OWATONNA TRIAL STATION, ANNUAL REPORT. 99 



stroyed the majority of the insect pests, and this year's crop of 

 fruit has been free from scab and worms and of very good qual- 

 ity. 



I have kept our man Villwock at the stition all summer with 

 the exception of a few days, and part of the time we gave him 

 other help. I made an exhibit of some of the best varieties of 

 apples gro-\}/n at the station at the last Minnesota state fair and 

 also have an exhibit at this meeting. The apple crop, amount- 

 ing to 154 bushels, was turned over to the School for Indigent 

 Children. We would have had a much larger yield this year 

 were it not for the fact that frost killed most of the blossoms on 

 the late blooming sorts. I have paid out $263.00 for the work 

 done at the station this season. This includes the breaking up 

 of the low ground referred to, digging out the quack grass and 

 the tile draining. There are many varieties at the station that 

 have not yet come into bearing, and T hope to be able to report 

 good results from them at some future time. 



PLEASANT MOUNDS TRIAL STATION, ANNUAL 



REPORT. 



.T. S. PARKS, SUPT. 



A trial to determine the difference between apple or plum 

 trees bearing in sod or in cultivated land has been going on for 

 the last few years at this place. A number of trees somewhat 

 scattered at the end of some long rows of apple trees were select- 

 ed, the ground plowed and kept in hoed crops for the past four 

 years. It has been found that the trees in the sod of timothy and 

 clover have borne about twice as much as those in the cultivated 

 ground. Several varieties such as Whitney's No. 20, Walbridge, 

 Wealthy, Haas and others were included in this trial. The 

 Whitney had six trees in a row, three of them in sod and three 

 in the cultivated ground. Those in the sod have borne heavily 

 every year, while those in cultivated ground have borne sparing- 

 ly of a better quality of fruit. The same conditions have ap- 

 peared with all the varieties in the plot. Plums set to replace 

 the apple trees that died out have shown just the reverse — those 

 cultivated bearing much better than those in the sod. Haas 

 trees in the cultivated plot suffered worse from scab and death 

 the last two years than those on the sod ground. 



A lot of young plum trees top-worked two years ago made 

 such a rank growth that mauA- of them broke down at the union. 



