\ice ^^]presidei7ts^]K sports, 



1806. 



(Made at the Annual Meeting, December, 1896.) 



VICE-PRESIDENT'S REPORT, 

 SECOND CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT. 



S. D. RICHARDSON, WINNEBAGO CITY. 



The past season was peculiar in one respect: we had extremely 

 hot weather in April, the hottest I ever saw, without any frost in 

 May. 



Evergreens apparently came through the winter in excellent con- 

 dition but began to fail soon after a strong south wind, and very 

 many died in Ma}^. -All kinds of fruit but raspberries, strawberries 

 and blackberries blossomed very full. The strawberries seemed to 

 have been injured by the dry weather of the previous summer, and 

 in some places bore but little, in others a fair crop; but raspber- 

 ries and blackberries were a failure, black raspberries a partial 

 crop. The strong winds of spring thinned out the apple blossoms 

 so that but few trees overbore, and the strong winds of summer 

 blew off much of the fruit before it was fully matured. I do not re- 

 member ever seeing so many windfalls as there were this year. 

 Cherries were a failure. Plums, both tame and wild, were almost 

 a failure in many places, in others a good crop. Currants and 

 gooseberries bore a very light crop and grapes a fair crop, but they 

 were very slow in ripening. The wood of the vine ripened better 

 than usual. 



The warm, wet weather of spring gave the weeds a nice start, and 

 they stood the drouth later nicely and were simply immense all 

 summer. 



VICE-PRESIDENT'S REPORT, THIRD CONG. DIST. 



MRS. A. A. KENNEDY, HUTCHINSON. 



Fruits of all kinds were almost an entire failure. There were some 

 that raised a few raspberries, and there were a few strawberries. 

 Grapes were a little better. It seemed impossible to make plants 

 live. I received some strawberry plants from Prof. S. B. Green and 

 just one survived. Of those that came from Faribault, out of about 

 three hundred, we saved only half a dozen. Raspberry plants did 

 better. It was very hot weather when the plants were shipped, but 



