278 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ample, is from forty to fifty inches ; for the upper half of California, 

 sixty inches ; central Iowa, thirty-five inches ; while between the 

 Missouri River and the Rockies it drops to ten inches or less. 



Our conditions are not such as to render irrigation necessary — 

 our rainfall is ample to support tree growth, provided our moisture 

 supply is properly conserved. 



A more serious problem confronts us from our prairie winds. 

 Our winter winds after traveling for hundreds of miles over the arid 

 West reach us in a dry, parched condition and are moisture hungry. 

 The level prairie offers but little to retard their progress or deflect 

 them upward, hence they pass on unmolested and rob as they go. 

 The shriveled condition of the twigs in the springtime is a mute 

 witness to this fact. 



In this connection the necessity of planting evergreen shelter- 

 belts to retard the winds in their course, and also to deflect them 

 upward is apparent. 



Our third problem arises from the fact that we live in the Valley 

 of the Nile, so to speak, and we are blest with the fattest of American 

 soils, and even overly blest from the fruit grower's standpoint. Our 

 black prairie soil, which has become so fruitful as the land of com 

 and swine, is by no means equally satisfactory for fruit trees. The 

 best corn land is not the best soil for the orchard. The kind of 

 soil that produces a slow growth, a hard, compact cell structure, one 

 texture and with good keeping qualities, is what the ordinary farmer 

 would call a poor clay soil. 



In some sections there is much diversity of opinion as to the best 

 slope to plant on. With us the problem often is to find any kind of 

 a slope, and often the grower is thankful to secure even the sugges- 

 tion of one, regardless of its direction. 



To briefly summarize then, our limited rainfall, the desiccation 

 from dry winds of winter encouraged by an unbroken topography, 

 and an unusually fertile soil which tends to produce a succulent 

 wood growth which may be subject to winter injury, and a similar 

 growth in the fruit, which is not conducive to the highest keeping 

 qualities, are some of our most important problems. 



I do not wish to leave the impression, however, that we live 

 beyond the apple belt, or that our difiiculties are unsurmountable. 

 We are slowly mounting the ladder "round by round," and our 

 growers are gradually becoming masters of the situation. Like the 

 American citizenship, we have gathered from every clime. Out of 

 the large number so tried, we have secured a few things of merit, 

 and from native born seedlings we expect a great deal more. 



In this connection I wish to express our debt of gratitude, to 

 our lamented co-worker, Mr. Peter M. Gideon, for the Wealthy 

 apple. This variety stands at the very top of our list, and we have 

 all shared in the fruits of his labor. \Ye also feel the deepest in- 

 terest in the work the Minnesota State Horticultural Society is doing 

 to encourage and stimulate further effort in the line of seedling pro- 

 duction. May it ever prosper and multiply in good works ! 



