THE MINNESOTA 



HORTICULTURIST. 



VOL. 32. AUGUST, 1904. No. 8. 



APPLE ORCHARDING IN MINNESOTA. 



H. F. BUSSE, MINNEAPOLIS. 



The experience of the writer, which extends over a period of 

 twenty-five years, began in the spring of 1878, when he set out 

 fifty two-year-old trees consisting of the following varieties : 

 Transcendent, Hyslop, Briar Sweet, Virginia and Duchess. 



These all grew well and four years after planting came in bear- 

 ing. Six years after planting they started to blight. Nine years 

 after planting most of them were dead with the exception of the 

 Briar Sweet, Virginia and Duchess. Wishing to give the Tran- 

 scendent and the Hyslop another trial, these were replanted with the 

 same varieties. These trees grew well for a time, but upon coming 

 in bearing again blighted. 



This experience caused me to believe that it would not pay to 

 plant these varieties in this location. However, I was determined 

 to find some variety which would successfully replace them, and, 

 after hearing that the Russian varieties were hardy and adapted to 

 different soils I determined to try these in their place. This move 

 proved to be a complete success, and as a result I now have the 

 Russians, Briar Sweet, Virginia and Duchess in the old orchard. 

 These trees are now all alive and bearing fruit every year. This 

 proved to me that apples could be successfully raised in Minnesota 

 and made me still more anxious to have a larger orchard. 



Twelve years ago with a view to increasing the size of my 

 orchard I set out forty more Duchess. These are in thriving con- 

 dition, and from them I harvest each year a large crop of apples. So 

 far the orchard was a complete success and gave me much satisfac- 

 tion. However, the receipts from the sale of apples were small, and 

 I now saw no good reason why the orchard should not be made to 

 pay and pay well. 



I then started my commercial orchard, in the spring of 1895, by 

 setting out 600 more trees. Of these 200 were crabs and 400 



