» A ’ ‘eth : 5 Taibo & 
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434 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. “* 
For medium season and main crop, I consider the Wyant, Desota 
and Wolf my most profitable varieties, and I recommend them for 
general planting all over southern Minnesota. The Wyant is 
not as well known in this section as is the Desota, but it may prove 
one of the most valuable medium season plums we have got. 
I prefer to set a two-year old tree to one that is older-even a one-year 
old tree that is three or more feet high is good enough for me. The 
ground should be very rich and trees kept well cultivated, but good 
results may be obtained by cultivating only until they get to bear- 
ing well and then keeping them well mulched with stable manure. 
The distance apart to grow the trees is not sovery material. Varieties 
differ in habits of growth. I usually set them in rows that are 
sixteen to twenty feet apart and from six to eight feetin the rows. 
The varieties I have recommended for general planting are all 
perfect flowering varieties, and as far as my observations goes 
isolated trees bear as well as where they are mixed with other 
sorts. 
Do not buy your trees from nurseries located any further south 
than northern Iowa, as you are very apt to get trees worked upon 
Marianna stock, which is not hardy, and your trees are pretty sure 
to root-kill some winter. Besides, our northern plums are not as 
productive grafted on Marianna stocks. 
To those who think that our wild plums don’t amount to much 
anyhow, I will say that all the horticultural awards made at the 
World’s Fair to Minnesota individuals was given to these same wild 
plums, and if any Minnesota individual received any awards on 
apples or other fruit, it has been kept a profound secret. 
MY HOME GARDEN. 
MRS. N. S. GORDON, AUSTIN. 
Gardening is as old as history, for did not an all-wise Creator 
plant the garden of Eden for the home of our first parents? Amply 
was it supplied with fruit and flowers in the greatest possible 
abundance and profusion, giving succeeding generations, even 
down to this great nineteenth century, an example to follow. Asa 
fact, wherever civilization is found, gardening early receives 
attention, but high artis only attainable when wealth and refine- 
ment are fairly established. 
My subject naturally divides itself into three distinct, though 
very closely related heads, for to my mind a home garden must 
consist of vegetables, small fruits and flowers to make it complete 
and well worth the effort of care. 
Select your seeds early, buy from a reliable house, and disappoint- 
ments will be few. Besure you order all the varieties you want at 
first to avoid delays when seeding time comes. Then fit the ground, 
which must be amply enriched and properly prepared toreceive the 
seed. Leave no idle spots anywhere, for they will be a sure harbor 
for weeds. 
To me the problem of getting everything in its place has been a 
hard one. Indeed, my currant bushes might tell a woeful tale of 
