OWATONXA TIUAL STATION, ANNUAL KEl'ORT, I906. lOl 



• 



at the Minnesota State Fair last September, and must say that 

 they excited much favorable comment. 



I was very anxious to have the best specimens on exhibition at 

 this meeting and began by keeping a close watch of the ripening 

 fruit to prevent the boys from stealing it until the finest of the 

 fruit was ready to pick and box. This was done, and the apples 

 placed securely (as I supposed) in our cut flower cooling room, but to 

 my disappointment about three weeks ago I found that the em- 

 ployees had helped themselves until there w^as nothing left to bring 

 to the horticultural meeting, and we shall have to live in hopes of 

 being more successful next year. I do not think those fellows will 

 steal any more exhibition fruit from me, and you would not ask 

 why if you could have heard me holler. 



The apples grown at the station, with the exception of those 

 picked for exhibition purposes, were turned over to the State School 

 and amounted to 217 bushels. 



We did considerable top-grafting this season, having worked 

 over nearly all the Duchess, Hibernal, Virginia crab and Dartt's 

 Hybrid growing at the station with the best seedlings originated 

 there, such as Phoenix No. 50, Wealthy No. 6, Seed M, etc., also 

 with the Black Ben Davis, Salome, Grimes' Golden, Jonathan. 

 Northern Spy and Winesap. Our object in top-grafting the last 

 named sorts onto our hardy trees is to determine what can be done 

 with these tender varieties that bear delicious fruit when grafted 

 onto our hardy stock. Up to date the top-grafting has been a suc- 

 cess, as nearly all the scions made a satisfactory growth. 



On the ground we tile-drained and prepared last season, we 

 planted a number of varieties originated at the station, such as Phoe- 

 nix No. 50, Banana apple budded on Pyrus baccata, and a large 

 number of Wealthy seedlings. 



We have sprayed all the trees at the station three times this 

 season. The first time with Bordeaux mixture before the trees 

 leaved out, the second time with Bordeaux and Paris green after the 

 blossoms had fallen ofl:', and the third time with Bordeaux about 

 July 15th. This had the desired efl:'ect, for the fruit gathered this 

 year was nearly all clean and perfect specimens. 



This winter we intend to mulch all the trees at the station with 

 barnyard manure, as the fertility of the soil is nearly exhausted 

 from the continuous drain made by the trees, which have been grow- 

 ing so thicklv and nothing returned in the way of leaf mould, as 

 there would have been in a forest, where the leaves remain where 

 they fall, while in a small orchard the wind blows them away. This 

 enrichment of the sinl wall have a tendency to produce larger and 



