62 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



I want to call attention to the Marcus plum from northwest 

 Iowa. It is of large size, etc.; season, a little later than De Soto. 

 Its strongest point is its deep red color while the fruit is yet hard. 

 It also keeps in condition for marketing a long time. 



The New Ulm rots so badly year after year that we will have 

 to discard it. The Mankato and Wood plums also rotted badly. 

 The Rockford is so small and scabs so badly that we have no use 

 for it. 



Owing, no doubt to my getting after them with my jack-knife, 

 we had less borers in our plum trees than usual, and the birds took 

 the most of them. We also lost a few trees of our hardiest va- 

 rieties of plums last winter by root-killing. 



Our crop of apples and crabs was very good. The Early 

 Strawberry was the first crab to ripen ; tree a great grower, great 

 bearer and seems well adapted to our windy prairie. The Flor- 

 ence has proved my most profitable crab for market. I think it 

 should be more generally planted. The Martha makes a good tree 

 for a windbreak, but at this station as a frviit producer it is a fail- 

 ure. The Virginia is disappointing in that it does not bear enough 

 fruit. The Sweet Russett gives good satisfaction. 



Of apples, the Wealthy and Duchess head the list for profit. 

 The Breskovka proves to be valuable ; it is about one week earlier 

 than the Duchess. For extra early the Tetofsky has not yet been 

 superseded here, although Juicy White and Red Duck, of the 

 Transparent family, are very promising. For a fall apple I am 

 very much pleased with the Lubsk Queen ; it has such a deep red 

 color ; trees bear quite young. The Okabena has proved an early, 

 heavy and reliable bearer. Patten's Greening seems well adapted 

 to our prairie soil but has not borne as heavily on young trees as 

 has some of the other varieties. The Malnda top-worked is quite 

 promising for a late apple, although our seasons are hardly long 

 enough for it. Some of the fruit I neglected to gather is still 

 hanging on the trees at this date, Dec. 2nd. 



The foliage of our apple trees the past season has been remark- 

 ably free from fungous diseases, and the tree hoppers were not as 

 bad as usual. 



The trees ripened up their wood in good shape and are now 

 full of fruit buds for next season's crop. This is especially so of 

 the Wealthy. 



More foliage is still clinging to our apple trees than is usual 

 at this season ; the Wealthy and some other late fall, also some early, 

 varieties have nearly their entire summer foliage still upon the trees. 



