268 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
—all the grafted kinds of cultivated wild plums I could find to test and 
compare as to quality. Seedling trees of late planting are doing fairly well, 
but troubled much with green aphis. We have grape vines two years old 
from seed that have set nice specimens of fruit. We anticipate something 
fine from them. 
WINDOM TRIAL STATION. 
DEWAIN COOK, SUPT. 
The drouth up to this date, June 15, has been the severest ever known 
here at this season. All evergreens, except Scotch pine, are making a poor 
growth. Jack pine seedlings, fully exposed to the sun, have a wonderful 
capacity for resisting drouth conditions. 
We had no snow on the ground all winter except for a few hours at a 
time, and about all plums that had been grafted on anything else than native 
roots were root-killed; also a few apple trees went the same way. Rasp- 
berries winter-killed more than usual. All varieties not laid down and 
covered are killed to the ground. 
Strawberries wintered all right, but on account of the drouth will be only 
about one-fourth of a crop. We are on our second picking now. 
Currants will be a light crop. The bunches do not fill out. Long 
Bunch Holland is doing the best. 
Dwarf Juneberries will be a full crop. This fruit has been bearing with 
us about twelve years. The bushes require no trimming; they also have 
been free from either insect depredations or disease and bear every season. 
Cherries are doing poorly. I have just finished cutting out nearly all of 
my cherry trees. There were several varieties of Russians. I don’t think 
that this is a cherry country. 
Apple trees bloomed very heavily, that is, many varieties; but the May 
freeze destroyed a large proportion of all varieties; yet most varieties are 
bearing some, and the standard varieties will give us a good crop. The 
varieties that are giving us the most fruit this season are Okabena, 
Wealthy and Duchess. The heavy south wind of May 9 blew off about 
one-half of my Duchess. The Breskovka gives the best satisfaction of all 
the apples that ripen earlier than the Duchess. 
Of crab apples, the Early Strawberry and Florence give us the most 
fruit. I prefer the Florence, as the fruit is the very finest for market. The 
Martha appears to be about barren; it does not fruit. I have two trees 
thirteeen years planted. They are very large trees, blossom heavily every 
spring, but we have never got a pint of fruit from both of them. They 
are not bearing this year. 
We have no blight so far this season, and there has been no killing back 
of the tops of any of my apple trees for several winters. My apple orchards 
are all either well mulched with stable manure and straw or else kept well 
cultivated, and drouth is not noticed by them. 
The outlook for plums is the best. With few exceptions our trees were 
well mulched last winter with stable manure. We are using the cuculio catch- 
er and will have but few stung plums. The following varieties are the most 
promising at this time: Wolf (freestone), Wyant, De Soto, Hawkeye, For- 
est Garden, Cheney, New Ulm. The Mankato; Blackhawk, Harrison’s Peach, 
Gaylord and several cther varieties are looking fine. 
