OWATONNA TRIAL STATION, ANNUAL REPORT, 1906. IO3 



draining. A little tile drain does not cost much. Put it down 

 four feet deep and run feeders three or four rods apart. That will 

 do away with the surplus moisture, and you can grow trees almost 

 anywhere except where the water stands on top of the ground. We 

 have heard here of many trees dying in many parts of the country 

 on account of the wet season, and it is either on account of their 

 being planted on low ground, or the ground was not properly tile 

 drained. 



I have never known when we kept the ground frozen around 

 the tree and kept it mulched that we have been troubled with 

 the loss of roots. The trouble comes where the ground thaws to a 

 considerable extent and is then followed by a hard cold snap which 

 freezes it again. The man who will mulch his trees every fall will 

 get along without planting his trees deep, and you cannot induce the 

 average man to plant his trees deep. ' If we could get him to plant 

 his trees deep we would do away with a whole lot of this trouble, 

 because we find on an average in three years out of five trees are not 

 mulched. We should all make a practice of mulching whether we 

 plant deep or not. In order to obviate this trouble wo should always 

 advocate deep planting. 



We have great promise at the Owatonna Station. The thinning 

 out process has been begun of the larger varieties, and trees bearing 

 the best quality of fruit are kept to show what they are good for. 

 We have been engaged in the past three or four years thinninsf out 

 the bad bli^^hters, the poor bearers and the varieties bearins; a poor 

 quality of fruit. I believe a good many specimens have been grrown 

 on trees at the station that are going to be among our best varieties 

 in the future. 



We are somewhat handicapped at the Owatonna station for want 

 of room. The majority of our trees are seedlings. They do not 

 always do as well when grafted. Quite often we find a seedling 

 that does not do well when grafted, and we find sometimes it is 

 better when grafted. Therefore, we find it necessary to h-ive more 

 ground to promote this system of experimenting in order to eliminate 

 the poorest varieties and preserve to the state the best varieties. 

 There are a great many seedlings at the station that will not come 

 into bearing for a number of years, and those, I believe, should be 

 left there until we find whether they are of any value or worth con- 

 tinuing further. 



The President : I neglected to state in introducing Mr. Cashman 

 that he is one of the most substantial and enthusiastic friends that 

 horticulture has in this state. His district honored itself bv electing 

 him to the state senate at the recent election, and we shall have a 

 friend at court that we can depend upon. (Applause.) 



Mr. Brackett: I think if the horticulturists of the st^te have any 

 legislation to enact in the future we should have a horticulturist in 

 the legislature, and I think Mr. Cashman is just the man to represent 

 us there. 



