CENTRAL TRIAL STATION, ANNUAL REPORT, I906. 87 



in them all. The pollen of S. Commersonii was then crossed on 

 some of our common varieties, but in no case was a seed ball pro- 

 duced. The flowers all dropped a few days after being pollinated. 



In connection with my position as a member of the Minnesota 

 State Forest Reserve Board, I have outlined the plans for the 

 nursery on the Pillsbury Reserve in Cass county. In this nursery 

 we sowed a large amount of evergreen seed — mostly Norway spruce, 

 in the spring of 1902. The amount of land used for this purpose 

 was about one acre, one-half of which was covered with high brush 

 screen and one-half with lath screens. The soil was a sandy loam, 

 well adapted to the purpose. The seed sown consisted largely of 

 Norway spruce, with also considerable quantities of white pine, 

 white spruce, Scotch pine and jack pine. It is the intention of the 

 board to make this reserve of 1,000 acres a demonstration of the 

 possibilities of raising spruce for pulp in Minnesota. The seedlings 

 are now four years old and were recently estimated. There are 

 altogether about 600,000 seedlings, and the total cost up to date, 

 including interest on the investment, freight on material shipped 

 and one-third of the total cost of the screens, is a fraction over 

 seventy cents per thousand. The screens are undoubtedly good for 

 nine or ten years longer. The spruce are now from eight to twelve 

 inches high and have very nice branching roots. 



EXCELSIOR TRIAL STATION, ANNUAL REPORT. 1906 



A. B. LYMAN, SUPT. 



The apple, plum and cherry crop was light the past season ; a few 

 orchards of old trees that failed to bear last season produced well, 

 while the crop on young trees of bearing size was very light. Trees 

 are now in the best of shape and promise well for another season. 

 It seems to be a mistake to spray only the bearing trees and leave 

 those unsprayed that are not fruiting — keeping the foliage healthy 

 helps the fruit crop another season. The crop on the old Wealthy 

 was not profitable because they were overloaded, and the fruit was 

 small ; had a portion of the fruit been knocked oflf early in the 

 season results would have been better. We were surprised to find 

 that we had the Tallman Sweet in bearing. The tree is over twelve 

 years old and had a fair crop of apples ; this tree is not in perfect 

 health, as it has been injured by some of the late winters. The Mc- 

 Mahon is not doing much ; trees set twelve years have not produced 

 one good crop ; while tardy bearers, like the Malinda, have done 

 better. The Yellow Sweet makes a fine growth, but as yet is not 



