(jei^eral Tfriiits. 



MY ENDEAVORS TO RAISE FRUIT IN MINNESOTA. 



D. F. AKIN, FARMINGTON. 



Arriving here on the 'first boat in the spring- of 1856, fresh and 

 green frotn one of the best fruit-growing regions of eastern New 

 York, where fruit is a ration every da}', can any one wonder that 

 fruit culture would be looked after with care and perseverance, espe- 

 cially as none could be obtained at that tiine from anj'^ other place 

 with anj' facility 7-* 



In walking over the country we found strawberrj^ vines, blackberry 

 vines, red and black raspberry vines, wild apple trees, thorn apple 

 trees, several varieties of cherry trees, plum trees, grape vines, cur- 

 rant bushes, cranberry vines, blackhaw trees and elder bushes, all 

 looking healthy, vigorous and thrifty, planted and cared for by na- 

 ture alone. To a casual observer this list of fruits and berries 

 would be satisfactory, but to a«more critical lover of fruits and ber- 

 ries, there is a lack of goodness which they would naturally think 

 could be supplied by intelligent direction and care; and that where 

 the wild fruit grew so spontaneously, tame fruits of the same kinds 

 would flourish. 



As soon as I decided where to locate I sent for cuttings of tame 

 currants and set them out; all of them lived, and those old roots 

 are still giving us a good supply of that fruit. This same year I 

 planted a few apple seeds that grew, but the trees did not survive the 

 first winter — but exploded an old idea that apple seeds have to be 

 frozen before thej^ will grow; these were taken fresh from the apple, 

 planted and grew. A few years after, I sent for some tame grape 

 vines and cherr}' trees, and planted them. All made a fair growth 

 the first season; none except two grape vines survived the winter — 

 they were not protected bj'^ covering. These two grape vines are 

 still wintering without any protection and giving good annual 

 crops. I think they are wild grapes, being very foxy; but they are 

 four times as large as the native wild grapes are here, and bj- that 

 inuch an acquisition. 



My next move was to improve the native plum. With this ol)ject in 

 view I marked the trees that bore the best ones and set them on land 

 where I could cultivate them; and it certainly improved them, but 

 not enough to pay for the trouble — thej' were not equal to the tame 

 plums. I must get scions of the tame plum and graft in the 

 wild; this done, the grafts grew, some of them four feet in length 

 and one inch in diameter the first season. Tlie next spring some of 

 them were covered with bloom, but none lived till the second win- 

 ter. This finished my endeavors to raise tame plums, except within 

 a few years. Lately, I have set several tame plum trees that have 

 wintered without injury, and have also one seedling tree four years 



