134 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



hardy and quite free from blight. It seems to be the best keeper 

 among the Russians. 



The Peerless has come into bearing and produces well. The 

 apples are of good quality, and the tree appears to be the most 

 healthy of all in the garden. 



Esteline has also come into bearing, but the apples this year were 

 rather under size, and the fruit not of so good a quality as we had 

 expected. It ripens in October and does not seem to be a good 

 keeper. 



Plums were a fair crop, and among these the Cheney gave ex- 

 cellent satisfaction, producing a large crop of excellent plums. 

 Stoddard did very well indeed, and Rollingstone gave us a fine crop 

 of excellent plums. De Soto produced heavily, but the plums were 

 rather undersized. Wolf rotted badly. 



The Russian pear trees are nearly dead from blight. 



Flozuer Garden and Lawn. — For early spring flowers, tulips are 

 found to be by us about as satisfactory as anything that we can 

 plant. We plant the bulbs as early in the autumn as they can be 

 procured and mulch them slightly when cold weather sets in. 

 Treated in this way they grow for several years without being dis- 

 turbed. When the tulips are gone the shrub border will be in bloom, 

 so that herbaceous plants are not so much needed. The earliest 

 shrub to bloom is the little Siberian Almond (Prunus nana). This 

 is soon followed by the Caraganas. We have three species of these 

 at the station, C. pygmae, C. frutescens and C. arborescens. These 

 are all desirable and produce a fine show of yellow flowers. The 

 lilacs will follow, the several varieties of Syringa vulgaris being 

 the first to bloom. These will be followed by Syringa Persica, and 

 some two weeks later by the flowers of Syringa Josiksea, Syringa 

 Villosa and Syringa Japonica. It is quite important to plant these 

 last three species of lilacs in a collection, for it prolongs the season 

 of bloom to some three or four weeks. 



The Philadelphuses will begin to bloom about the first of June, 

 and by planting each of the varieties offered by nurserymen the 

 season of bloom will extend to some three or four weeks. They 

 seem to all be hardy at Montevideo and extremely desirable. 



Several species of Spiraea come into bloom in May, the variety 

 known as Van Houttii being the most showy and desirable of the 

 spring bloomers. 



Another early shrub to bloom is the Juneberry. This may be 

 had in several varieties, from the dwarf to the tree-like. Their 

 names will be a puzzle to the most expert botanists, but the soft. 



