FRUIT GROWING AT LAKE SUPERIOR. 77 



FRUIT GROWING AT THE HEAD OF 

 LAKE SUPERIOR. 



R. H. PENDERGAST, DULUTH. 



Most people have the impression that we are too far north for any 

 thing- to grow except crab apples, as they are not aware of the great 

 influence that such a large body of water has upon the temperature 

 and the benefit of the extra moisture in the atmosphere. 



At the request of Hon. H. M. Rice and Dr. Willry, of St. Paul (who 

 were largely interested at Bayfield, Wis.), in the spring of 1867, I 

 came up to Superior and visited all of the old settlements on the 

 lake, to see what had been the success of the efforts to raise fruit. I 

 found considerable seedling fruit growing also some trees that had 

 come from nurseries in 'New York and Ohio. I found that they had 

 made no allowance for the shortness of the season for growing and 

 ripening the fruit and had set out all kinds of winter fruits, which 

 could not mature. From Bayfield to Marquette, along the south 

 shore of the lake, where they had fifty to seventy-five miles of open 

 water north of them all winter, I found that the hardy standard ap- 

 ples, pears, plums and cherries were succeeding well, and in size, 

 color and flavor were equal or superior to those grown in Michigan 

 and Ohio. Strawberries, raspberries, currants and gooseberries 

 were doing better here than below, as the cool summers give very 

 large, fine flavored fruit; blackberries and grapes, there is not enough 

 heat to ripen well. 



I was so well pleased with what I found that the next spring I 

 moved to Bayfield and started a fruit farm on one of the outer Apostle 

 Islands. I remained there several years and then, owing to ill health, 

 was obliged to change my plans and return to Minneapolis, but 

 have continued my interest in the advancement of fruit culture 

 around Lake Superior. 



W^hen Duluth was started, I furnished several of the first settlers 

 with such trees and shrubs as we used in Minnesota. I think you 

 will find few trees in the state that have been set twenty-five years 

 that are in as good condition and have yielded as much fruit as 

 these trees, though Duluth labors under the disadvantage for tree 

 culture, both fruit and ornamental, of having a very heavy clay soil 

 and sub-soil, so that the trees have to be set near the surface and 

 mounded up or underdrained, or in a few years they will die; also, 

 the location is on a hillside, with a southeast exposure, and trees 

 that are not properly cared for are liable to sun-scald. The last two 

 winters have been very liard on trees and shrubs here on account of 

 so manj' sudden changes from warm to cold. As we go back over 

 the bluff, we find the conditions for successful fruit raising more 

 favorable, as much of the land has a gravel subsoil; and most of 

 the settlers have hillsides with a northern exposure, where they can 

 set their trees, and usually they have plenty of snow to protect the 

 roots; although some years the snow comes before the ground 



