secretary's CORNER. I99 



A Society Medae. — Negotiations are pending for the cutting of a set of 

 dies from which medals may be cast to be offered as premiums by the society, 

 as judgement may dictate. One side of the medal shows the -seal of the society, 

 as it appears on the front cover of the "Horticulturist," and the other side the 

 words "For Services to Minnesota Horticulture," around the margin, with 

 suitable scroll work, and the center left blank for inscriptions. 



Removae of Ansee Gideon. — Ansel, the oldest son of the late Peter M. 

 Gideon and the only one of his children remaining in this part of the country, 

 following the sale of the homestead has decided to remove to Alberta, one of 

 the northwestern Canadian provinces and engage in the nursery business there. 

 Like his father he has evidently elected to be a pioneer in horticulture in an 

 untried field. We hope to hear of good work he may do there for himself and 

 the country. 



Spraying to Thin Fruit. — "The Duchess apple is so very plentiful in a 

 productive season that it is of very little value for market purposes. Last 

 year was an off year, but we made more money from a small crop than could 

 have been realized from a large crop in a plentiful season. We should dimin- 

 ish the production in seasons of plenty and increase it in the seasons of scarcity. 

 To do this remove the fruit early in the season of the productive year and 

 girdle July 1st to make trees bear the next year. The removal of the fruit 

 might cause trees to bear the next season, but girdling will make it a com- 

 paratively sure thing. To remove the fruit by hand on the half of a good 

 sized orchard would be a tedious job, and I propose to spray when trees are in 

 blossom with salt and water just strong enough to kill the blossoms. I think 

 one pound of salt to one quart of water will be about right. Spraying must 

 be thoroughly done, otherwise blossoms will not be killed. The productive- 

 ness of other tree fruits may be regulated in the same way. 



"A leaflet on girdling mailed on application. Send stamp." 



E. H. S. Dartt, Owatonna. 



Testing Keeping Apples. — "This winter I have been as usual, trying a 

 number of interesting varieties of Minnesota apples to test their keeping quali- 

 ties in my house cellar. The three best keepers that I have tried have been 

 (1) Babbit, a red apple sent out by the Stark Nursery Co , of Louisiana Mo., 

 of which I have now a few specimens in good condition. (2) Northwestern 

 Greening I had until the 1st of April, and it seemed to improve in quality by 

 keeping. (3) Of the Minnesota grown Ben Davis, I have just a few left. This 

 variety is an excellent keeper and is of fairly good quality when grown in this 

 state. The hardiness of the Northwestern Greening for planting in this state 

 has yet to be determined. So far as I can learn in regard to it, on favorable 

 soils it is extremely hardy and free from blight, but it is rather fickle about 

 soils and in some locations does very poorly. The Ben Davis is too tender 

 for general growing in this state, but in favorable locations in the southern 

 half of the state it has produced quite satisfactorily." Same. B. Green. 



More about The "PETER" AppeE. — "I was much interested in friend 

 Dartt's article on page 36 of the January number of the Horticulturist. I 

 wrote to Mr. Haviland, of Fort Dodge, Iowa, asking him what was the differ- 

 ence between the Peter and the Wealthy, and he said after handling them for 

 years he could not see any difference. Also wrote to a Missouri nurseryman 

 who advertised the Peter, and his reply was that he had not fruited the Peter 

 long enough to be positive, but that apparently there was not any. We have 

 the Peter as Mr. Haviland introduced it, top-worked on Hibernal. The 



