alvve,atale!srola(cie oxereyaletsvenelsiecs's'eldi eek aigvens
SELECT E LOM a eeree re aie See oh ae eeolarels lalcte lela aie tetalnioic tas oe aiaieletuislens wis gidie:e 8's
Gonstitution: for Improvement Club; Model Of 2.5.66. . ceccsawecc cs scsene acne
@Granberrya Cultures Ways. Census) Bur ean 7. cise oa. 5 siaic = tae ocsjatelaie-eye alavelol sisialajs/s'0 x sich
CrossqLOaptanieNes CHOLeCSED Yar IMDINMES OU (atic clstsientetntciecu eel anisiatrs © e'cleaicis g's
ATCT ae DASCIISS1 OTN OL acti tere reap Ke Bushes. ..c.. ccc. sone atere 36, 118,
Parmers’ Institute, Impressions from’ the, C: HW: Older .......5:.0...ccce0s
Flitner, Mrs. C. E., The Bee, or Not the Bee, That Is the Question......
Flower Garden an Index of Character, The, Mrs. Frances L. Town......
Flower Show, How We Conduct Our, Mrs. Ida Thompson ................
HorestyLiealth “Resort, Desirability of, xr) Jit, We SBelli liens ecicar 0 ccovintel se cree ee
Forestry Association, Minnesota State, Annual Meeting, 1899, Geo. W.
StU IN aes OCT C Lely atenta tra ictctacatetevete ersics cron te aicus ioe eo einloianchg ara a-¥emie eicter.aralec) sigtecercivis.ara lorabersasee
Forestry Experiments, Some Desirable, Prof. S. B. Green ..............
HGreSL Ty el enone. WV aiL wl ssa UO ws MDs WET | sociaracis clas swirls seicieiciere sisters
HoOLesirye nM VmnMesOta. ‘Canter ds LIN. (OLOSSs Gas ccisreneteayshel a cicsisieien es aisisisieie ee ditughele
Forestry in This Country, Progress of, Gen. C. C. Andrews ..............
Forestry, Why Women Should be Interested in, Prof. Maria L. Sanford.
Freeman, Jonathan, Horticultural Education in the Common School....
Wreeman; Muss Lena, Mi, The Beattiful inv Natures vem c a sccjeree sere siete va ee wees
Brit Cmcure: in SouLbern Minnesota, ws Bis OIE vc... > cr clateisle'eclev vie /s!elae oleic
Fruit Culture in the Lake Superior Region of Minnesota, R. L. Pender-
Pa TIST Ep AB BROGROE COA Sr SO In ATOR O DROS CCB DICED OROOC AEDT TOD OR ODE DUCE ICC Cer nnoe
508 INDEX.
Pruitt for Hxbibitiony -SROWv IIS emcees vinvatircels aletsine 5 eleroveaape te eieratel biaiois a eta eiteeiere 387
Pruit for Winter, Wises Mrss:G sible serescottocacmce acsen-cee rete eer eee 115
Fruit Growers’ Association, Lake Minnetonka, Articles of Incorporation. 282
Hay 0 1 pan Oy 04 Ca 6S) eee, Ses Sei BK IS TOSCO SAARC ORE EOES. - aatAane pasos 5
Fruit Region of the Big Bend of the Columbia, W. W. Pendergast...... 459
Fryer, W. E., Delegate’s Rep. An. Meeting N. W. Iowa Hort. Soe. ...... 65
G
Garden) Storys OL a) Munnesota er Ot mllOS ss lana. see cece aceeeeaicieenceincteen 102
Gaylord 4H ason} SSettime eNOS payouts Sersite clot eereren cistaais on ee TO me cern ro ere 190
Gideon, eter Mo Hunther cir i bute ton eA aVWhlslasiscreccrenceecsesccece ane sene 100
Gideon; }Peter=M-, InvMWemroniami. - saci aeeeie nie eis) Ges oelee pee eni sen pee 20
Gideon, Peter M:, Tribute to, Brot: S:. Be Green! -.7-. 5-60 - ee eee eeeneee 22
Gideon, Peters M.,, Tribute’ toy J, M-. Underwood! sas-c.cssost see eee 24
Gideon). eter iM. Uanibutestoy dea aes SECMEIISE soccer ricer fice eine aeeerae 25
Gideon: eter Vi, Dribute tO; sJi aS. elarrlSens aachatcer seis sececoerce ornare 25
Gideon; Peter Me, Rnibute: stow Wryiman SMNOE noes eee een ee 25
