124 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Mr. Lyman: I have Duchess, Wealthy and quite a number of seed- 

 lings. I have a seedling crab near the house; it spreads out and 

 extends over thirty feet; about twent}^ years old from the seed. The 

 apples are about twice as large as Transcendents. An orchard of 

 that description needs to be planted about thirty feet apart, while 

 other varieties of trees need to be but sixteen feet apart. 



Mr. Dartt: What is that crab like? 



Mr. Lyman: It is somewhat like the Transcendent. It blights a 

 little. I have sold them generally for $1.50 to $1.75 per bushel. It 

 commenced to bear about six years ago and it has borne not less 

 than eight bushels each year since, and from that to fourteen and 

 fifteen bushels. 



Col. Stevens: Is your orchard in the Big Woods with a grove 

 around it? 



Mr. Lyman: It is exposed on all sides, and the Duchess I planted 

 twenty years ago are nearly all alive, but on the low ground every 

 one died out. 



AIR DRAINAGE. 



Mr. Dartt: That winds me up again, now I have a right to talk 

 more. That is a splendid trvith; we want to bring that in as a new 

 feature in this discussion — that is, air drainage. The mention of the 

 fact that his trees on the low ground had died out, while those on 

 the high exposed ground lived, is an indication that the death blow 

 was caused by want of air drainage, while those above were pre- 

 served by air drainage. I wrote a piece for you three or four years 

 ago, and I think I alluded to the fact that trees down in a hollow 

 would be quite sure to freeze out, while those on elevated ground 

 would live. I have got some ground where the trees all died out. 

 They were Duchess and some crabs of the best varieties that I 

 thought best to set out at that time, but they have killed out entirel}'; 

 and, so, in nearly every instance on low ground my trees killed out, 

 and I have cleaned them all out, while on ground a little higher 

 and where I have a windbreak, they are doing well. Now, the low 

 ground and the absence of a windbreak have the same effect. They 

 kill out on high ground unless thej^ have a windbreak on the south 

 side. In this line, I have a man chopping this winter to clean out 

 a ravine extending fronj the orchard down to the creek bottom, 

 maple and oak; he is cleaning that all out, chopping down 3'oung 

 trees that we would naturallj"^ preserve; but he is cleaning that all 

 out in order to create a current for the wind to blow through that 

 orchard. That is a point that I think should be considered, and, 

 of course, you can place as much dependence as you like upon my 

 opinions, founded on this very "experience." (Laughter.) 



Mr. Brackett: What is the character of the soil? 



Mr. Dartt: That winds me up again. (Laughter.) I have nearly 

 all kinds of soil and nearl}^ all kinds of exj^osure. I have a regular 

 black soil with a clay subsoil, and I have got some with a little 

 sand mixed in it on clay subsoil. I have one place in my orchard 

 where the railroad crosses the ravine, and there is a high embank- 

 ment built up, and it creates a sort of a dam. All the trees that 

 were set lower than that embankment have died out. 



