I08 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



ciety, attend their inspiring meetings and read carefully the hor- 

 ticultural magazine as well as our farm papers, they would receive 

 the desired knowledge quickly. The harvesting of the apple crop 

 is where the average amateur is lame. He allows the apples to re- 

 main on the trees until they ripen and fall off, thereby sustaining a 

 bruise; when they should be picked off the trees and handled as 

 carefully as eggs, both when taking them off the trees and when 

 placing them in barrels. A cool, dry cellar should be provided 

 where they can be kept until the early kinds, such as Duchess and 

 crab apples, are out of the way, when a good price is nearly always 

 commanded without sending them far from home. 



The other acre planted to plums will need about the same care 

 as the land planted to apple trees. Plum trees come into bearing 

 quite early and are usually as profitable as apples when placed on 

 the market, and for family use cannot be excelled. Thousands of 

 dollars are annually going out of our country towns for Michigan, 

 New York and Missouri apples and California plums, when we 

 could supply the greater part of this fruit from our own farms if 

 we would only plant trees adapted to the locality in which we live 

 and give them the proper care after they are planted. 



In conclusion, I would suggest a few things that the farmer 

 should not do when he undertakes the culture of fruit. Don't plant 

 new or untried varieties! Don't plant varieties not adapted to our 

 climate! Don't set trees in sod or poorly cultivated ground! Don't 

 plant trees on a sand-hill, low ground or a south exposure, if you 

 have a north or east one! Don't let stock run among your trees! 

 Don't let rabbits girdle your trees, but wrap them each fall with 

 veneering, building paper, newspaper, burlap or corn-stalks! Don't 

 allow grass and weeds to grow around your trees! Don't forget 

 to set a good windbreak on the south and west sides of your or- 

 chard, as it will increase the bearing capacity of your trees, protect 

 them from the rigors of our northern winters and bring ample re- 

 turns in fuel for the ground it occupies. Finally, give your fruit 

 trees and windbreak the same time and attention you would de- 

 vote to any crop covering a like space of ground on your farm, 

 and I will assure you that the results will prove not only interesting 

 and gratifying but profitable as well. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg (Wis.): That is one of the most excel- 

 lent papers on raising apples I ever heard. The only question is 

 whether it will come out just as he predicts it. 



Mr. Underwood: I have not taken up much time at this meet- 

 ing, and I only wish to say a few words on a subject that has not 

 been brought out at all, and it has a bearing on the orchard 

 planted by the farmer or planted by anybody for that matter. I 



