300 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



WINDOM EXPERIMENT STATION. 



DEWAIN COOK, SUPT. 

 Most varieties of trees and plants wintered very well. A good 

 many varieties of apples are fruitino- with me this season for the 

 first time, and no blight has j'et appeared. The Pride of Minneapolis 

 drops its fruit too easily to be of much value in this windy country, 

 and the foliage of the Virginia has been injured by winds more than 

 most other varieties. As yet, no variety of apple is as sure and 

 early a bearer as the Duchess. 



I haye added to my selection of apples this season nearly forty 

 varieties of Wisconsin seedlings, through the kindness of Wm. 

 Stammer, who conducts an experiment station at South Osborne, 

 Wisconsin. They were top-worked on bearing trees, and we may 

 expect to hear from them soon. Most varieties of apples that 

 bloomed this spring are bearing now, as the weather was favorable 

 for the fertilization of the bloom. 



Plums will be a short crop, as last spring we had five continuous 

 days of very hard and hot south winds, covering the entire bloom- 

 ing period; nevertheless, the Wolf, Desota and Wood are bearing 

 their usual good crops. The Hawkeye and Wyant are also well 

 loaded, while the New Ulm is overloaded. The Forest Garden has 

 but little fruit, and they are mostly dead or dying; the Cheney, 

 Rollingstone, Rockford and Knudson's Peach are a dismal failure 

 as far as producing fruit is concerned. Five trees of the Superior 

 plum, sent me this spring through the kindness of the Jewell 

 Nursery Co., are making a wonderful growth. I look for something 

 extra from this plum. 



The strawberry crop will not be very large; first picking for 

 inarket, June 18th; varieties, Enhance, Crescent, Capt. Jack, Cumiber- 

 land, Bederwood and Princess. All are doing very well, but none 

 better than the Bederwood and Crescent. 



The currants are promising, but I think they will not be as good 

 as in 1895. The Red Dutch is taking the lead. 



As to grapes, we have been plowing up most of ours and will 

 probably save nothing except the Worden. My land is too flat for 

 grapes. 



June 20, 189(5. 



LA CRESCENT EXPERIMENT STATION. 



J. S. HARRIS, SUPT. 



The great drouth that prevailed over this section of country in 

 1895 is indeed broken by an excessive precipitation of moisture, but 

 its injurious effects upon trees and fruit bearing plants are very 

 plainlj' visible and may be felt for some time to come. This station 

 is located in about the dryest part of the dry region, and there was 

 so little moisture in the soil during the past autumn and at the begin- 

 ning of winter, that we greatly feared a repetition of the calamity of 

 1872-3, when our orchard, vineyards and small fruit plantations 

 were destroyed by root-killing; but fortunately the winter was 

 comparatively mild and the atmosphere not as dry as during our 



