ANNUAL REPORT, I906, VICE-PRES., NINTH CONG. DIST. 155 



sonal knowledge what work has been done. Many of them are 

 beginners, and their reports are therefore scant. Others have 

 been thirty years in the business, with some of whom you are no 

 doubt acquainted. Mr. Probstfield, of Moorhead, has been engaged 

 in this work for thirty years or more and gave me a good report. 

 Then there are others Hving near Crookston, for instance, Mr. 

 Sampson, who has been engaged in horticulture for thirty years. 

 He has had as many as five acres of strawberries at one time, 

 but he lived so close to the city that he abandoned strawberry grow- 

 ing. He stated the reason, but I do' not think it necessary to 

 mention it here. I find that most of them are new beginners, and 

 their reports cannot be very greatly relied upon on that account. 

 What experience we do get from planting from our district is en- 

 couraging. The trees are not blighted much and bore well, and 

 there has been no root-killing as has been the case in some parts of 

 the country. Whether it is because we get our trees on hardy 

 roots, or what it is, I do not know. Most of our trees have come 

 into bearing and had a heavy crop last year, but this year was a 

 failure of all kinds of fruit, except some sorts of apples and plums, 

 which bore heavily. Currants were a fair crop, although not a 

 heavy crop, and among them the Prince Albert seems to be the best. 

 It is a good bearer, a strong grower and has quite a large berry. 

 It is nearly as large as any of the red currants. We have also tried 

 the Crandall currant. I believe they are a selection of the wild 

 currants that grow in the Missouri Valley district in Dakota. It 

 is a very hardy currant and bears freely, but it seems to me that 

 as it grows older the berry becomes smaller. I think the proper 

 way to remedy that is to cut out the old wood and let only the young 

 wood bear. It is a very nice berry and makes good pies and a fair 

 sauce. We have also made jelly of them, and it makes a very nice 

 jelly. I think in our district in that heavy soil it does very well. 



Mr. Kellogg: Is it a black currant? 



Mr. Hagen : It is rather black. It is nearly purple black. The 

 birds like it very well, and we can hardly get it ripe enough to pick, 

 but when nearly black it is just as good for making jelly. I have 

 on my place nearly fourteen kinds of currants, and the Prince Al- 

 bert and Cherry currants have been doing very well. I have noticed 

 through the Minnesota reports that the Cherry currant is not hardy. 

 I do not know how it is about that, but I am on the prairie, and 

 they are covered with snow every winter, and I get some very nice 

 fruit. The bush of the Crandall is not verv large, but the berry 

 is large. 



H. F. Busse : Have you tried the Long Bunch Holland ? 



Mr. Hagen : I tried that, but it did not succeed very well. I 

 do not know the reason, unless it started too early, or I did not 

 get the right kind. However, I have not tried since. It froze out 

 and had to give up the ghost. Now, I know of a man in the same 

 county who says they do well with him. I am afraid I have not 

 got the right kind. 



