WINDOM TRIAL STATION. 63 



The only blight we have had this season was on our only Smit- 

 za tree, that was badly attacked in- June. It was promptly cut down 

 and burned. Also our only tree of large Siberian crab, that was 

 attacked with body blight late in October. 



I omitted to mention that a few Wealthys that were evidently 

 root-injured the winter of '98-99, bore an extra heavy crop of fruit 

 this season and dropped their foliage earlier than usual. 



Of evergreens, the Scotch pine seems to be the pioneer, grow- 

 ing early and rapidly, without much regard as to cultivation. The 

 white and black spruces do very well here. The Norway spruce 

 is not quite hardy, although we have some good specimens. 



The native, or northern, red cedar, where well cultivated, 

 grows very rapidly and will rank with the Scotch pine in value as a 

 windbreak, and stands drought much better. 



The Black Hills spruce seems to be our hardiest evergreen, but 

 on account of its extremely slow growth I doubt its ever being 

 popular except as a lawn tree. 



The following varieties are also doing very well here : silvei* 

 spruce, Douglas spruce, arbor vitae, Piatt River cedar, silver cedar 

 and Austrian pine. The white pine lives but does not grow much ; 

 it is not a success here. 



It seems almost absolutely necessary to succeed with any of the 

 evergreens that they be planted where they will be somewhat shelter- 

 ed from our heavy prairie winds ; the more shelter, the greater the 

 success in that line. 



I omitted to mention that I have by deep planting of my apple 

 trees about prevented their root-killing, which is so prevalent in this 

 section every winter. 



We sympathize with both nurserymen and planters because 

 we have no hardy stock for our apple-roots, but the nurseryman who 

 sends out plum trees on tender roots should, we think, be turned 

 over to the tender mercies of his victims. 



MEADOW VALE TRIAL STATION. 



A. W. KEAYS, SUPT., ELK RIVER. 



(Read at Annual Meeting of the Meadow Vale Horticultural Club.) 

 After the experience of the past winter we have learned that 

 the ordinary apple seedling root, Pyrus malus, is worthless for stock 

 in this section unless heavily protected by mulch. We lost over 

 5,000 trees from root-killing, in all sizes from bearing trees to last 

 season's root-grafts — Duchess, Hibernal, Mrginia all went out in the 

 general wreck. But I have a few left. In '96 I became convinced 



