252 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



MONTEVIDEO EXPERIMENT STATION. 



LYCURGUS R. MOVER, SUPT. 



The past season was, iu some respects, a trying one. A hail-storm 

 in August did much damage to the shrubbery, in many cases peel- 

 ing the bark off the young branches. A verj^ dry autumn ensued, 

 and the winter that followed showed some periods of great severity. 

 When spring opened we could begin to appreciate the damage that 

 had been done. 



Perhaps the red raspberries suffered the most. Although care- 

 fully covered, they were all killed back to the ground and tnany even 

 root-killed. No crop was harvested. It is possible that some dis- 

 ease is working on the raspberries in addition to the hail and the 

 frost. The black raspberries did not suffer so much, but they, too, 

 are in a very bad condition. 



Dewberries and blackberries look somewhat better, but the sum- 

 mer promises to be too dry to mature a crop. 



The Russian mulberries killed back on an average about one foot, 

 but, nevertheless,'they bloomed quite full}^ and have produced some- 

 thing of a crop. 



The Juneberries came through uninjured and have produced 

 quite a large crop. Lovett's Success seems to be the best variety I 

 have. Native bushes taken from the granite ledges near town are, 

 however, doing nearly as well. 



Strawberries have also failed badly, as they have done for several 

 years. Probably our dry bluff is not well adapted to strawberry 

 culture. 



CONIFERS. 



Dry as our bluff land is, the conifers planted here are succeeding 

 well. Perhaps the white spruce is doing the best of all, but the 

 Colorado blue spruce is doing nearly as well. It does not grow 

 quite so fast, bitt it is a verj^ beautiful tree. The niugho pine from 

 the Alps is maintaining its record as one of the hardiest evergreens 

 we have. It is a verj'' beautiful tree. The black spruce is doing bet- 

 ter with us than the Norway spruce. Our native juniper (Juniperus 

 Virginiana) is succeeding admirably, too. The Scotch pine seems to 

 be hardy enough, but it is making a rather open straggling growth 

 on our dry land. Our Austrian pine is dragging out a miserable 

 existence, but passed last winter with rather less trouble than here- 

 tofore. It seems that arbor vitae needs a rather moister soil than 

 ours. Some experimental trees of Siberian arbor vitae are quite 

 promising. Hovey's golden arbor vitae has not succeeded very 

 well. Some experimental plantings of prostrate juniper are doing 

 very well. 



WILLOWS AND POPLARS. 



It seems to be becoming the fashion to find fatilt with the Russian 

 willows and poplars. Perhaps they have been praised too much, 

 but populus certinensis is one of the most proiuising trees I have 

 ever planted. 



Bolle's poplar, too, is very line; I doubt whether there has ever 

 been introduced a more promising upright, white-leaved tree. Pop- 

 ulus laurifolia, too, is quite promising, and so is populus Siberica 

 pyramidalis. 



