HORTICULTURE AND FORESTRY AT ST. JOHN S UNIVERSITY. 427 



Shield's crab was bearing- heavily, and the tree appeared to be 

 perfect. This is one of Father John's favorite crabs for planting. 

 General Grant crab is hardy, productive and one of the best for 

 general farm use, although not attractive in color. Lyman's Pro- 

 lific has poor foliage, and the fruit was badly scabbed. Fabel's 

 summer apple, received from Charles Leudloff, was bearing heavily 

 and is in season in August, but as it ripens at about the same time 

 that the Duchess is at its best it is of little general value. Father 

 John is an enthusiastic horticulturist, and he makes it a point to 

 get scions from any tree that may seem to be doing well and fre- 

 quently labels them with the name of the party from whom they 

 are received. A large number of varieties have been collected in 

 this way, some of which are standard sorts and some of unusual 

 kinds. Whitney No. 20 is doing well here. Wealthy is weak in 

 the crotches. The trees bear heavily, but soon exhaust themselves. 



An orchard of a large number of kinds of plums is doing well 

 here, and even some of those of the domestic class have a little nice 

 fruit, although they do not promise to be very durable. The Yellow 

 Gold plum, received from Charles LeudlofT, is a favorite. 



The plantation of forest trees consists of about ten acres alto- 

 gether. The trees were raised by Father Adrian Schmitz, who 

 was formerly a member of the faculty here. He imported seed 

 from Austria and raised the seedlings. Many of the trees from this 

 planting are now eight or ten feet high. They are mostly 

 Scotch pine, but considerable Austrian and white pine have been 

 planted, and similar lots of bull pine, red cedar and arbor vitae are 

 doing well. The original timber in this section was maple, bass- 

 wood, elm and the trees ordinarily associated with them. These 

 two- fathers in their forestry and horticultural work have built for 

 themselves enduring monuments and incidentally have done a most 

 excellent work for experimental horticulture and forestry in Min- 

 nesota. In this place I found the Lombardy poplar doing very 

 well and used with good eflfect along the borders of some narrow 

 drives and paths. I have seldom seen it used so effectively, although 

 they have planted altogether too much of it and in portions of the 

 grounds there is an unpleasant sameness due to the use of too 

 much of this peculiar shaped tree. 



Having some considerable time to spare after looking over the 

 grounds, I had the pleasure of being shown through the buildings. 

 I noted nice classrooms for the different subjects and a large assem- 

 bly hall with a stage arranged with scenery for the amusement 

 of the students. A most excellent gymnasium well equipped with 

 apparatus, handball courts and bowling alleys is found in a separate 



