34 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Red cedar and white spruce were recommended as being the most 

 desirable evergreens for northwestern Iowa. 



Mr. Blodgett recommended Staples and Lovett strawberries. 

 He thinks it l)est to plant two rows of pistillate to one row of stam- 

 inate, and he likes the Warfield. He says he has solved the picker 

 problem by having the pickers all girls. He thinks the Bederwood 

 is the best variety for the beginner. 



Mr. Hartwell, of Illinois, says that the Dunlap has been disap- 

 pointing, but he likes the Splendid. It was brought out by another 

 party that the Dunlap made a tremendous number of plants — and if 

 these were properly thinned the variety did well, while if they were 

 all allowed to grow there were more than the land could take care of. 



The question as to whether the Northwestern Greening is a 

 profitable market apple was discussed. Mr. Burnap says that we 

 have not as yet had experience enough to answer this question, be- 

 cause it has not been sufificiently tested, but that the indications are 

 favorable. He says, however, that he knows it is a tardy and shy 

 bearer. 



In discussing the subject of the plums, one speaker recommended 

 Wyant and Forest Garden above all others for general purposes. 

 He said the Hawkey e was good, but the Desoto was too small. 

 Mr. Terry said that the Milton was the best plum for all parts of 

 Iowa, and that next to it was the Forest Garden, and that the Stella 

 was also good. Mr. Patten says the Milton does well with him. Mr. 

 Reeves, of Waverly, says it is of no use in northern Iowa. At the 

 Minnesota Experiment Station it has proved a complete failure, ow- 

 ing to winter-killing. 



Resolutions were passed looking to a good representation of Iowa 

 horticulture at the St. Louis fair in 1904. A letter was read from 

 the former president of the society, Mr. C. F. Gardner, from New 

 Mexico, where he has gone on account of poor health, and it was 

 pleasant to learn that he had measurably recovered from his illness. 



A discussion as to the depth of planting of trees brought out much 

 of interest. Secretary Greene stated that he thought trees should be 

 planted (in southern Iowa) not over six inches deeper than they 

 grew in the nursery, but that in western Iowa he thought that a foot 

 deeper than they grew in the nursery was not too much. Mr. Bom- 

 berger said that he thought it a good plan to plant plums and cher- 

 ries at least twelve inches deeper than they had grown in the nursery, 

 when setting them upon dry hillsides. He said that in some places 

 along the Piatt River in Nebraska the trees succeeded best when 

 planted eighteen inches deep in depressions. He has some Hawk- 

 eye plums planted two feet deepen than they grew in the nursery, and 

 thev have fruited well. 



