44 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Anszvcr : From no increase to 50 per cent gain. 



Question 7. a. What special encouragement received or 

 hindrance encountered in fruit cuhure during the past year ? 



Answer. Encouragement : "Thorough cultivation and success." 

 "Good returns for extra care on orchard and berries." "Growth 

 of tree good." "Sufficient moisture for the present and some time 

 to come." "Good demand and prices high." "Not much encourage- 

 ment except for home use," reported by several. "Results highly 

 encouraging." "With a good salesman at work, a great many trees 

 are sold, and a poor salesman the reverse. The salesmen working 

 for the different nurseries are entirely responsible for the amount 

 of trees planted." 



Hindrances, mentioned by many : "Continued wet and cold, 

 winds, frosts and hail. Comparatively light crops of most fruits. 

 Blight. Gnarly fruit." 



b. What fact, new or old, has made the strongest impression 

 upon you this season ? 



Ansivcr: "The fruit-raiser should go slow in forming conclu- 

 sions from his experience of less than ten years, and not bank too 

 much on the experience of others in a different locality." "Wet 

 seasons which give large growth encourage extensive planting the 

 coming season, and vice versa." "Nelson apple, Livingston straw- 

 berry." "Don't let a weed grow. Keep surface of ground loose 

 after every rain." "Blight ! its cause and the means to prevent it. 

 The cause of blight is overflow of sap from the roots of the 

 branches." "Thorough and early cultivation." "We should plant 

 for quality of fruit as well as hardiness. Should plant a few trees 

 each year." "Total failure of the plum crop. The farmers of Min- 

 nesota should grow more trees, fruit and flowers." "We must fight 

 our insect and fungous enemies more successfully before we can 

 expect to grow more perfect fruit." "It takes a rare combination 

 of qualities to make a good, profitable market fruit." "The farmer 

 will not take care of his orchard." "The production of several 

 varieties of plums, hitherto supposed impossible." "The eggs should 

 be placed in at least three baskets." By several : "The benefits of 

 spraying fruit trees and berries ; a marked improvement both in 

 quantity and quality resulting, and uniform poor quality on all or- 

 chards where not practiced." "The enormous crop of fruit on trees 

 which have had no cultivation for years, bound as with bands of 

 steel in a June grass sod and going into winter quarters with a 

 great promise for 1903. What would these trees have done with 

 proper care and congenial surroundings is something the fruit- 

 grower could profitably ponder long and well." 



c. Prospects for crop of 1903? 



Answer: "Rather light." "Good." "A good crop of straw- 

 berries, a fair crop of raspberries, a good plum and cherry crop, and 

 a fair apple crop." "Very favorable." "Growth is all right." 

 "Never better at this time of year." "Moderate or lig-ht crop of ap- 

 ples." "Trees all attained vigorous growth." "Good for small 



