DISCUSSION ON IRRIGATION. 517 



put heavy mulching- around the trees in order to retain the mois- 

 ture in the soil. I have had some experience in southwestern Min- 

 nesota with such soil as Prof. Pendergast has spoken about. It is 

 absolutely necessary to wet the soil around the trees in the fall of 

 the year. In the west they have had a hard time to raise trees, just 

 because they w^ould kill, or starve to death, for want of water. We 

 can set out trees much Easier and expect them to grow, where we 

 have a heavy clay subsoil that will retain inoisture. If the soil 

 leaches out the trees will die without a great efifort on the part of 

 those who raise them. There is great trouble in setting- out trees 

 on the prairie ; people undertake too much ; they will set out several 

 acres at a time. They would set them out and think they would 

 g-row and take care of themselves, and the result has generally 

 been a failure. The worst place I have every seen in Minnesota, the 

 hardest place I have seen, is in the vicinity of Brown's Valley. 

 I think that is one of the hardest places to raise trees in the countr3\ 

 yet it has been done there by a few people who would set out several 

 trees at a time; but where they set oiit several acres at a time, the 

 result has been a failure pretty nearly in every instance. 



Mr. J. O. Barrett : Mr. Somerville refers to the locality where I 

 live. My tree claim is on the exposed prairie, exposed to the winds 

 and the summer sun. I have one of the best timber claims in the 

 whole vicinity, in the whole reg-ion round about. I have to expend 

 a great deal of care on my tree claim. I presume I have sunk not 

 less than a thousand dollars on iny farm, and a large percentage of 

 it was on that tree claiin; but by repeated planting and proper 

 methods of cultivation, I have made it a grand success. I have 

 learned by hard knocks that it is useless to put a tree in the ground 

 when the ground is dry, anticipating that it will thrive. I believe 

 in Prof. Pendergast's idea of having- the soil in proper condition. 

 In the winter the plant has sotne circulation, even when it is frozen; 

 and even when the tree is frozen solid it has a circulation to some 

 degree; if it has no moisture it perishes. That leads to the great 

 problem of irrigation in Minnesota. When we have surface irriga- 

 tion in Minnesota, we shall raise not only fruit trees but all kinds 

 of trees. I do not want you to get the idea, Mr. Somerville, that 

 Brown's Valley is a hard place to live in. When our people un- 

 derstand what to do, we shall make a success of it. 



Mr. Wni, Somerville : A man can raise trees anywhere, but they 

 must have the proper care ; that is what I meant by what I said. 



Pres. J. M. Underwood : I want to be allowed to say a word in 

 reg-ard to this matter of irrigation. Some of you did not hear the 

 paper on irrigation from Mr. Emery. Mr. Emery left here several 

 years ago for Montana, where he has been so much impressed with 

 the value of irrigation that he thinks it might be applied in Minne- 

 sota with good results. He talked to ine a great deal about it this 

 summer, and that is the reason this paper was brought out. There is 

 no doubt there is more damage done to horticultural interests 

 through drouth than through anything else. We call it winter kill- 

 ing; but it is drouth, and nothing else, in my estimation. 