Gideon, /Peter™M:,. “Lributes to. Ay cds OiltipSy eacsset «. cic mee caee oes 27
Gideon; Peter Vi; MPribute ton die ls Giese -Gn icsiets cls crceiteeaiiterists cei eases 27
Gideon; Peter Me, “Bribiutestos es. MEs@wen'l see anenteg es ctcasaceaat eae 28
Gideon, ‘Peter ML, inribute to Wi We Pen Gercasth tico-eesiiclllistcen eee 31
Gideon, Peter DE) bribute. to. @ seh stand eer deat ate ck oem nie oe eee 32
Gideon, Plumb and Loudon, Three Noted Horticulturists, A. J. Philips.. 94
Gof Prot Hess. LOp-Grahktuine toe American time cae. s. cece teenie 171
Goodman, Dr b)., Miy- Hamilyveretable (Gandenw.-.-2 ccs. 0 0s ade eee 300
Grannis; (GC; sb; Lhe Culture of Beansiim.aconsnuesenussheetkemce ere enoe 318
Green; Prof. (8S. .B. self=Propelling, Lawn IMower).s5.2.0be oooesee eee eee 391
Green, Prof. 8.58: boxing, Ample Wires. cneehy asses hoe cene nase ee sce 170
Green, Prof. S. B., Burbank and His Horticultural Creations ............ 81
Green’ Prot. (Si eBo (Chitdren' se PlayieroHndsenssjancesnacee ence eee eee 455
Green, Prof. 8. B., Exhibiting Fruit at the Minn. State Fair, from the
Judges? |Stana points yenets hse iasre tess se aete ois ee Meron eee. (aa ee Laer eee ee 182
(rec. Prok ry Seales. plsSlCenS Ph OMl. ets cater oe cee yee EG ee Ee 250, 297
Green, Prof. 8. B., Rep. of Com. on Award of $1,000 for Seedling Apple.. 143
Green, Prof. S. B., Some Desirable Forestry Experiments ................ 328
Green, S. B., Supt., Annual Report, 1899, Central Statiom ..-............-.. 42
Green Profs: LoatchinestOnesumEscalde steeple eeeeee een eereereenee 379
Green, Prof. 8. B., The Expense of the Proposed National Park in
MGNMESO TAs Carseat ating ote ee ee als Ste te acest crac eke: SEC HELE or eee 441
Green; Serofts 9. 15:, .bbe Moudonk Raspbennyansaeccee ee ore: nee EE Eee 215
Green; Erot.is. 5... LmpDuUtertOMeetcereMa Gid Conca. seeesioc.-.b ese eeereeebie 22
Grimesiy J.D thes Catal pastorme\ linn es otaee etre reeeeenere nase eee Eee ree on DEE
Grimes) J. ls iribucestomeeter: MaiGideongessctes setae: ace nae ne eee 27
Guerdsen, El. ‘Growine, Apple Seedilimes= we. co-e eee eee eee ee 171
H
ansen,
Latham, + W., Horticulture at the Minn. State: Hair in 1900:..........-...2. 361
Heep eim eA, (VV Ae Dramas eA MMA EL CDOIE, pertain! Oets sinetinoasad cee ih celchie aioe 19
achnam, JAW. eae. WieAltnyz -ADDIG semua neta tewt «cine csemeae ction: aacimacies agoaS 326
Latham, A. W., Unreported Additions to Society Library .................. 116
Lawn, Is a Farm House Entitled to the Extravagance of a, Miss Lucia
IDHE 1D} Hep doy cel pha toe Gre ices Gen TOS Pee CIIONE Care arCde sO Ee enc ete Bone ee 176°
Lawneliower; A; Self-Propelling, Prof:1S2 B: Green) © so.6 nese. sjcakeus wel s)aloreiatelolelotanelolalelotatete 252
Miishroomis: WWV= AME HEAD COC ei cieictn oiere = oie nre/alelarelaialelclalerel~(cleteraleletole areie)=nlcless/oleteCelokoletetete 374
N
Nature Study Drawn from Experience, A Plea for, Mrs. M. M. Barnard. 273
INatUreeStiudiye, Wers> cA rai ese WC T WOO Gi ereleretelolelerereleles olatalslotel=lretelelelele) eietevelotersteteleiete 132
Nomenclature and Catalogue, Annual Report, 1899, J. S. Harris .......... 141
Northeastern Iowa Horticultural Society, Annual Meeting, 1599, W. E.
