HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IX MINNESOTA. 61 



Rogers" Hybrids Nos. -t uiid 15 for table and wine, and for wine alone Clinton and Oporto ; 

 the last is the hardiest j^rape I have grown of thirty-seven varieties*, but is only good fo 

 wine or jelly, and the above list affords sufficient variety for all ordinary purposes. 



6. Pruning and Protectiun. 



Now it is impossible for me to give good and correct rules for pruning without cuts or en- 

 gravings to represent my meaning ; and even then it would not be possible in the space 

 allowed me in this essay, for which I will refer your readers to Fuller on the Cultivation of 

 the Grape, and other standard works ; but as we in this cold climate must always lay down 

 our vines in the Fall for winter protection, we cannot follow any established rules of the books 

 except Mr. Fuller's oblique system, as he style.s it. But the vines must be pruned in Novem- 

 ber, and after pruning, laid on the ground and protected. I use for covering tire fauged or 

 burnt manure that I get from the liveiy stables in the city, and cover three or four inches ; 

 two inches is enough if carefully put on. In addition to fall pruning tops, I also remove the 

 earth about the roots, and carefully cut off all surface roots fx-om the main btock to within 

 six inches of the surface, then replace the e:irth and hill it so as to turn water from the 

 vines. I use trellis posts made of red cedar, set eight feet apart, and one-quarter by three 

 inch strips sixteen feet long, nailed or spiked, one on top of the posts, and the other spiked 

 on to the posts about one foot fiom the ground, and to these nail upright slats or laths half 

 inch by one and a half inches, and five feet long, making a trellis six feet high. This, I find 

 on trial, the best I have ever known. 



I have not failed to ripen my crop of grapes since 1S60, the year I commenced growing 

 grapes : and think that any of the above kinds recommended, if in proper soil and location 

 and well taken care of, will ripen their fruit at least nine years out of ten. and perhaps more. 

 [ have never had any mildew or rot, or any of the diseases so prevalent south of us. Even 

 the Delaware has never failed to bear good crops, or to maintain health and carry its 

 leaves until killed by hard frosts. I have raised twenty-five pounds to the vine of Northern 

 Muscadine, but I consider ten pounds a good average crop for a vineyard, if we would 

 get the best and highest flavor of fruit, and keep the vineyard in a good, healthy condition. 

 Most persons, especially new beginners, persist in over-cropping their vines, especially young 

 vines, and from which they never recover. 



I will here say that having been sick, and not having the time to devote to this subject 

 which I hoped to give it when at the meeting ot the Horticultural Society, the Society will 

 make due allowance for all mistakes and imperfections in this hastily written essay, and 

 accept it as an excuse for something belter which I would have written had I had the time 

 and talents to do so. 



Trumax M. Smith. 



St. Paul, Feb. 27, 186«». 



APPENDIX B.— SEEDLING APPLES. 



In accordance with a resolution adopted at a meeting of your Society. I send you the fol- 

 lowing description and history of the seedling apple trees, specimens of the fruit of which 

 I exhibited at that meeting. 



In the Spring of 1852, a small quantity of apple seeds, selected from the most hardy varie- 

 ties of fruit raised in Canada and the State of Maine, w^as planted on the farm of Otis Hoyt, 

 in St. Croix county. 



The result was, several hundred fine young trees which grew vigorously for two years, 

 when they began to gradually die out from the effects of our climate, until at the end of five 

 years two only remained. These two were transplanted at that age to their present location 

 on his farm, and have continued a healthy and vigorous growth, and are now fine symmetri- 

 cally formed trees, about sixteen feet high, not a twig or terminal bud of which has been 

 killed during the sixteen years of their growth. The wood is perfectly sound and well 

 colored to the heart in limbs two inches in diameter, which have been cut oft* to test their 

 healthiness. 



The larger of these apples we have named Hoyt's Seedling. The fiuit is about one-half 

 larger than the Transcendent, a little more flattened from stem to blow with a crease or 



