GENERAL FRUiTS. 143 



GENERAL FRUITS. 

 THIRD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT, 



L. E. DAY, VICE PRESIDENT, FARMINGTON. 



Another year has passed, and we again meet to compare notes for 

 our mutual benefit and for the advancement of the horticultural in- 

 terest throug-hout the whole state. 



The amount of fruit raised in this district the past year has not 

 been large. Fruit trees passed through the winter of 1892-3 with lit- 

 tle injury, but blackberries and the inore tender varieties of rasp- 

 berries, where not protected, were killed, or more or less damaged; 

 apple trees were so severely taxed during the season of '92 that they 

 did not seem to have the vitality to form fruit buds, but where buds 

 were formed trees bore fairly well, though the apples were under- 

 sized. I noticed on my own grounds that on some trees badly 

 afflicted with the apple scab in '92 the fruit did not develop so as to 

 average one-half its usual size; yet the past j^ear those trees bore 

 well and the apples were all right. 



It was too dry for small fruits to do well, unless they were well 

 mulched; when this was done, good crops were gathered, but not 

 near enough to supplj^ the demand in our district. Perhaps, the 

 past year's experience will teach us something in regard to mulch- 

 ing our berries and vines. 



The strawberries that gave the best results in this vicinity were 

 Warfield, Crescent, Capt. Jack and Mount Vernon. 



Grapes did better; I never saw the wild vines more heavily loaded 

 with fruit. At the time that grapes had nearly grown, I visited the 

 grounds of Mr. James Pool, who lives six miles southwest of Farm- 

 ington. He had few apples, but his grapes were looking well. 

 He has fifteen or twenty varieties set out, and tells me he has gathered 

 seventeen hundred pounds of grapes. Others have raised good 

 crops. There were quite a large number of fruit trees set out in this 

 part of the district last spring. 



GENERAL FRUITS. 



THIRD CONGRESSIONAL DISTRICT. 

 E. J. CUTTS, HOWARD LAKE. 



While it has been on the whole a very discouraging season, j^et 

 failure and disaster have their lessons, and they are equally impor- 

 tant and much better remembered than the lessons learned in 

 prosperity. 



The season opened very wet, and we had high hopes of a bountiful 

 crop of small fruits. Everything came through the winter in very 

 good condition, and when the strawberry beds were in blossom it 

 was enough to gladden the eye and cheer the heart of every lover of 

 fruit. But, alas, the extreme wet was followed by extreme drought, 

 and the brilliant prospects by bitter disappointment. One piece in 

 particular, which gave promise when in blossom of at least 10,000 

 quarts, yielded about 2,000. We tried irrigating with a wind mill, but 

 gave it up. One of our neighbors kept team and tank wagon on the 



