RAMBLING RECOLLECTIONS. 461 



his crop raised in La Crosse. Although in poor health he went to 

 work cutting cordwood the following winter and hired a man to haul 

 it to market with two yoke of oxen, bought for the purpose, and it 

 kept him busy, too. 



The next spring he began to clear off and break more ground 

 and planted a small bundle of apple trees, also some gooseberry and 

 currant bushes and other shrubbery, and the following year set out 

 more apple trees. In i860 he bought a few grape vines, and set 

 out strawberry plants in 1861. The small fruit were a success from 

 the start and have never failed to bear fruit annually ever since. In 

 the winter of 1861 I find him reading up on fruit growing and order- 

 ing more trees. Next year he established a greenhouse and con- 

 tinued this with the vegetable gardening business. 



The opening of the war brought hard times, and I find we were 

 out of provisions and got credit at the village store for one sack of 

 flour, $3.25, but still making plans to plant a larger orchard. First 

 record of gathering apples Sept., 1864, variety and quantity not 

 stated. From that time forward we always had a few apples to eat 

 and generally, within a few years at least, a surplus to sell and help 

 make out a living. Full well can I remember when going to school 

 how we always had our pockets stuffed with apples and how we were 

 the envy of all the scholars. And many an apple we sold for a nickle 

 or traded for other treasures. Yes, and they were good ones, too, 

 St. Lawrence, Bailey's Sweet, Seek-no-further and other eastern 

 varieties. 



"Sept. 2nd, 1862. Great excitement prevails about the Indian out- 

 break. People are leaving the state by hundreds." We met a lot 

 of them when returning from school and hurried home to flee with 

 our folks, but they concluded to remain, and we were not molested. 



"Attended the state fair at Rochester in Oct., 1866, and took first 

 money on apples and grapes, and met a few horticulturists one even- 

 ing and organized a state society." This I have a strong suspicion 

 was the birth of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society. From 

 that time on he never failed to exhibit fruit at the annual state fair 

 and generally with success. When we moved here he was badly in 

 debt and continued paying interest till he had paid for the land twice 

 without owning it, but in 1870 he began to prosper and got out of 

 debt and began making improvements, and in a few years had built 

 a new house, barn and a large greenhouse. 



I was under two years of age when we moved here, so practically 

 my lifetime has been spent on the place. Being the oldest boy it was 

 my privilege to go to market and hold the horse as soon as big 

 enough, and early in life I began to take an interest in the work. As 



