304 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
I have studied these matters for five years, as I have lost ever- 
greens the same way. I paid close attention to it and found that 
whenever the ground froze in the fall without first having hada 
soaking rain the trees suffered more or less if the sun came out very 
warm in the month of March, thawing the limbs on the south-facing 
side, and when the ground was hard and dry, allowing no circula- 
tion whatever, the twigs by evena moderate night frost had to suc- | 
cumb. Our native evergreens do not get winter-killed. They are 
able to stand the cold but cannot stand the unnatural condition of 
hard, dry soil. They need plenty of mulching to restore as much as 
possible natural conditions. 
I experimented to find out if sudden changes of temperature 
would hurt evergreens or impair their vitality. I tooka tent cloth 
and covered it over a white spruce which I had transplanted four 
years ago, and run steam through a hose into the tent, thawing the 
tree completely. The process took about one hour and twenty min- 
utes. I then removed the cloth to let the tree freeze again suddenly 
the temperature at the time being twenty-four degrees below zero. 
I did the same with the white cedar and red spruce,and last summer 
showed that the experiment during the winter did not hurt them at 
all, as they were as green and healthy asthe others. Dying off of 
evergreens is caused by exhausted dampness of the soil and by the 
long winter’s evaporation, especially on uncultivated and unmulched 
ground. 
NUTS FOR MINNESOTA. 
HON. H. E. VAN DEMAN, PARKSLEY, VA. 
The matter of growing nut trees in Minnesota is one which ought 
{o receive the attention of tree planters and home builders there 
and Iam glad to see that Mr. Fairchild of St. Paul is one who ig 
earnest in the work. Lack of hardiness is not so much the obstacle 
in the way of thesuccessful culture of some species as the shortness 
of the season. The pecan,of which Mr. Fairchild seems so hopeful, 
will disappoint him utterly in the matter of mature nuts. They will 
not ripen anywhere in Minnesota. There are a few varieties that do 
ripen and even grow naturally in eastern Iowa, but they are small 
and barely ripen when the autumns are Jonger than usual. 
The little shellbark hickory is perhaps likely to prove the best nut 
tree for Minnesota. It grows naturally in the southeastern part of 
that state and will undoubtedly succeed farther north. There are 
choice varieties, some of which are earlier than others, and if nuts 
of these were planted they would probably produce other good 
varieties. The surest way, of course, is to graft from the desirable 
varieties. ‘ 
There are early kinds of the chestnut that may probably be grown 
there, too. Those that have proved hardy at St. Paul should be 
grafted into little seedlings that may be grown in the state, and the 
nuts from these hardy trees carefully saved and planted, as will no 
doubt be done. 
The beech is a quite hardy tree and yields very palatable nuts, 
but they are small. The trees vary greatly in productiveness, and 
