142 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



prop up the limbs of the Wealthy to keep them from breaking 

 down ; they were large apples, fine apples. The Peerless we received 

 from Mr. Brand. It came into bearing last year with two good speci- 

 mens. We also have the Patten Greening growing, and I can en- 

 dorse all that has been said about that apple tree. It is without 

 doubt the best and healthiest grower in the orchard. I have also 

 some of Peter Gideon's seedlings, but the only one that has fruited 

 is the August. It does not appear to be of much account. This is 

 briefly a history of the large apples we have grown. 



In our locality we grow an abundance of the crab apple, and 

 we are not troubled with the blight as you are down here. We 

 grow some enormous crops of Transcendent ; we had nearly thirty 

 bushels from one tree. We sold them by the pail, and we got a dollar 

 a pailful for them, just an ordinary water pail. The other kinds we 

 find very prolific are the Hyslop, Virginia, Montreal Beauty and a 

 variety called the Greening, also the Minnesota crab, which came 

 into bearing for the first time this year. It appears to be quite 

 hardy. That about covers the extent of our apples. We have an- 

 other fruit from Minnesota known as the Compass Cherry, that bore 

 nice specimens of good fruit. I think it has a future before it in our 

 country. We can grow all the small fruits without any difficulty. 

 I may say one thing, however; Manitoba is a large province, just as 

 the state of Minnesota is of considerable extent. You can grow 

 some things in southern Minnesota that you cannot grow in north- 

 ern Minnesota. In some localities of Manitoba they have not suc- 

 ceeded in growing the crab apple, and in some localities they have 

 succeeded in growing not only crab apples but some of the larger 

 apples as well. 



Early Training of Fruit Trees. — All pruning of the apple should 

 be done the first five years after planting in the orchard, except water 

 sprouts, broken or dead limbs. In starting a young orchard; look 

 after the trees all through the spring and summer, and wherever a 

 limb is found to cross other limbs, it should be cut out. If a tree 

 shows a disposition to grow in a forked shape, select one branch, the 

 nearest in position, to form a main stem. Cut the end ofif all the 

 other branches, leaving the one intended as the stem or center stalk 

 without cutting, keeping watch on such a tree for two or three sea- 

 sons afterward, and while in a growing condition nip the terminal 

 buds from the side branches. This will soon give the stem the ad- 

 vantage of the growth and the other limbs will become side branches. 

 This corrects a forked top without injuring the growth. — S. H. L. 



