ANNUAL Ki-:,i'()Kr, ujoC). \'i ci:- I'ki'.s. KiRST coNu;. Dis'i". 127 



Very little spraying- is Ijeing done by the farmers, but wher- 

 ever it is practiced it gives good results. 1 believe that fully one- 

 third of our fruit crop is lost every year through neglecting to spray 

 the trees. 



Trees suffered very little from blight the past season and made 

 a good growth of wood, w^hich although it grew late has ripened tip 

 well and is in good condition for winter quarters. There is plenty 

 of moisture in the soil, and if the present winter is not too severe, our 

 trees will come out in excellent condition in the spring. 



Southern Minnesota has demonstrated that it can raise apples 

 and the very best quality of apples at that. What we want to do 

 is to educate the planter along the lines of how to produce the 

 best results by spraying, pruning and mulching. I predict that in 

 twenty years from now apple culttn-e will be the foremost industry 

 of our district. 



Tivo Minute Talk. 



Mr. M. R. Cashman. In our section of the country we think 

 we are in a fruit district, and our main effort is directed toward 

 convincing the farmers that they are in a frttit district. Those who 

 plant fruit trees of most of the varieties that are recommended by 

 our horticultural society find that with a little care and attention 

 they can raise fruit. Most varieties of apples bore very little; how- 

 ever, the younger trees that have been set in the last five or six 

 years have done well. At our county fairs we had exhibits of per- 

 haps from forty to sixty varieties of apples, anfl nicer specimens I 

 have very seldom seen. In our orchard we had a fair crop of 

 apples. We sprayed the trees three times. Plums in some places 

 bore fairly well, although the plum crop was very light in the 

 first district, on account of the late frost last spring. The Com- 

 pass cherry in our orchard bore very heavily, in fact we had to 

 prop up the limbs by jnitting frames around the trees to keep them 

 from breaking to pieces. We sprayed the Compass cherry, and 

 Ave were not bothered with worms. The trees are good and strong, 

 and the fruit was fine. Blackberries were excellent all over the dis- 

 trict. Even wild blackberries bore an abundance, and hundreds of 

 ([uarts were brought to town. One point I would like to bring before 

 you — and it is something that is becoming more and more im- 

 ])ortant every year — and that is in regard to spraying. It becomes 

 necessary to spra\- t)ur trees in order to get good, clean fruit and 

 good results, and if we want a tree to bear a profitable crop we 

 must spray that tree. In raising grain of any kind, we must do 

 certain things in order to give each particular product a chance to 

 produce, and this is what we have got to do with our fruit trees, 

 s]jray them, and spray them perhaps two or three times during the 

 season, and also mulch them. 



