56 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 
conducive to blight, and I thought that while waiting for a hard 
winter I could test the trees as to their blighting proclivities. A 
portion of the ground covered with trees from one to three inches in 
diameter, standing from three to eight feet apart, was manured quite 
heavily and well cultivated. Many of these trees had been girdled 
by the spiral method the previous season, and nearly all girdled trees 
were well loaded with fruit the size of peas on the first of June,when 
a succession of freezes made a clean sweep. Notan apple matured, 
Fully one half the trees were again girdled, mostly in June, by what 
I have called the surface method. A horizontal cut is made with a 
saw half around the tree near the surface of the ground; then 
make a similar cut on the opposite side of the tree an inch or two 
below the first cut. This is a very severe test,as it prevent a free 
flow of sap and renders the whole body of the tree quite susceptible 
to sunscald, or bark-blight, which may be regarded as interchang- 
ableterms. This plan of manuring to cause blight and girdling to 
cause early maturity has resulted in the destruction of a great 
many trees during the past season. Now, if all varieties suffered 
alike it would be useless slaughter, but that is not the case. All of 
those varieties noted for great hardiness and freedom from blight 
have suffered little injury, whilst those of doubtful hardiness and 
blighting tendencies have been killed by the hundred. Seedling F. 
T. and seedling Z. have been brought into bearing by girdling. The 
former is a fine, large, cooking apple, the latter a highly colored 
good crab. They have been manured, well cultivated and twice 
girdled, once by the spiral method and one by the surface method. 
Both trees blossomed and set fruit last spring and are now in ap- 
parent perfect health. 
Such illustrations of innate hardiness are frequent,and I have come 
to the conclusion that trees, like men, will stand a certain amount 
of injury and live, some vastly more than others; and that it makes 
little different whether the injury comes from a gunshot wound, a 
frost bite or the tree killer’s saw. I have noticed that young trees are 
more frequently killed by girdling than older ones. I suppose this 
is natural. A man can endure greater hardships than a boy. The 
boy is often remarkably tough in more ways than one, but he is 
eclipsed by the full grown man — except in stealing apples. 
In the station orchard there has been no material change since 
the condition of all trees was reported a yearago. Cultivation has 
been very thorough with the view of killing out quack grass, which 
has become troublesome. Blight has been quite general, nearly all 
varieties being slightly affected, anda very few seriously. Girdling 
by the surface method over a portion of the orchard has shown no 
visible effect except the killing of a few of the smaller trees by sun- 
scald, twig-blight being the same on girdled and ungirdled trees. 
It is expected that as a result of this girdling the crop of next sea- 
son will be materially increased. ; 
A portion of the orchard is on a high northern slope, and this part 
produced several bushels of applés. The varieties that bore most 
are Duchess, Patten’s Greening, Okabena, Arabian, Anisette, Step- 
anoff, Groseo, Skalanka, Anisim and an unknown Russian like 
