162 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY 



A new brick building-, 76x98 feet on the ground and three stories 

 high, has been put up just west of the dairy school, that furnishes 

 a large drill hall, which is designed also to be equipped and fitted 

 as a gj^nmasium; besides this, it furnishes commodious and con- 

 venient quarters for the manual training and drawing, horticul- 

 tural, botanical and entomological departments, a museum and dor- 

 mitory space for eight students. This building cost nearly $30,000, 

 and is in every respect first class and a credit to the University. 

 The grounds adjacent have been neatly graded and the edges of the 

 drives sodded. In the spring, it will be appropriately planted to 

 trees and shrubs. 



Some progress has been made in developing the general land- 

 scape features of the grounds about the buildings. The grove has 

 received a much needed thinning by the removal of ninety cords of 

 wood, and drives have been cut through wherever they were needed 

 to the great improvement of the place. Some little ornamental 

 planting has been done, and the plantings made in the spring of 

 1892 have grown very satisfactorily. One hundred of the more con- 

 spicuous shrubs and trees have been marked with iron labels, giv- 

 ing their common and scientific names, and it is designed to con- 

 tinue this work much further the coming year. 



The past season has been an exceptionally poor one for horticul- 

 turists, generall}^ on account of the very dry summer. This state- 

 ment applies not only to this state but to the whole country east of 

 the Rocky Mountains. The only commercial fruit that was gener- 

 erall3' productive was the grape, which yielded abundantl}'^ here, as 

 elsewhere. The sinall fruit crop was not a failure, but was materi- 

 ally lessened by the dry weather. 



The lines of experiment work followed are those which are of 

 special interest to the horticulturists of the state. Experiments 

 have been made as follows: 



(1) Variety tests of the different fruits have continued to occupy 

 considerable attention. 



(2) In the pollenization of grape blossoms to note its effect on the 

 setting of the fruit. 



(3) In the raising of strawberry seedlings from hand-crossed 

 flowers; such varieties as Bederwood and Parker Earle being used 

 for the pollen and Crescent, Warfield and Haverland for the pistil- 

 late kinds. 



(4) The raising of seedlings of the grape, the raspberry and the 

 blackberry has received some attention. About twelve hundred of 

 these have made a good start. 



(5) The block of 300 seedlings of the SchaeCfer's Colossal rasp- 

 berry produced fruit for the second time the past year. I am very 

 much surprised and pleased with the results. Thirtj'-eight kinds 

 were selected from these that are considered ver}' desirable for 

 further trial. A set of these was sent to the Worlds Fair. Among- 

 them are several varieties of bright red color that are very product- 

 ive: a few varieties are of a yellow color. Some of the plants are so 

 affected with anthracnose as to be worthless, but it is surprising 

 that there should be so manj' good kinds. This block of seedlings, 

 good, bad and indifferent, taken together was one of the most valu- 



