TRIAL STATIONS. 277 



LA CRESCENT TRIAL STATION. 



J. S. HARRIS, SUPT. 



The winter of 1896-7 was not one of unusual severity as regards ex. 

 tremes of temperature, but proved a rather trying- one to nursery 

 root grafts and to some varieties of fruit plants, owing to the scant 

 snowfall and a coating of ice they received early in January. This 

 ice coating was not so heavy as to break down trees or strip them of 

 their branches, as was done in some portions of the state, but it did 

 have an injurious effect upon fruit buds and the new growth of 

 nursery stock, as considerable numbers of root grafts were killed 

 nearly to the surface of the ground. Orchard trees generally win- 

 tered well, but a few Duchess, Early Glass and some unknown Rus- 

 sians that bloomed heavily last year, were stricken with spur blight 

 and made a late fall growth, are dying or dead. The bloom in the 

 orchard this spring was not nearly as heavy as last year, and from 

 that cause, late frosts and blight, we do not anticipate a very heavy 

 crop of apples and crabs. 



The Flemish Beauty pears that fruited last season are about all 

 used up with blight, and the Russian varieties are showing some 

 blight. Native plums bloomed very heavily but are carrying only 

 a moderate crop, especialh'^ in frosty locations. Grapes wintered 

 well, even where not given protection, but the frosts of May 31 and 

 June 1 did great injury to most of the vineyards. Our own is not 

 seriously injured, but it is very favorably located, and we kept a 

 number of fires burning through the latter part of the night, which 

 may have helped towards saving them to some extent. 



About 200 apple trees were set this spring in the trial orchard. 

 Varieties not heretofore reported are Aiken's Winter, Forestburg, 

 Hutchinson's seedling. Red Wine, Ole K. seedlings, Nos. 1, 2 and 3, 

 Juicy White and Greenwood crab and some others. For the nursery 

 we have put in root grafts of twelve of the most promising varieties 

 of the Lightly seedlings, the Babbett, Burley's seedling. Bode, N. Y. 

 Vandevere, Springdale, Shakleford, Eberhard, Milwaukee, Loughren 

 seedling and others. The reason for putting in the Babbett, Spring- 

 dale and Shakleford is not because there is any likelihood of their 

 succeeding here, but because the varieties are being offered and rec- 

 ommended here by traveling agents, and we wish as soon as possi- 

 ble to ascertain their degree of hardiness when produced under the 

 most favorable conditions, for it is not likely varieties procured 

 from the south will do well. 



As before stated, the yearlings of many varieties suffered injury 

 in the nurser3^ Of the nineteen varieties of Duchess seedlings orig- 

 inated by Joseph Zettel, of Wisconsin, all stood the winter's test as 

 well as the Wealthy, and about one-half of them as well as the 

 Duchess, while a few were not in the least injured. The Utter is a 

 variety that has not been considered as entirely hardy, but it came 

 through the last winter without the slightest injury. Anisim is 

 holding its own both in the nursery and orchard, and did not show 

 the slightest injury. The Wealthy seems with me to be improving 

 as a nursery tree through long propagation. A few scions fur- 

 nished me by Mr. Wyman Elliot from trees on their own roots from 



