178 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



fore. A larg-e number of additions have recently been made by- 

 purchase, and donations have been received from various persons. 

 Professor C. S. Sarg-ent, of Arnold Arboretum, has recently sent us a 

 collection of 123 species and varieties of plants. 



FORESTRY. 



The drought of 1894 was verj' severe, and we lost a large number 

 of European birch, canoe birch, wild black cherry, poplar and 

 European larch in our forest plantation on the station grounds. 

 The street trees on our grounds that were watered in 1894 showed 

 plainlj-^ the effect of it by the increased growth in 1895. Very gener- 

 ally among- all kinds of trees, the growth of 1895 was less than that 

 of 1891, showing plainly the effect of the severe dry weather of the 

 previous year, that prevented the full ripening of the wood. Where 

 trees have died out in this plantation, the vacancies have been filled 

 w^ith a mixed planting of hardy material. Many species look well 

 and are taking on something of the forest appearance. The work of 

 this division of horticulture has been extended to the drier portion 

 of the state by a planting of four and a half acres which we made 

 last spring in Lyon countj^, on high prairie in the couteaux. The 

 planting consisted of forty blocks of trees, arranged so that each 

 block includes some quick growing sort intermingled with some 

 durable kind. In many of these blocks, shrubbery has been intro- 

 duced to hold the snows and afford shade to the land. I am of the 

 opinion that into every new forest planting, the wild plum, June- 

 berry and sand cherry should be introduced whenever the land is 

 fitted for them. 



FOREST SEEDLINGS. 



It has been the policy of this division to raise forest tree seedlings 

 of various kinds for use in the trial plantings made and to be made, 

 and especially to raise newly introduced species that cannot be 

 purchased from the general nursery trade. This year, about 3,(X)0 

 hackberry seedlings from seed grown in the Red River Valley have 

 been raised, 3,000 seedlings of the jack pine, 5,000 bull, or ponderosa, 

 pine, besides a number of small lots of basswood, buckthorn, black 

 locust, etc. 



VEGETABLES. 



Our experiments with vegetables have been along the lines 

 following in previous years. In the growing of potatoes these con- 

 sisted of (1) trial tests of varieties carried on at the university farm, 

 the couteaux farm (L3on Co.) and in McLeod count}'; (2) the use of 

 corrosive sublimate to prevent scab; and (3) spraying of the vines 

 to prevent blight of the foliage. In the growing of tomatoes, ex- 

 periments have been undertaken to determine the best way of pre- 

 venting tomato rot and the varieties least subject to this disease. 

 The results of experiments with tomatoes and potatoes will be found 

 reported in Bulletin No. 45. With onions, experiments have been 

 made in growing several foreign kinds by the transplanting 

 method. 



