^alei^dar for ]VTay. 



O. M. LORD, MINNESOTA CITY. 



Winter has lingered bo long that the fore part of May is not too 

 late for planting seeds, trees and shrubbery that we usually plant 

 in April, It is safer to plant tender varieties after all danger of 

 frosts is over, and when the ground is well warmed. Frost was still 

 under the mulching of strawberries last week, and fence posts 

 could not be set in some places, indicating that the season is more 

 backward than usual. Strawberries where properly covered are in 

 fine condition, and no mistake will be made in increasing the area 

 this spring, as so many other fruits have been winter-killed. No 

 one can say positively what variety will succeed best with you. A 

 dozen each of a dozen or more varieties will well repay one for 

 trial to find out which is most suitable to your soil, and each variety 

 should produce plants enough for future use for one family. 



Fruit plants in this vicinity went into the winter in good condi- 

 tion, but unprotected. Shaffer and Cuthbert raspberries are killed 

 to the snow line; the]Turner and Loudon have come through very 

 well. The small planter for family use will do well to remember 

 this, as they are both standard fruits and excellent of their kind. 

 The others can be successfully grown but will cost more labor^ 

 The same advice can be given in regard to plum trees. Nearly all 

 kinds except our natives are killed or injured so as to produce no 

 fruit this year, while all the natives are unhurt. The Wragg and 

 Russian cherry trees appear all right, also the old standard apple 

 trees. The last winter will probably be recorded as one of our test 

 winters, and it may be considered safe to plant any fruits that have 

 lived through it. 



Unprotected blackberries are killed. Blackcap raspberries of 

 nearly all kinds are hurt in the bud, except the Palmer. 



The seed and plant catalogues are so filled with names that the 

 person without experience is puzzled to know what to plant, hence 

 these notes if heeded may be of some use to the novice. Every 

 farmer, gardener and fruit grower should grow his own seed as far 

 as he can. Too much stress cannot be laid on the varieties adapted 

 to the different soils, and the quality of the seed. The writer lost 

 one year twenty-five bushels of corn to the acre, by planting the 

 wrong variety. Two kinds were treated precisely alike, and one 

 yielded fifty bushels and the other only twenty-five. A half crop of 

 potatoes was lost by the same process, and this difference holds 

 good in many of our garden vegetables. The educational advan- 

 tages of our county and state fairs in regard to improved varieties, 

 afford a fine opportunity for comparison and selection. A close in- 