DVS) SUS A CS erncrareretetetetersieteletore ctercievereiou Wve tntetetevaleraratetovelatelatelelelatel creloiorevelecslarexeleteleloketsteteete 65
Northwestern Iowa Horticultural Society, Annual Meeting, 1899, Jos.
NWiOYa sed BNE pg gaosogeoouddod —eocUundasecddancncdbonesdppipovosanoDODOsOa A606 66
Nussbaumer, Fred, Pruning Shade and Ornamental Trees for Street
Palos el Sih :0 laa OOOE AOR OUAGonON coe DOD Osbaon oarran do DOD ATOACARDONOOe Ae POUL EGOnU 1005 4 129
INfly sey AM Tes /\roponyeeyl Wkeyerhover MAN) Bo Bae ronnoosdaosnadnnosssbahoUdaroDOcde 70 7
Nutter: Hi. dee, WMocatinges Sorubs) Lor RHTLC Ct Ne icraretere eraerersinjntesorelaie|eloereiale| olelotaeteleretezsls 153
Oo
OTA COLS LO fy QO ee ers iatotaketete lute ctsvere ure iaicenesieteterete Vere retetotatectiore ajalelereletetereromenale tere rereieicrelue lciatavetemenete il
Olbere. Mrs: OF N., Down and Willaze timproviement ice. aviv in eleieler-ler t= 335
Older, C. E., Delegate’s Rep. An. Meeting S. D. Hort. Soc. ................ 73
Older, C Ei, Fruit Culture in Southern’ Minnesota: ooo. ce oc. rece s ce weiee nie 449
Older, C. E., Impressions from the Farmers’ Institute ....................4. 179
Older, C. E., Varieties of Apples Best Adapted for S. W. Minnesota.... 389
Onions and How to Grow Them, The Two Best Kinds of, John Zeller.. 172
Orcharding in Turner Co., S. D., Commercial, L. R. Alderman.......... 447
Orchard, Locating and Laying Out the Minnesota, C. W. Merritt.......... 155
Orchard: The Harmer?s) GarGen aus oy ETAT eieterere ofelelels(olelevaterclelsts}e cie/e e)-ietsilte 450
Orchard, The Winter Of 189971 Why, Wim: (Somerville re ccrerem sieielelece vie otersioreretotsta 123
Orchard, The Winter of 1899, in Its. Effect on My, E. W. Mayman........ 123
Orchard, What Can Be Profitably Grown in the, S. D. Richardson...... 310
Ornamental welantinsy GOs awe psa Cli recretelerstelelerelosicierereletersietereisiclTelelererelsterelstareteketers 473
Ornamentation about the Home, The Practical Value of, W. W. Pen-
GEG LAS Eo aleie ce erclele een aesnelale tiers otieve tierers iioiale clslelave slalerstnictels/etere erste (cveleioietele siatels stateratsistete 210
Our Coch rIends pase We LOC reece ciskisciserleietelersteetlettieterereteteiteletonatere cic Se caiaetee 258
Outram, T. S., Facts about the Weather of 1899 in Minnesota ............ 145
Owatonna Trial Station, Annual Report, E. H. S. Dartt, Supt............. 61
Owen. Ss oMeTOuUr POSt HEM GS meter cveroeleiiclersicte alelstsrerstetoletele aistatetare oistersiststeleverelstelreteteye 258
Owen. S) Me; UDribwte tosPeter Mey Gig Com taanen cis eelelveicterer|sisicieterstaiataiets eletoteteterstetelerare 28
Owen, S. M., What I Saw of Forestry in Hurope .............5.:seceeeeseee 216
