346 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



AN APPLE GROWING EXPERIENCE IN KANDIYOHI 



COUNTY. 



(Extracts from a letter from C. H. Engen, Norway Lake.) 



"In the spring of 1888 I planted one hundred Wealthy trees, of 

 which twenty-six died, fourteen are sick, and the other sixty are very 

 healthy. The death of these trees was caused by mice and rabbits. 

 The same year I planted twelve Haas ; ten died of sunscald, while 

 the other two are barely living. I also had six Longfield, of which 

 four died, caused by mice and sunscald. Twelve Okabena, all are 

 dead ; eighteen Thompson Seedling, only four are living ; six Patten 

 Greening, all died ; six Malinda, only one living ; six Hibernal, all 

 died. I am certain of the fact that most of them died because I did 

 not take good care of them and did not protect them from mice and 

 rabbits. Haas, Okabena, Thompson Seedling and Malinda apple 

 trees — I do not believe they will do well for us here. 



"The same year I planted the following named crabs : Twelve 

 Minnesota, seventy-five Whitney, six Martha, six Virginia, eight 

 Early Strawberry. All the above named trees have shown them- 

 selves to be good trees, as there has only died eight Whitneys, and 

 all the others are healthy. 



"I suppose you would like to know of my experience with 

 apple trees. I began in 1870 with six dozen trees. At that time 

 I thought that the best place for fruit trees was the warmest place 

 I had on my farm, and therefore I planted them there. The next 

 thing I did was that I wanted trees with a high crown. The trees 

 were Transcendent, Hyslop and Duchess, but most of them died 

 of sunscald. I had better luck with the crabs, and I have nine Tran- 

 scendent, and although they have blighted some they have yielded 

 from six to twelve bushels a year. The Hyslop and Duchess are 

 dead. I have since that time planted a few trees each spring, and I 

 have now about four hundred trees, of which about two hundred and 

 fifty last fall bore fruit. I got one hundred and twenty bushels of 

 crabs, one hundred and sixty bushels Wealthy, ten bushels Duchess 

 and ten bushels of different kinds. 



"I have not had very good luck with Duchess of Oldenberg, 

 as they have a high crown and are liable to sunscald. The best 

 trees I have are Wealthys, with branches about a foot or a foot and 

 a half from the ground. 



"The soil here is a black loam, one to two feet deep, with a 

 clay subsoil which is very hard. 



"I have had the experience that it is best to cut off a tap-root 

 which grows straight down and is too tough to bend ; but if a tree 

 has branching roots, then I consider it a good tree. 



