266 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SEED FRUIT GROWING IN THE RED RIVER VALLEY. 



WYxMAN ELLIOT, MINNEAPOLIS. 



(Read before the Red River Valley Horticultural Society.) 



I desire to develop this subject under several headings. 



Environment — a condition natural or created, by w^hich living 

 forms are influenced or modified in their growth or development. 

 The improvement of prairie environment is when you plant a seed, 

 cutting or small tree from which a large tree will grow ; you plant 

 another, and you further improve the environment; plant a thou- 

 sand trees, and you improve the environment many fold. It is 

 said two swallows do not make spring, but when you see whole flocks 

 of them you know spring has come and the cold blasts of winter 

 have departed. When we see a home with not a tree in sight we 

 shiver, but when we see another nestled behind a good substantial 

 windbreak we think that man, wife and family and every living 

 creature on the place has an enjoyable environment and if, per- 

 chance, he has a garden, the trees, vegetables and flowers thrive, 

 grow luxuriantly and give good returns, each of its kind. 



If the man with the shivery home has an idea come to him 

 after attending this horticultural meeting, he will plant some trees, 

 seeds or cuttings, and perhaps his ambition may lead him to plant a 

 few fruit trees or small fruits. Just stop and think what a struggle 

 those fruit trees and small fruits 'will have for existence with the 

 cold blasts of winter, the sirocco south winds of summer and the 

 uncongenial prairie conditions with which to contend. 



The man of thrift and foresight who has the substantial wind- 

 break, which protects and creates a congenial environment, after 

 attending this horticultural meeting, like his slothful neighbor, 

 thinks he can give added comfort and pleasure to his family by 

 planting out a few fruit trees, some strawberries, raspberries or a 

 row or two of currants and gooseberries, perhaps some grapes ; and 

 the good wife also pleads .for just a little space for flowers, annuals 

 and herbaceous perennials, a lilac and honeysuckle, yes ! and a 

 hardy rose or two. Now, do you think these trees, flowers and 

 shrubs are likely to make a sickly, unhealthy growth? No, they 

 have fallen into good, intelligent hands that have up-to-date ideas, 

 that have created a congenial environment and will care for and 

 cultivate whatever they place within this charmed circle. 



Plant breeding is the process of producing new varieties of the 

 same species of fruit tree, small fruit, grain, vegetable or flower 

 plants, descended from a similar ancestor, by cross-fertilization 

 with pollen from the bloom of some other plant akin by nature. 