Owen, Sa Wess WASCONSIn EVOMELC UNCUT! Mrs cnlcletelcieteie/elelelatetaelars leinielelolorelstelelelstefeleieisTeistete 99
Oxford Oranle, VLR ie Ss EVAL PUS Mewererserotetslecistetereteletainlepseiaie teletelefele ss) tata jetateraiete) sbaleteistere 121
INDEX. 511
P
Pan-American Exposition, Horticultural Building at ........................ 114
Parkhill, R., Sec., An. Rep., 1899, Southern Minn., Hort. Soc............... vind
Parichillckee eo SOUEnenm NGinI.. EVOLE. SOCr 1900) sii c a. cick oe toes ots aos 97
Bark vine Vuinnesota wate Appeal, Lora: INARIONAL Wx ..cjccc ccice se witic ere vss veine'e 138
Park in Minnesota, The Expense of the Proposed National, Prof. S. B.
CORE MR TESTE NG RES aie toe a cTe EGTA. scvatara, eke a" oie: ha ‘stay epa’e auatareye ele ave aiuidioveybievecevasaieve‘e: slate « 441
Parks, J. S., Supt., Midsummer Rep. Pleasant Mounds Trial Station.... 267
igh, (Ce MEAs Utter oany/ Crd ta inte We Ar en aa nO a eeMnOne de OUoer ocanaoae tan tan tronOnoG 164
letenvsy espaol Moves Vice-Pres) Rep. bth Cone: Dist) (isa. -ieo ss sees eee ee 90
State Fair, Exhibiting Fruit at the Minn.,—from the Exhibitor’s Stand-
DOW. 50.622 ees ecie ce sratha eater ode Se ae | Gee nyse eieele mieteete are ete eo eit a Vey Oar eee 183
State Fair, Exhibiting Fruit at the Minn.,—from the Judge’s Standpoint. 182
State Fair in 1900, Horticulture at the Minnesota, A. W. Latham ........ 361
State Fair, Rules Governing Exhibits of Fruit and Flowers at the Minn. 180
Stevens, Coli*s., i) In) Memoriam © 3) Ss) (elarris =o... ee-meeece eee nteeeeee 321
Stevens) J. H:; ‘Eributeytoseeter Mes Gid Goma ce. teecte. oe eee eo eee eee 25
stevens, J. H., “Vice-Pres: Rep: sth'Conges (Dist. sececseee ce eecer aoate rae 89
Strand; Geo, W:., ‘Ornamental’ Plamtin ge vo. o- -mctlae sco ae arene eine ee eee 473
Strand, G. W., Sec., Rep. Annual Meeting, 1899, Minn. State Forestry
A SSOCTAELOMY 52 cot crarevate croiereye Sete mratobe rose a ete a Ber Mere oxctele hate eer ties eeieTe Geese ele eee ae 34
Stubbs, Rolla, Exp. Grounds at Lake Minnetonka in 1899 .................. 101
Stubbs, Rolla, Items from Private Experiment Station at Bederwood,
Lake Minnietonkkar ocacit ecw scdtinded cswie nel, Reo nuh eieinayle he laaciaye ie ein ene oe 453
Summer Meeting; uNotice OF, 19005 sie. sasecncl-mae aoe sineide meee See eee Cee 235
Summer Meéting; 1900; Miss imma ov. White... cee. oc oer eee ee eee eee 244
Sun: -Scald)thatching: fore rot- Ss. - bGeen) scese eee eeeeee eee eee eee 379
Superintendents of “Lrial Stations, 1900) 22 ese. casos oan ee eee coe hoce eee 2
Sweet Corn and Their Culture, Best Varieties of, J. S. Harris ............ 396
Sweet Pea Culture from a Commercial Standpoint, Mrs. Harriet K. Eves. 230
T
