BROWN COUNTY HORTICULTURAL CLUB. 69 



JANUARY MEETING, BY ARMAND PETRY, SECRETARY, NEW ULM. 



The Brown County Horticultural Club held its first public meeting- 

 Tuesday afternoon, Jan. 10, 1899, at the court-room of the old court- 

 house. New Ulm. The meeting- was opened by President John Zeller, 

 who, in a short speech, introduced Mr. E. H. S. Dartt, of Owatonna. 



Mr. Dartt opened the program with a paper on "Girdling,"' which 

 w-as well received and discussed. Other papers were read by Mr. 

 Martin Penning, of Sleepy Eye, (two papers, one on " Best Varieties 

 of Plums for the Northwest," one on " The Best Method of Propa- 

 gating Plums"), and Mr. John Zeller, on "Location, Soil and 

 Windbreaks." Mr. Dartt talked on top- working, Mr. John Mander- 

 field, Sr, on cultivating and mulching the orchard and Mr. Zeller on 

 planting and cultivating the plum orchard. 



Resolutions were unanimously adopted in opposition to the 

 passage by the state legislature of a law "to preventthe introduction 

 and spread of the San Jos<i Scale." 



ANNUAL MEETING, 1899, IOWA STATE HORTI- 

 CULTURAL SOCIETY. 



E. H. S. DARTT, DELEGATE, OWATONNA. 



It afforded me great pleasure to meet again with the veterans of 

 Iowa. Since my visit of long ago many have left "for parts un- 

 known," and I am strongly impressed with the insignificance of a 

 man's life. The attendance was not quite equal to our average 

 attendance in Minnesota, but, perhaps, made tip in character for its 

 deficiency in numbers. It is the part of wisdom to enlist a force 

 equal to the obstacles to be overcome. We need a larger army to 

 beat our Minnesota climate than they need to beat theirs in Iowa. 



The delegates present from other states were N. F. Murray, Ore- 

 gon, Mo.; W. H. Barnes, Topeka, Kas.; and Geo. J. Foster, of Normal, 

 111. Professors Craig and Summers, the new horticulturist and 

 entomologist at the State Experiment Station, at Ames, were pres- 

 ent and gave enteresting talks on fungous diseases and injurious 

 insects, and told us when, what and how to spray to avoid injury 

 from these causes. 



Over the north one-third of the state the fruit crop was quite 

 large, but south of that only about one-fourth of a crop of apples 

 was gathered. The failure is supposed to have resulted from im- 

 perfect pollenization, caused by wet weather at blossoming time. 



Russian pears continue to blight, and Russian plums and cher- 

 ries have generally proven a failure in northern sections, while in 

 the southern half of the state fine crops of peaches, plums, prunes 

 and cherries were harvested. Russian apples are highly prized by 

 some of the northern growers, but not so by those in central 

 sections. Mr. Watrous thinks no advantages have been gained by 

 the introduction of Russian apples, cherries, pears and plums; 

 some others speak favorably of these fruits in southern sections. 



There were eighteen experiment stations. A resolution was 

 adopted discontinuing all stations. Later eight new ones were 



