396 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



bel, about the size of a lath, upon which the name is printed in large 

 letters. Much attention is given to the variety testing of grains, and 

 it seems to be regarded as a matter of first importance. In the line 

 of grasses the Hungarian Brome grass is especially favored and re- 

 garded as the best grass for this section. They have some trouble 

 about getting the roots out of the land and regard it as nearly as 

 bad a weed as Quack grass. A favorite way of treating it is to grow 

 it in meadow until the roots become too much netted together to do 

 well and then plow it up, roll it and allow the new crop to come on 

 from the roots. It seeds readily and produces about eighty pounds 

 of seed per acre. A native Quack grass, Agropyrum tenerum, is 

 highly esteemed for dry land. 



In this section it is considered the best agricultural practice to 

 summer fallow the land every other year for the purpose of conserv- 

 ing the moisture. This year they have had an unusual amount of 

 rain fall, but generally the amount is scanty, and it requires about 

 the rain fall of two seasons to mature one crop, and summer fallow- 

 ing seems to be a means of storing up moisture in the soil. l\Ir. 

 Bedford says that he has had many illustrations going to prove this 

 besides the determinations of soil moisture, which have been made 

 from time to time by the Ottawa Station, part of which was at a 

 depth of eight feet. Where this ditch passed through stubble land 

 the soil was so dry even to the bottom of the ditch that it did not 

 freeze during the winter but remained like an ash heap ; where it 

 passed through land that was summer fallowed the land was so 

 moist that it could be rolled into lumps and it froze hard in winter. 



Among the plants which have been used in the sample hedges 

 grown here are the following : 



Wild Siberian Crab, a somewhat thin hedge. 



Tartarian Honeysuckle, a very ornamental hedge. 



Glabrous Pea Tree (Caragana), a very medium hedge. 



English Old Man (Artemesia), a fine dwarf hedge. 



Buffalo Berry, a promising hedge. 



Box Elder, excellent compact hedge. 



Japan Rose, compact, but suckers badly. 



Button Bush, not promising. 



Amur Privet, a very promising hedge. 



Douglas Spirea, very ornamental. 



Josika's Lilac, a good ornamental hedge. 



Native Hawthorn, a good hedge. 



Green Ash, somewhat thin hedge. 



Wild Plum, fairly good. 



Asiatic Maple Acer ginnala, beautiful dwarf hedge. 



Buckthorn, excellent. 



Siberian Vvn Tree, very pretty in spring and early summer. 



