74 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
Duchess. Mr. Gurney recommends deep planting, quoting an orchard at 
Wakefield, Neb., of one hundred Duchess, set thirty inches deep, being the 
finest orchard he knew of. 
Mr. Cowles thought they had taken surface roots, and it was those that 
made the trees so good. 
Mr. A. W. Applebee, of Parker, objected to deep setting in their Da- 
kota soil, the top soil having all the moisture, 
Wednesday morning. The president called the meeting to order at 9:30 
with a statement that Mr. Cowles would read the papers of the absent mem- 
bers. 
Mr. C. W. Gurney, acting president, then read the president’s report, 
which was accepted and adopted. Prof. Hansen then read the report of 
the secretary. He dealt largely on root-killing of apple trees at the experi- 
ment station, and he gave an interesting report of his labors at the station. 
He condemned the use of foreign stocks for plums. Plums grafted on sand- 
cherry are doing well, some of them blossoming at one year old and making 
a growth of about two-thirds the size of the others. 
In the discussion which ensued several new plums were mentioned, 
native plums alone being regarded as successful, and on their own roots if 
possible, although it did not seem to make much difference with some 
varieties. In this connection Mr. A. Norby read his paper on “Culture and 
Propagation of Plums.’ Hogs in the plum orchard was advised only in 
the form of young pigs, but a good healthy growth was desired to make large 
fruit as well as a good healthy tree. 
Mr. L. R. Alderman, of Hurley, who is the active man of the Alderman 
fruit farm, where there is I10 acres in apples, thins his crop at about the time 
they are two-thirds grown and finds market for them at that time, making his 
crop larger and better by so doing. 
The president asked the Minnesota delegate what lesson he learned from 
the last winter. Mr. Older stated that he found that some covering for the 
ground was essential, as where his grounds were bare the trees root-killed, 
and where he had some protection his trees came through all right. He 
sows buckwheat at the last cultivation, about Aug. 1, and thinks it 
successful. 
Mr. Alderman cultivates his orchard with disk harrow in spring, then 
drags’ with a common harrow, towards fall cutting the weeds high with a 
mower, leaving the weeds and stubble to catch the snow and for winter pro- 
tection. 
The papers on “House Plants,” by J. K. Jenson, and “The Russian Wild 
Olive as a Hedge Plant,” by T. L. Mc Crea, of Tyndall, were read. Mr. 
Whiting recommends the wild olive very strongly, as it is a good drouth 
resister, grows as fast as the box elders, and no stock can go through it, 
and is perfectly hardy. Prof. Hansen explained the wild olive as it grows in 
Russia and other cold countries and considers it one of the best trees we 
have for windbreaks. : 
“Ornamental Hedges,” by Mr. C. W. Gurney. Buckthorn and red cedar 
were considered good, but Russian mulberry was not favored outside of the 
Missouri valley. Russian pea is very ee and well adapted to hedges in 
cold and dry countries. 
The Russian artemisia will make a nedae in one summer. It grows 
very quickly to about four feet high, when the blossom must be cut off, or 
the plant will ripen and winter-kill. It is very highly recommended by Mr. 
