HISTORY OF HORTICULTURE IX MINNESOTA. 69 



piue, cedai'js, spruce, balsams, with their quiet and gentle wa5's, to weave 

 into the different nooks, corners and by-places, thus adorning our city homes, 

 and making the village residences so handsome in the free broad country 

 which God made. 



Of ornamental shrubs such as the acacia, flowering almond, barberry, snow- 

 berry, and snowballs, spireas syrenga, with the evergreen, holly leaved shrubs, 

 selections can be made that cannot fail to be satisfactory. 



The Society should lend its influence in encouraging the cultivation of tim- 

 ber on the prairies. In less than a decade from the time it is lodged in the 

 ground, the European Larch will be of a suflicient size for a fence post. This 

 is a question which must be met. We cannot conceal the fact of the existence 

 of a large treeless district Avest of range thirty — extending to the Dakota 

 line. This vast territory contains the richest soil in the State. " Rough hew 

 it as we will," fuel is becoming less and less as each year rolls around. Hov, 

 easy to reverse this misfortune. 



The attention of the Society should also be bestowed upon the propriety 

 of the early introduction of live fences or hedges. They are the cheapest, 

 the best fence in use, and a system of hedges can be inaugurated that will be 

 lasting. 



The cultivation of several products of a semi-tropical character, such as 

 the sweet potato, has received considerable attention for the past few j^ears. 

 The experiment has proven satisfactory. ^Ye are assured that it is a law of 

 nature, that all plants, fruits, and roots as well as flowers, reach greater per- 

 fection in a climate visited l)y snow in the AVinter : but the season should be 

 of a sufficient length to afford time for them to reach ripeness before inter- 

 fered with b}^ the frosts. It is demonstrated by actual experience that those 

 products of a tropical or semi-tropical origin become matured in less time in 

 this State than in the latitude of St. Louis. It is also proven that the proper- 

 ties, richness, and qualities of these products compares favorably with those 

 raised at any point north of the rapids of the Lower Mississippi, in the neigh- 

 borhood of Keokuk, Iowa, or in Central Iowa, and in some instances they 

 are proved of superior quality. 



The importance of devising ways and means for the protection of our 

 orchards from the severe winds will not be questioned. These wind-breaks 

 must necessarily be composed of belts of trees, because air is necessary for 

 the good health of the fruit-trees, and it wont do to cut it oft' from a free cir- 

 culation in the orchard by a solid wall. Deciduous trees, such as the willow 

 and ash and evergreen, say the Norway spruce and red pine, are fast growers. 

 We have been obliged to ferret out our own horticultural difficulties. We 

 have no precedents to follow. That which is a balm in New England, is 

 a poison here. 



We have much to expect from a proper system of hybridizing. It is said 

 that the bee and other insects, as well as the wind, have an agency in trans- 

 mitting the pollen of the blossom from one tree to another. When these 

 things are understood, it would seem that we could accomplish much in the 

 production of new varieties of the apple, and perhaps other fruit. It is sup- 



