96 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



VICE-PRESIDENT'S REPORT, EIGHTH CONGRESS- 

 IONAL DISTRICT. 



A. F. GASTFIELD, DULUTH. 



The spring of 1903 opened fair and warm, with showers and 

 sunshine in alternation, promoting- growth of trees and plants better 

 than we had seen for years. 



In the beginning of June the prospect for a fruit crop was very 

 promising. All went well till the tenth of the month. When the 

 writer woke on the morning of the eleventh, he found ice in a tub 

 standing at the well that measured fully an eighth of an inch in 

 thickness. The effect on trees and bushes of such a freeze at such 

 a time can easily be imagined. 



Even our hardy native evergreens, such as balsam and black 

 spruce, on which the new growth was from an inch to an inch and 

 a half in length, killed back, the first growth hanging dead and 

 brown all summer, at the side of a second new growth. 



All apple trees were through with their blossoming and consid- 

 erable fruit set, which turned brown and dropped off the trees after 

 the frost. 



Plums produced a light crop, and were badly aflicted with 

 "pocket." 



The Compass cherry bore for the first time, but were somewhat 

 late to get ripe. The same with the sand cherry. 



Strawberries suffered much from the frost and were hardly 

 more than a quarter of a crop. 



Red and yellow raspberries produced a gjood crop, while the 

 black cap and purple varieties were injured by the winter. 



Our soil here around Duluth consists mainly of a red sandy loam. 

 In laying down raspberry and blackberry canes for winter protec- 

 tion, the ground must first be mulched and the canes covered with 

 straw or similar materials, and not with soil as recommended for 

 other localities. Contact with the soil invariably kills the canes. 



Blackberries yielded about half a crop. Many of the buds were 

 nipped by the frost. Dewberries almost a failure. 



Red and white currants bore a nice crop in the centers of the 

 bushes. All on the outside and top were killed when half grown. 

 The black failed to- set much fruit. 



Gooseberries produced but few berries. 



In summing up the result of 1903 I note that we met with many 

 failures. But there is one thing that turned out better than we ex- 

 pected : Trees and bushes have ripened up their wood well in spite 

 of the excessive rain and cold weather that were so persistent the 

 latter part of summer and early fall. So we have hope for some- 

 thinsr better to come. 



