CENTRAL TRIAL STATION. 83 



on so long and, consequently, does not yield nearly so much fruit 

 The Columbian raspberry is wonderfully productive. It is a very 

 strong- g-rower, and yet we are able to g-et the canes on the ground 

 and cover them remarkably easily for so large a variety. It has the 

 quality of suckering out near the ground and producing long fruit 

 laterals, and even if the top is frozen back severely we are pretty 

 sure of a good crop from this variety. I am very much pleased 

 with it as a home berry. For market purposes it is too dull in color 

 and looks stale even when first picked, and on this account will not 

 bring a good price in the market iu competition with the Loudon 

 and other bright red raspberries. 



Our best early blackcap is the Progress. For a number of years 

 it has done remarkably on our grounds. 



Currants and gooseberries produced good crops this season with 

 us, although they did not bear quite so heavil3'- as last j'ear. We 

 still think the Champion gooseberry the best of its kind for all 

 purposes, and although not quite so hardj' as the Houghton yet it 

 is well worth the extra care required in protecting it. 



Our forest plantation has been somewhat increased in size by the 

 addtition of hackberry and a large number of evergreen seedlings, 

 and we expect the coming j'ear to bring it up to its limit of five 

 acres. The growth of this plantation has been quite remarkable 

 and attracts much attention from those who are interested in 

 forestry. 



A fine lot of red cedar seed which had been sown in the spring of 

 '87 started beautifully in the spring of '88, and we have as a result a 

 very nice stand of this most desirable evergreen grown from 

 Minnesota seed. 



The ornamental features of the grounds have received their full 

 share of attention, and the grounds about the girls' building have 

 been graded and planted, and a large amount of shrubbery and 

 trees have been planted along the line of the tunnel which was put 

 in last year. These include many desirable and promising novel- 

 ties and a good collection of named peonies. The trees, shrubs and 

 herbaceous plants on the ground have made a very satisfactory 

 growth and are now of sufficient size so that they add very much to 

 the appearance of the campus. 



Among the new shrubs that are very interesting is Rhamnus 

 Alpinus, which is a beautiful shrub with large rugose, oval 

 leaves. As yet this very desirable novelty is offered by but few- 

 nurserymen and at a very high price. But judging from its appear- 

 ance on our grounds for about five years, it is one of the new things 

 that it will pay us to tie to. It is very easily propagated by layers. 

 I do not know that the seed of it can be obtained in this country 

 and think there are no plants here old enough to produce seed. 



A considerable amount of seed of the different varieties of apples 

 has been sown the past year with the idea of increasing our seed- 

 ling orchard. 



