268 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Last winter has taught us that we must either plant our trees 

 very deep or mulch them each winter with some coarse litter. My 

 experience has been that it is not the hard freezing- that hurts 

 our apple roots but rather the deep thawing of the ground around 

 the roots and hard freezing weather afterwards. I have never 

 yet seen apple roots injured when a little mulch was placed around 

 them or where the ground staid frozen around the tree all winter. 



We did considerable top-grafting this season, having worked 

 over nearly all the Duchess, Hibernal, Virginia crab and Darti's 

 Hybrid growing at the station with the best sellings originated 

 there, such as Phoenix Xo. 50, Wealthy No. 6, Seed M., etc. :also 

 with the Black Ben Davis, Salome, Grimes' Golden, Jonathan, North- 

 ern Spy and \\'inesap. Our object in top-grafting the last named 

 onto oijr hardy trees is to determine what can be done with those 

 tender varieties, that bear delicious fruit, when grafted onto a 

 hardy stock. Up to date, the top-grafting has been a success, as 

 nearly all scions are growing nicely. 



In the ground that we tile-drained and prepared last season, 

 we planted a number of varieties originated at the station, such as 

 Phoenix No. 50 and Banana apple budded on Pyrus baccata and a 

 large number of \\'ealthy seedlings. 



This will be an off year for apples in this section, and the 

 majoritv of trees will not yield over one-quarter of a crop. We have 

 SDrayed all the trees at the experiment station twice this season. The 

 first time with Bordeaux mixture, before the trees leaved out, 

 and the second time with Bordeaux and Paris green, after the blos- 

 soms had fallen- off. W^e will spray again in about six weeks. 

 This makes the station free from all insect pests, and what fruit 

 we do grow will not be ill-shaped or worm eaten. 



PLEASANT MOUNDS TRIAL STATION. 



J. S. PARKS, SUPT. 



June 9, 1906. This is strawberry time and this kind of fruit 

 should receive first place, as apples hold first place all the rest of the 

 year. The strawberry crop promises to b^ from fair to good all 

 through this section. Some claim the outlook to be more promising 

 than ever before. The plants wintered in fine condition. The 

 spring was favorable, about the proper amount of rain came in due 

 time, and all went -well until the frost of May 7th, that nipped a 

 few localities and will shorten the crop a very little. 



The first berries to ripen, as far as heard from in this vicinity, 

 were had June 2nd and at this writing, June 9th, ripe berries are 

 becoming quite general. 



