AN APPLE GROWING EXPERIENCE IN KANDIYOHI COUNTY. 347 



"I believe that the soil here heaves in winter and tears the roots 

 apart ; but this is not so when there is a sandy subsoil. 



"I do not believe that I have lost a single tree from drouth 

 after it has stood a year; but the principal things we have to fight 

 here are mice, jack-rabbits and sunscald. 



"We have in this county mostly Scandinavians, and they have 

 had very little experience here, but want to plant trees the same 

 way as they did in the old country, which will not do well in this 

 climate. Another drawback to more extensive planting is that so 

 many people are fooled by buying stock from Eastern nurseries. I 

 believe that there are many good places for orchards in this county, 

 and that success is sure to come as soon as they get the theories 

 from the old country out of their heads. 



"I got a man named C. J. Rustad to plant his trees on the north 

 slope, north of the woods. His trees are doing remarkably well, 

 and he has not been bothered by mice, rabbits or sunscald." 



SETTING TREES FOR WINDBREAK AND FRUIT. 



A. A. DAY, FARMINGTON. 



In the year 1861 I planted a lot of black locust seeds for a be- 

 ginning, and set them out on this farm in the spring of 1864, while 

 I was home on furlough from the war. It was the biggest fool trick 

 I ever did. They have been a nuisance and a thorn in the flesh very 

 frequently ever since. No! do not set out a locust. 



The spring of 1866 I began setting a windbreak and fruit trees. 

 I set first white willows around eight acres for a building place, 

 fruit, etc. Inside of the willows I set cottonwood, soft maples, elms, 

 box elder ash, lombardy poplars, cherry trees and others. Then I 

 set white willow on three sides of 100 acres and used them for fence 

 some years ; but they took too much land, and we have been making 

 wood of them and other trees we did not want for twenty years. 

 They have furnished a large share of our fuel for fifteen or twenty 

 years. If I was to commence again, on a new prairie farm, I would 

 set for windbreak white willow, elm, maple, white ash and cherry, 

 and mix in evergreens. The cottonwood is too large ; they are in the 

 way. The box elder seeds too much. 



I have now standing about fifty large cottonwoods, twenty-five 

 to thirty inches in diameter (some of them) ; fifty soft maples, nearly 

 as large but not as high, and many smaller ones ; fifteen or twenty 

 elms, not as large but large enough. I have 100 or more box elders. 

 This variety does not grow so large, but it scatters seed all over the 

 farm. One can be digging box elder' roots all the time and not get 

 them all. I planted the seed and raised a few black walnuts and 



