148 HISTORY OF HORTTCULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 



Mr. (x. saitl he liud tried reliaiiiiug from pruuing, ami that was his expe- 

 rience. The top was a protection to the tree itself. 



Mr. Hamilton had noticed tliat the most nprii^ht trees had snffered most 

 from frost. 



Mr. G. did not see that that weighed anything as a reason. 



Judge Baker would rise to a point of order. There was our old friend, 

 who lives close by, Gen. Nutting, who should ])e fined for not being here yes- 

 terday to give in his wide experience. 



Gen. Nutting w^as willing to pay the fine, Init he wanted to hear more about 

 high and low trees. 



Mr. Ford gave his experience about the Tetofsky. [Here a thundering noise 

 about the stove prevented the reporter catching what w^as said about the Te- 

 tofsky.] We caught it that the last bore very well. 



As to plums, his Miner had been badly killed one year, and he got disgusted, 

 but it had since done well, and appeared in a general way to be hardy. Last 

 year they did not get ripe till about frost. He wanted to hear more about 

 plums, particularly about the " wild goose plums." He had had little success 

 with that fruit, and had about given up on pears. He had observed, in regard 

 to pears, that most of those of his neighbors had been killed. Of strawber- 

 ries, he had about discarded all kinds, but had done best with Green Prolific 

 and Wilson. He gave further experiences in regard to small fruits. 



Mr. Smith wanted the experience of Mr. liamsden in growing and keeping 

 the Duchess, such as we saw on the table. 



Mr. Ramsden said he kept them sound by picking them carefully from the 

 tree and packing them in layers of sawdust over ice, then afterwards packing 

 them in barrels. He raised them near Stillwater. He had 125 Duchess trees 

 and 22 Tetofsky, without a blemish on them, and they were both high and low. 

 He preferred the high, because he could get around them best. Have made 

 good cider from Transcendent crabs. Think the advantage of the Duchess is, 

 we can get it into market before they can bring anything from below to com- 

 pete with it. Have about 500 trees growing, and from 125 to 150 bearing. 

 He raised about 200 bushels last year. He raised 150 to 200 bushels of apples 

 per year. He did not mulch at all. His land had clay subsoil. 



Mr. Brimhall was called upon for his experience. He did not believe in 

 mulching, although he did believe in low-headed trees. He gave a list of 

 trees he had in fruit. The best were the Saxton, Duchess, Plumb's Cider, Fa- 

 meuse and Golden Kusset, Tetofsky and Haas. He commended the Saxton 

 liighly as a thrifty, hardy tree, which fruited every year. The Duchess bore 

 so abundantly that he had to pick off the fruit in advance, to save the trees. 

 With pears, he had had no success. 



Of grapes, he believed in the Concord as a grape for everybody, and next, 

 the Delaware. He had had no tame plums that had been hardy. They were 

 like pears — would make a big growth and be killed back. He had raised some 

 cherries. Early Richmond and Morello, but did not consider them a success. 

 His orchard is not protected much, and his bearing trees were on rather a 

 southeastern slope, but he considered they would do as well on level ground. 



