450 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



spring-a, but it runs off in torrents bearing away a portion of the 

 vegetable glebe and rich surface soil, and the freshets of spring' 

 soon take the rest; and you know that this soil which is thus washed 

 away is the rich organic mold which the earth most needs. One se- 

 vere storm may wash away in a week the rich fertilizing- matter 

 which it has required centuries to accumulate. 



It has been estimated that not less than ten per cent of our soil is 

 carried away by rills, streams and floods. During- the present week, 

 as I have seen farmers patiently hauling- loads of manure from the 

 stables of the city to place upon their lands, I have thought seri- 

 ously of the fact that the torrents and floods of the coming spring- 

 would doubtless strip their lands of more fertilizers than they 

 could haul to their lands in manure carts in a month of patient la- 

 bor. 



But this loss of the richest part of the soil is not to the land alone. 

 Let me ask you where is this rich soil mostly carried by the torrents 

 and floods? Is it not into the beds of the lakes and streams, where 

 it is not only not needed, but where it is a positive injury, choking 

 the channels of the rivers and streams and forming large sandbars 

 in the lakes, thereby greatly reducing the depth of water, if it does 

 not entirely overcome it? And just here, saj'ing nothing about the 

 serious loss to the land, a great damage is done to the fish. The 

 clear, sandy, gravelly or rocky bottom of the lake or stream which 

 the fish love and on which they feed and have their spawning beds, 

 is covered with rich mold from the fields, forming a muddy sedi- 

 ment, which the fish do not like, and the feeding grounds and spawn- 

 ing beds are greatly reduced and often destroyed. The deep holes 

 where fish resort are filled up, and the lake or stream is made shal- 

 low. Moreover,the water vegetation,on which the fish feed at certain 

 seasons, is covered with the washings from the land and is destroyed, 

 and another source of food for fish is annihilated. This last propo- 

 sition that the accumulation of soil and inud in the bottom of 

 streams is inimical to fish is true of all the higher grades of fish, 

 but to it there is one exception, and that exception is as to catfish, 

 called in common parlance bullheads. Bullheads thrive in muddy 

 bottom and increase to an alarming extent. They are the gluttons 

 of our waters. But beware of them, for when they once get posses- 

 sion of the waters, it will not be long before the best varieties of fish 

 disappear. 



Geraniums for Wixter Blooming.— Let the geraniums rest from 

 July until September is past with but little moisture and no fertil- 

 izer, pinching off all buds. This means those for winter blooming, 

 as the most shapely and best flowering are chosen for the sunny 

 window next winter. The first of October fill pots with a rich sandy 

 loam and in them place the geraniums chosen from the garden, set 

 in a dark place for one week, then bring to the light, water with good 

 liquid fertilizer and soon they will be a mass of bloom. One to two 

 year-old plants are best. 



