SUMMER MEETING, 1897. 267 



L. R. MOYER. 

 Judg-e L. R. Mo3'er was called upon to speak of "Special Draw- 

 backs to Horticulture in Western Minnesota.' He succeeded in 

 drawing- a somewhat glooiuj^ picture, but it did not prove discour- 

 aging- in the least to such veterans as were before him. He said: 

 "We are all optimists here, and it seems rather ungracious to speak of 

 difficulties. A lack of faith is a great difficulty that most of us meet 

 in our undertakings. The average western Minnesota farmer has no 

 faith whatever that fruit can be raised in our state, so he does not 

 atteinpt it. Another difficulty is the demoralization that has fallen 

 upon the western farmer through wheat raising. It has been profi- 

 table, is profitable now, and there are stored up in the soil elements 

 that will bring forth crops for many years to come. The}' can put 

 in a little plowing in the spring, a little seed sowing, harvesting a 

 little later their bountiful crops, and then rest the remainder of the 

 year. The farmer gets used to this and doesn't try anj'^thing else. 

 Another difficulty is the lack of education. Many in our locality 

 have come from a country where they raise no fruit and don't even 

 have a garden. They have not been educated up to it. Then there 

 is the climate, very cold in winter, hot in summer and quite 

 drouthy. Drouth injures trees more often perhaps than cold, our 

 latitude is too far north, longitude too far west, state line alto- 

 gether too far west. Perhaps many of us made a mistake in going 

 out there at all. Another thing, we have not had good stock. The 

 first fruit trees we planted came from Mr. Dartt's place, one of the 

 best nurseries in the state. Thej^ were large, nice looking trees and 

 seemed to be doing splendidly for a time, but they all died. On cut- 

 ting them open, they were found to have black hearts. They were 

 too nice and too large when we set them out. We have found it 

 better to start small trees that cost perhaps ten cents, such a size as 

 the nurseries send out in the mails. They do better there than the 

 larger trees. Then at first we did not mulch our trees right; we find 

 we need mulching and cultivating. These are our climatic diffi- 

 culties, which can be met in these two ways. We have had blight 

 and don't know yet whether there is any remedy for it. And another 

 trouble is the village small boy. If you raise any fruit, the small 

 boy at least appreciates it. He is very numerous and very active, 

 and is sure to gather it all, if we do raise any fruit. Then there is 

 the jack rabbit. He is two feet high and jumps half a rod and far- 

 ther when excited and takes the bark off from a tree in two bites. 

 The common rabbit is also very numerous. The field mouse, too, is 

 fond of the trees. We might go on multiplying these difficulties. 

 The tent caterpillar has been very numerous; mildew attacks our 

 grapes and our gooseberries also; the currant worm enters our cur- 

 rant bushes, and the tree cricket is there to bother us. Our wind- 

 breaks even have been a source of trouble. We were cautioned to 

 plant windbreaks. We planted them too close to our orchards, so 

 that they exhaust the moisture from the soil." 



SEC'Y E. W. RANDALL. 



Mr. E. W. Randall, secretary of the State Agricultural Society, was 

 called upon to answer the question, "Should not Agricultural Hall 



