46 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



some valuable object lessons and seems to be appreciated by 

 many visitors to our grounds. 



The raising of seedling plants has been continued the past 

 year in much the same way as in former years. We have raised 

 about 14,000 apple seedlings from mixed apple seeds; about 450 

 Russian cherry seedlings ; 4,000 buffalo berry ; 3,000 hackberry ; 

 1,500 Russian olive and 4,000 buckthorn. The crop of Pyrus 

 baccata seed in 1902 was a failure on our grounds, but this year 

 we have secured several pounds of seed and will continue the 

 raising of these interesting seedlings the coming year. We have 

 also saved about one-half bushel of apple seed from Whitney and 

 other hardy sorts. 



EXCELSIOR TRIAL STATION, ANNUAL REPORT. 



A. B. LYMAN^ SUPT. 



The past winter was an extremely mild one, and all fruit trees 

 that are at all adapted to our climate came through uninjured. 

 There was no discolored wood, even on the half hardy varieties. 

 This was due to the mild winter in connection with the fact that 

 trees went into winter quarters in the best of condition and with 

 wood well ripened. The ground being protected by snow it did 

 not freeze deeply, and there was no injury to roots of fruit trees. 

 Potatoes that were not dug in the fall were plowed out last spring 

 in perfect condition ; strawberries that had no covering whatever 

 produced large crops of fruit, even larger than those that were 

 covered and the covering taken off late, which threw the ripening 

 into a drouth period. It does not follow from this that straw- 

 berries need no covering. They should be covered each season^ 

 as we have no way of knowing during which seasons they will 

 have ample snow protection. 



Spring and summer weather was not the best for a big apple 

 crop the past season. Too much wet and cloudy weather was 

 unfavorable. The yield of large apples, such as Wealthy, Duch- 

 ess, Hibernal, Patten's Greening, etc., was fair, and many thou- 

 sand dollars worth grown in this vicinity were shipped to the 

 Twin Cities and west to North and South Dakota grocerymen. 



The Patten's Greening is a great grower of fruit. Although 

 a tree of recent introduction there were many barrels grown 

 about here. The fruit is of large, even size and sells well on the 

 market. We believe this society made no mistake in putting 

 this variety on the fruit list as a leading sort. 



