PROFIT IN HORTICULTURE. 415 



PROFIT IN HORTICULTURE. WILL IT PAY HERE? 



C. F. GARDNER, OSAGE, lA. 

 (Read before the So. Minn. Hort. Society.) 



Mankind is never satisfied. A few years ago it was generally 

 believed that we never could grow apples of any kind in this latitude 

 with profit ; they are now grown in such quantities, every other year, 

 that thousands of bushels rot on the ground, mainly through the 

 carelessness and ignorance of the grower, who fails to pick and ship 

 them to market before it is too late. There is money to be made 

 with the apples now grown if they are properly handled. 



We have found that we can grow apples here, but we are really 

 in the first stage of the business ; the same as it is in all new coun- 

 tries, the first to succeed and do well are summer and fall varieties. 

 The winter varieties will come in due time if we have a little patience 

 and attend to our business. They will be produced right here at 

 home, in the northwest. There are kinds already known, seedlings 

 produced by horticulturists that give great promise of helping fill 

 up our list of winter varieties. 



Pears and all varieties of the European plum will not pay for 

 the room they occupy, except on the grounds of the professional 

 horticulturist to be used for the purpose of growing blossoms for 

 cross-fertilizing purposes. Such plums as the Wyant, Wolf, Sur- 

 prise, Stoddard, J. B. Rue, Rollingstone, Rockford, Miner, Hawkeye, 

 Hammer, Forest Garden, Comfort, De Soto, Bixby, Aitkin and 

 Adams can be grown with profit anywhere in this latitude. When I 

 say this, I mean if they are planted on land suitable for the plum. 

 The plum needs plenty of moisture, and must have it, to succeed 

 well. Avoid planting on dry knolls. They will do well on all first 

 class corn land, cultivated and kept clean. After the trees are 

 started, all cultivation should be shallow, never cutting the roots of 

 the trees. These plums readily bring $2.00 per bushel in our home 

 market. 



There is one plum we have been fruiting for two years that, in 

 my opinion, is far ahead of anything yet introduced, and I predict 

 that in less than five years more trees will be sold of it than of any 

 other plum now known. It originated at Ames, Iowa, a few years 

 ago, and is the product of crossing the blossom of a De Soto with 

 pollen from one of the Japan plums. It is as hardy as the De Soto, 

 the fruit is of fair size, and its quality is not surpassed by any of the 

 finest European plums. It is a freestone, the skin absolutely free 

 from astringency, no sour deposit around the pit ; in fact, it is the 

 ideal plum. It will soon be on the market. It has been named 

 Japan Hybrid No. 2. 



