56 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



on the road would lean on the fence and comment audibly. Golden 

 Queen was also laden with large, fine berries of good fiavor. Gregg, 

 the black raspberry that does the best with us, was in fine feather. 



As for blackberries I had been for several years trying to entirely 

 exterminate them from the garden, as our seasons here have gen- 

 erally been too dry for them unless irrigated, but quite a number had 

 grown up along the fence, and this summer I was surprised with a 

 crop of large, luscious berries. Currants and gooseberries did very 

 poorly, but the black Crandall currant made a wonderful showing. 



Plums, especially Wolf, Rockford and Surprise, came out fine 

 and were extra large, but ripened quickly and if not gathered and 

 used im.mediately rotted. Indeed some rotted on the trees, and this 

 did not apply to any one kind but to all. 



Apples, where the trees were not blown down by the cyclonic 

 wind which passed through here in the summer, bore so heavily that 

 unless lightened of half their fruit they lost many limbs. Sweet 

 Russet, Martha, Wealthy, Patten's Greening, Duchess and Hibernal 

 gave plenty of fruit. 



Grapes somehow never ripened. Elderberries, however, were a 

 mass of bloom in spring and later were loaded with fruit, fine for 

 pies or wine. 



Of cherries. Compass, Wragg and some of the Russians did re- 

 markably well. 



Roses, pasonies, gladioli, lilies and, in fact, all flowering plants 

 and shrubs gave an abundance of bloom, while evergreens especially 

 seemed to like the condition of the soil and thrived accordingly. 



The fruit growers of this vicinity had quite a good showing of 

 home grown fruit at the St. Cloud street fair. Rev. John B. Katz- 

 ner, of the university at Collegeville, made a grand showing of 

 apples, plums and grapes, the latter, however, not entirely ripe. 

 Mr. E. Cross had some good seedling apples from those trees sent 

 out by Peter Gideon some years ago, and received several premiums. 

 Mr. Mayman and Mr. Rook, besides several whose names I did not 

 get, made a good show of fruit and had numbers of premiums. 

 The State Reformatory also had a large booth for showing fruits, 

 vegetables and the different kinds of manufacturing done by the 

 boys of the establishment. In fact, the building set apart for the 

 horticultural exhibit was so crowded that on my arriving late there 

 was no vacant place, but the editor of the Journal-Press, Mr. East- 

 man, kindly donated the use of his large show window for the use 

 of the Station, and I soon had it filled with fruits and flowers, and 

 a notice in the background from whence they came. 



