12-2 HISTORY OF HOJ{TlCLLTLl?E IN MINNESOTA. 



in quantity, sotliat many families liave hundreds on)usliels ofapples to sell or to convert into 

 cider. Some of the best trees are bearing from lifteen to twenty bushels to each tree. 

 Amoui,^ these are several most valuable seedling varieties ; one which, I think, was named 

 the Old Settler is very large. Grafts from many of these trees are much sought for where- 

 ever known. The apples, taken together, are preferred for cooking and for general family 

 use, to any that can be found in our markets. It would be impossible to estimate with any 

 degree of certainty the number of bushels raised from all the seedling trees from the nursery 

 of Mr. Shaw, in the year 1871. Some of the largest single orchards are bearing from four 

 hundred to six hundred bushels each. The aggregate number of bushels cannot be less than 

 five or six thousand. The trees are found in nearly every farm in the valley of the Rolling- 

 stone, and on many farms far out on the prairies. In all cases the trees are bearing very 

 much in proportion to the intelligent care they receive. One of the most valuable results 

 coming from the pioneer labor of Mr. Shaw is, that it easily settled the fruit question, prov- 

 ing beyond controversy, by actual sight, that apples would grow in great abundance in Min- 

 nesota. Many a man, after looking at the orchards in. the valley of the Rollingstone, and 

 being convinced by his own eyesight, went back to his farm determined to make a second 

 trial, and adding works to his faith, he is now receiving the reward of his labor. The above 

 brief sketch is but a single branch of the fruit question in Winona county. 



Very early the pioneer farmer was visited by the almost innumerable agents of nurseries 

 from other States, and there is scarcely a farmer that did not purchase a liberal supply of 

 foreign trees, and in many instances he was sadly disappointed, and this disappointment 

 arose from many causes. First: the trees delivered were from a distant State, and were 

 dead before he received them. Then, not even the soil or climate of Minnesota could restore 

 them to life. Again, if they were alive, they were set out in the cornfield, where they were 

 exposed to the stock which ranged without restraint during the Winter, or perhaps they 

 Avere not cared for and left to struggle against those many enemies as best they could. The 

 roots were eaten by the gopher, or the tree was scalded by the burning sun without protec- 

 tion. 



Again, there is no question but the wild, unsubdued nature of the original soil is unfavor- 

 able to the growth of trees which are transplanted from a distant State. Again, many of our 

 farmers sow all to wheat. They have wheat on the brain. They have no room for poultry 

 or fruit trees. They must have wheat from the division line to the door-sill; and if theyper- 

 chance, should be persuaded by the agent to try a few fruit trees, they will put them where 

 they will be disturbed by the plow two or three times a year, and where they must be dwarfed 

 and stunted by growing among the grain. Many times, the farmer with all these con- 

 ditions and many more against even the probabilities of success, proclaims the apple tree a 

 failure. 



But there is a better side to the picture Many, very many have succeeded in growing 

 apples in great abundance in Minnesota. We have seen many orchards loaded with fruit in 

 the valleys, on the tops and sides of the bluffs, and indeed, far out on the cold and bleak 

 prairies. If one farmer can produce a fine orchard, another following the same conditions 

 can do likewise, and so on to the end of the whole list of towns of our State. It may not be 

 amiss to give a few of the names of the early settlers of Winona county, who have made the 

 nursery of apples a splendid success. It Avould make a long list to name tho^e whose orchards 

 yielded more than a hundred bushels each in the year 1871, and those raising from ten to one 

 hundred, would go far up into the hundreds. 



The first man to raise grafted fruit in Winona county, and perhaps in the State, Avas Rev. 

 Benjamin Evans, Rector of the Episco))al Ohurch at the little village of Stockton, in the Rol- 

 lingstone Valley. Mr. Evans Avas one of the early settlers. He Avas a man of fine taste and 

 culture, and his early efibrts gave great encouragement to the fruit growers of Winona 

 county. We learn that Mr. Evans is now in feeble health and will soon pass away, and the 

 friends of horticulture of Minnesota, deem it due to him that his name in this connection 

 should be placed in the records of our Society. 



The best, though not the largest orchard in Winona county, is one i)]Huted and cared for 

 by Robert Cully, now dead. Ten years ago, he obtained by accident, one hunilred trees from 

 the city of Rochester, marked " extra." These he set out with great care in one of the small 

 valleys near the city of Winona. The apples proved, what the trees were mark " extra," 

 the very best and most approved varieties, and they Avere much improved in size and fiaA'or 

 and shape by the soil and climate of Minnesota. The bearing capacity of this orchard has 

 increased from year to year, till last year tiey gathered three hundred bushels of apples 

 worth $2.00 per bushel, on ground but little more than an acre. This is only one of the many 

 young orchards in the immediate vicinity of Winona. As a marker of reference, and for the 



