444 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



POINTS FOR THE AMATEUR ORCHARDIST. 



J. B. MITCHELL, CRESCO, IOWA. 

 (Southern Minnesota Horticultural Society.) 



To start right in planting- an orchard, the first thing to do after 

 having got your ground in good condition, as for corn, is to get the 

 right kinds of trees to plant and get them in the best possible con- 

 dition and handle and care for them as things of life. 



You can not do better than to get your trees of the nearest nurs- 

 ery, getting such kinds as you find doing well near where the orchard 

 is to be planted, and those kinds to be found in your home nurseries. 

 Your success in horticulture is to your home nurseryman's best in- 

 terest, and you must give him credit for ordinary intelligence. You 

 must know that his study is to find and test kinds best adapted to 

 his climate and soil. He is in a position to know of all new varie- 

 ties as they are brought forward, and able to judge and select for 

 trial such as have merit, and what he can not furnish it is quite 

 safe to conclude you do not want. 



When transient tree men, from distant states, offer you new or old 

 sorts at fancy prices and tell you that your home nursery is a " one 

 horse " concern and does not have these kinds, remember " talk is 

 cheap," and the more he talks the cheaper it gets, and that now you 

 are close to the danger line; that if his plausable story and smooth 

 tongue induce you to give him your order for one of his " model 

 (?) orchards" or his wonderful trees, he has indeed caught a "sucker," 

 and the day for yourself and children to pick fruit from your own 

 tree and vine has been postponed for another trial. 



Barnum said the American people liked humbug. This apparent 

 trait of the people is in a large measure responsible for the slow 

 progress made in horticulture in the northwest. But the dawn is 

 breaking in the North Star state. The fair prairies of southern Min- 

 nesota have already demonstrated their capability of producing as 

 fine and high colored apples as are grown on the American conti- 

 nent — and the American continent beats the world. 



This success has not been attained by planting eastern or south- 

 ern varieties of the apple. It has been accomplished by planting 

 the hardy northern sorts that are to be found in most northwestern 

 nurseries. 



The number of very valuable kinds for planting here is not large 

 but is quite sufficient and on the increase. There are some seed- 

 lings from Minnesota and northern Iowa worthy of your attention, 

 but you should only plant largely of the few kinds that you find 

 doing best near you. The two most promising of these, I will ven- 

 ture to say, are Duchess of Oldenburg and Hibernal (or Lieby). 

 These seem to do well in nearly all northern localities, regardless of 

 conditions except good cultivation and care. 



The Wealthy is a Minnesota product. It is a fine apple and a good 

 tree in some localities but sun scalds and blights in others, and 

 should only be planted on high ground open and sloping to the 

 north, a position which is found best for all apple trees. 



In my experience I have not found any of the old American apples 

 hardy enough in tree to recommend for general planting in this 



