HORTICULTURE AT THE MINNESOTA STATE FAIR, I9O3. 365 



pears in the list following this article, showing the distribution of 

 awards. 



As usual the mushroom exhibit attracted very much attention, 

 and the weather this year being especially favorable for this kind 

 of a display the space assigned was crowded throughout the fair. 

 Prof. F. L. Washburn acted as judge in this class, distributing 

 the premiums among five competitors, who were all members of the 

 Minneapolis Mycological Society. 



The florist's display occupied as usual the shelving running 

 around the outside of the room and made a very beautiful display, 

 furnishing in large degree the ornamental feature of the hall. 



There were five exhibits made by nurserymen, two in the north- 

 east corner of the hall, by C. W. Sampson and C. P. Nichols ; two 

 in. the northwest corner, by A. A. Bost and B. T. Hoyt, and the 

 Jewell Nursery Company put up its usual very attractive display in 

 the center of the hall. 



Considerable fruit was secured from the display this year to be 

 put up in glass cans for the St. Louis Exposition, the best of the 

 various varieties of apples and other fruits being taken for this pur- 

 pose with the consent of the exhibitors. A very fine collection was 

 also made up late in the week by Mr. Wyman Elliot and sent to 

 Boston to be displayed there at the biennial session of the American 

 Pomological Society, which met September 10 and ii. This col- 

 lection included all the staple varieties of apples grown in the state, 

 as well as the more promising seedlings, including nearly the full 

 collection of the Perkin's seedlings described above. Mr. Elliot 

 went to Boston himself with this fruit immediately after the close 

 of the fair. 



Planting Bulbs in the Fall. — The lime to prepare for the spring feast 

 of flowers is in the fall, says Country Life in America. Too often people for- 

 get all about it until they see the tulips in the parks or in their neighbors' gar- 

 dens, and then they hie to th^ bulb-seller in a quest for bulbs. Generally 

 speaking, from the middle of October until the ground is closed with frost the 

 bulbs for spring flowering maj- be planted. Some of the species are late in 

 ripening.— lily-of-the-valley, for instance — and so the planting stock is not 

 available until November. In our northern climate frost and snow may have 

 made their appearance before these are procurable, so the expedient of covering 

 the ground where they are to be planted must be adopted. Coarse bagging 

 spread over the ground and a covering of three or four inches of leaves, hay 

 or litter of any kind will answer. The best bulb garden the writer ever had — 

 a small one, 'tis true — was planted on New Year's Day, the soil having been 

 kept frost-free by the method described. However, unquestionably, the earlier 

 the better The first customers get the best stock, and the amateur will do well 

 to order his hardy bulbs in September, for October planting. 



