438 MINNEAPOLIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



western authority says that a cellar cannot be too moist for apples. 

 We cannot close this paper without a word of encouragement to 

 orchardists in southern Minnesota. We have seen numbers of fine 

 healthy trees of the Duchess and Wealthy on the prairies more than 

 a hundred miles northwest of where we are met today. Many of these 

 trees mea sure over two feet in circumference of stem and are bearing 

 very profitable crops. We found one orchard alone in Yellow Medi- 

 cine county from which there was sold $200.00 worth of appples in 

 one season. If so much has been accomplished on the God forsaken, 

 wind-swept prairies, intended only for the home of the grasshopper 

 and buffalo, what shall be said of the farnaer in grand old Mower 

 county who has not sand or sense enough to raise an orchard for 

 his own comfort, and for his boys and girls to enjoy and look back 

 upon in later years as the pleasantest spot on the dear old home 

 stead? 



(^alei^dar for l^oVen^ber. 



O. M. LORD. 



If the ground is not frozen, it is not too late to set blackberries and 

 red raspberries. . It is not advisable to set any other fruits in the 

 fall in Minnesota. If other fruit plants or trees have been received, 

 it is better to heel them in till spring. The grape vines may now be 

 trimmed and laid down, though the ground be frozen. A light cover- 

 ing to hold the vines down is necessary. Of course, all garden 

 vegetables and seeds have been secured in the fine weather of the 

 last month. It is well to make the young apple trees secure from 

 mice by making a mound of earth, a few inches high, around the 

 base of the tree, and also removing all grass and weeds from around 

 the tree. As soon as the ground is frozen, the strawberries will 

 need covering. The October frosts, this year, have not hurt the 

 vines, but the ground in this vicinity is very dry, and the earlier the 

 mulch is put on the more moisture will be retained for the plants- 

 All fruits in Iowa, last winter, suffered from root-killing more than 

 in Minnesota, but we are liable here to sometimes have a winter 

 without much snow, and the mulching, in such cases, will be helpful. 



Rabbits are sometimes very destructive in the winter, and it is 

 well to be prepared in time. Wrapping the trees with woven lath or 

 wire screen or burlap cloth will be effective, and even news- 

 paper, though not so durable, will answer. All kinds of washes are 

 so liable to be washed off by rains that they are not worth the 

 trouble to put them on. 



Apple scions are usually cut in this month and packed away for 

 winter and spring grafting. Plum scions are more reliable if cut 

 near the time of using. Winter grafting of the plum is not as suc- 

 cessful as spring grafting. The planting of plum, cherry and apple 

 seeds, if not already done, needs immediate attention, or the seeds 

 may be stratified in moist sand and left out of doors for freezing 

 for spring planting. 