The Beautiful in Nature, Miss Lena M. Freeman ...................000+e04e- 456
Theilmann, Ci; How TeManagee My Reecie 7 on cep amet ancsaceenic ee eee en eee 213
Thompson, Mrs. Ida, How We Conduct Our Flower Show................ 384
Tomatoes in the Home Garden, Rev. T. H. Youngman .................... 214
Top-Working, Chas. (G. Patten -2h-- aa. OOD SAD SHOU E COO SE anOu SAEs Guat o onocs 164
Town and Village Improvement, Mrs. O. N. Olberg .............ccccccccccce 3
Town, Mrs. Frances L., The Flower Garden an Index of Character.... 309
INDEX. 513
Treasurer's Annual Report, ©. W-= SAMPSON <..s.. ces cws ns ecucenccestoecacsce 18
Trees before Setting, Puddling, H. E. Van Demamn. ...........c.sccsccsecrees 156
Trees for Shade and Ornament, Planting and Care of Street and Lawn,
EASE EEO DAL ae Pettis» aciiele wie chain cies vic cisis Se ceeiinee sendin wcee ast wad rs cwew ee 292
Trees for Street Planting, Best Varieties of, Wyman Elliot ................ 106
IRRG OS BSCLEII HI SOME Ga VILOLO Ol wicw aids scciapic\> clcls'eivisitisiais a wieisicinie'd ce d uleie aisles a eta -a.s bere 190
Trial Orchards wWialisau, WIS.» Ac Oe Ee DINDSS 6.5 coe csicicics ccc cos cteie's eleisie's ciejs'see 125
Prigls SEL CONS) PsNHUAL RCDOLUS, Lodo cies cnicivic cele eis's selvisinlsln oe eig ni siei@e'ne ce ahlelcle a clelee 42
Mornip, CultivationyOL the; Vincent Reeves s.cc.ce ccc secs cueamenceeseus sins 348
U
Underwood, J. M., A Thousand Dollar Premium for an Apple Tree.... 131
Underwood... Ms tribute to) Peter, MU Gideon Fe. is se ccewc ne dein eitic nese ninelels's 24
lnderwooa, Mrs; Anna... NAbUTOT StU yy oho ceccccs ss ccc cinclec tn cle cece cies clealeis 13
Underwood, Mrs. Anna B., Sec., Report Woman’s Auxiliary .............. 92
V
Van Deman, H. E., Puddling Trees before Setting ..................0..008- 156
Weretable Garden, My Family, D, BE. Goodman. .......2...c0.cccsccccesclesess 300
WAGE resents) FLODOELE Tsao crciiaa, «eid kcin Clee shent'oesbialocoebre ei whe seh seers tle claws 87
Vice-President’s Report, First Congressional District, F. W. Kimball,
ATT SEIT er en tates cicrepelcia'a aietei ai eie tale ibe iors atsco mimo: sie. a syeteis alee Sia araisiaials ajajstels ooalare(sielaiets, eran e'asewterhets 87
Vice-President’s Report, Second Congressional District, S. D. Richard-
SLE TITEL, CAL Y coos eataliocaeoe We osc rcibcd renee s Meujees sci anxbin Ghia sisieit cinbes 87
Vice-President’s Report, Third Congressional District, Mrs. A. A. Ken-
DBEOV OEALEC HIT SOM arate fe chiarsissketescis/ofarwniala L wcasnvnie so ale ersio,tiele’arc'g Salwla'e\ épels ete Sis'witsssele/aisieie.2 89
Vice-President’s Report, Fifth Congressional District, J. H. Stevens,
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