YOUR CORNER. l!57 



soon find out the kind of fruit seedliiigrt will bear and hope to j^et a 

 paying- crop from overgrown nursery trees standing- closely together 

 that are only four to six years old. E. H. S. Daktt. 



Owatonna, May 29, ISlXi. 



•'Will give you a short report on fruit prospects in south- 

 western Minnesota. Plums are a failure. There will be some 

 Desota and Wolf; the best is the Surprise — about half a crop; 

 Stoddard, Forest Garden and others, not any; a few Xorth Star. The 

 blossoms did not last over two days on account of warm and high 

 south winds. Apples seem to be in a better condition. Currants and 

 gooseberries very poor. Strawberries, mostly winter-killed. Caterpil- 

 lars are numerous on wild plums. I had to fight them a good deal 

 this spring. My trees are clean of them at present. Will send you 

 report later." Martin Pexnixg. 



Sleepy Eye. May 15, 1896. 



The Peerless. — "We have had the variety on trial at our place a 

 number of years and took first premium on the fruit at the late ap- 

 ple show in Minneapolis, but out of about 100 varieties on trial we 

 consider it among the least hardy of the lot and are firmly of the 

 opinion that the first genuine Minnesota winter we have will ser- 

 iously cripple the tree. It never seems to know when to stop grow- 

 ing in the fall, harden up and get ready for winter. Those who have 

 it growing on their places will have noted its habit of holding its 

 leaves well into winter, which is recognized among well posted hor- 

 ticulturists as an evidence of lack of hardiness. The fruit is very 

 pretty in color, but not nearly so rich and taking in the market as 

 the Wealthy and, unlike the latter, is frequently ridged and irregu- 

 lar in form. As to its being a true all-winter keeper, it belongs to 

 that class that, like the Wealthy, may with care be kept several 

 months in favoraljle seasons, but is not for a moment to be com- 

 pared with the Northern Spy, Ben Davis, Malinda or other thorough 

 going keepers. Mr. Brand urges the health and productiveness of 

 the original tree, while the behavior of the parent tree is absolutely 

 no certain indication as to how the trees grafted from it will behave. 

 The original Peerless tree is seriously injured and is now held to- 

 gether by a chain in the branches. Mr. Miller, the originator, saj'S 

 it is a seedling of the Utters Red instead of the Duchess, and all the 

 talk about its being the product of a cross between the Duchess and 

 Tallman Sweet had its beginning in a fertile imagination and lacks 

 the slightest foundation on actual observation." 



Clarence Wedge, in F. S. A: H. 



Ammo.xia IX Rai.v Water.— Nitrogen being a costly plant food 

 and one which the farmer usuallj' has to buy each year, the amount 

 of it contained in rain water in the form of ammonia and nitrate is 

 of interest. Though the amount, which is equivalent to three and 

 a half or four pounds of ammonia to the acre per year, is apparently 

 small, yet it is half as much as is usually applied in fertilizers, 

 —Mississippi Experiment Station. 



