434 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



and myself. Among other things he told us his plan of getting 

 earlier fruit. He says if you want to get earlier fruiting you should 

 grow seedlings, as many as you please, of the first fruit that ripens. 

 If a plum has been stung by a cur.culio, that is, if it ripens premature- 

 ly, and the pit is good, get it and plant it. If you find down in the 

 center of your apple tree, long after the crop has been gathered, an 

 apple that was abnormal in ripening, that hung on long after the 

 others were gone, gather the seeds and plant them, and you are 

 liable to increase the length of the season. Every man who grows 

 plums for market usually has to sell his plums when everybody else 

 has plums to sell, but if he could market his plums when there were 

 none in the market he could get a better price for them. I know 

 of an extensive fruit grower in central Iowa who says that is the 

 only way he makes money. He visits his neighbors, reads news- 

 papers but does not try to market plums, but when his neighbors' 

 plums are gone then he markets his. The same is true of cherries 

 and all other fruits. The doctrine in which Mr. Williams has con- 

 fidence more than anything else is this : If you expect to get good 

 results from those seedlings which you plant, gather the seeds from 

 the tree that, to use his own words, "is comfortable, that enjoys life 

 in good soil, is sound and healthy, with the soil properly cultivated 

 and enriched, from a tree that is having the best possible time in life 

 apparently." From seeds of such a tree he gets his best results, 

 and he believes that a tree responds to such things exactly the same 

 as an animal would. We all know how careful breeders are of their 

 animals, to see that they are sound and healthy, not exposed to any 

 bad influences, not abused, and his doctrine is that trees should be 

 just as tenderly cared for and looked after as are animals if you 

 expect to breed from them and expect to get the best results. 



I believe I have taken all the time I ought, but if I could preach 

 a crusade to every horticultural society in this great central valley, 

 and to the fruit growers generally, it would be that we can grow 

 seedlings with these few rules in view which will meet the demands 

 for fruit adapted to this great Mississippi valley. 



VARIETIES OF CRABS FOR MINNESOTA. 



DITUS DAY, FARMINGTON. 



I took up Webster's Unabridged Dictionary and found out the 

 meaning of "crab." First, a Crustacea, the body being covered by a 

 crust-like shell. It has ten legs, the front pairof which terminates 

 with claws. Second, a wild apple on the tree producing it ; so named 

 from its sour, rough taste. Of the crabs there are several varieties. 



