432 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE OWATONNA TREE STATION. 



C. G. PATTEN, CHARLES CITY, IOWA. 



While at a late Minnesota state fair, some of your leading- 

 horticulturists expressed a wish that I would visit the horticul- 

 tural station at Owatonna and give my views of it for publication; 

 and as the work of Mr. Dartt at this station is by no means new to 

 me, I thought it might be of interest to a good many of your people 

 to know how an outsider looked at it. 



My visit during the week of your fair was the third time that I 

 have had the pleasure of looking over the grounds in the last five 

 years. Having for many years been greatly interested in horticul- 

 tural experiments of my own, I could not but watch with keen in- 

 terest the work of one with such positive ideas as Mr. Dartt, as those 

 who know him best know that he is thoughtful as well as positive 

 and earnest. It gives me pleasure to say that at every visit I have 

 found the station in first class order. 



Mr. Dartt seems to be as thorough in his work as he is definite in 

 his ideas as to how it should be done. The conception and manage- 

 ment of this station is unique; it is entirely Mr. Dartt's. 



Some might complain that he has been too heroic in his treatment 

 of his seedlings and the new varieties that have been submitted to 

 him for trial. But whatever one may think of his method of testing 

 varieties, everything has had an equal chance; there has been no 

 petting of special sorts; and whatever passes the ordeal to which 

 he subjects them no one need fear to plant. 



The application of a liberal quantity of manure to young orchard 

 and nursery trees, and the girdling process to which these new 

 sorts, from two inches and above in diameter, have been subjected 

 is a trial of the most thorough nature. Most men who are personally 

 interested in new varieties would shrink from such a test. 



It appears to me, at least at first sight, that the manuring and 

 girdling for two or three years in succession are almost too much 

 to expect a young tree to endure. But what are experiment stations 

 for if they are not to develop new ideas and processes and results. 



Mr. Dartt conceived the idea that he could test the hardiness and 

 vitality of new sorts as much in five years as has been done hereto- 

 fore in fifteen to twenty years by the old way of waiting for cold 

 winters and blighting summers. Hence, he used the manure to 

 blight, and the saw to test the vitality of the tree. And while at the 

 first inspection I had my doubts, it looks now as though he was 

 going to demonstrate, at least to a large extent, the value of his 

 practice. Of course, in experiments one has to vary seasons and 

 methods as new developments appear. 



The first impressions of "girdling" is that in throwing the young 

 tree into bearing the fruit will not be a fair representation in size of 

 what the tree under normal conditions would produce. But this, it 

 seems, is only true where too large an amount of fruit is left on the 

 tree, as I noticed that where the trees were not overloaded it was of 

 good size. 



Mr. Dartt believes that in gathering the "cream," as he puts it, of 

 many originators in different parts of the country, that he is very 



