304 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



put veneers on all our young- orchard trees before the first of Sept., 

 as we find that there is so much risk of injury from rabbits, mice and 

 sunscald that it is very unwise to be without this cheap insurance 

 against such destructive agencies. Although we have made a 

 business of destroying rabbits in our vicinit}"- and have thinned 

 them down to very moderate numbers, several of our orchard trees 

 set this season after May 10th were seriously barked by this per- 

 sistent pest. 



flams. — A good crop of plums seems assured. We are much 

 pleased with the behavior of what few trees we have worked on 

 sand cherry stocks. The union is in all cases perfect, the trees 

 stand up well, although budded and standing two or three in- 

 ches above the surface. One tree of the Rockford, budded two 

 years last August, is loaded with fruit and is the usual size of a five 

 years old tree. The Stoddard, which has been a favorite with us, 

 comes out looking verj^ poorly this spring, all trees from one to five 

 years old looking thin and weak and killing back from the tips. 

 Several Russian plums are looking fairly well, but we find them 

 all rather tardy bearers. 



Cherries.— The Russian cherries are all looking extremely well, 

 also some Ostheim received from Chas. Luedloff eleven j^ears ago, 

 but we do not as yet have enough fruit to form a just estimate of 

 their quality. The Nebraska form of the sand cherr3^ fruits abund- 

 antly with us, and we have discovered among a large number of 

 seedlings one of particular value, entirely free from astringency, 

 of good acidity, as large as the best, moderate sized pit, and on ac- 

 count of its great hardiness, productiveness and early bearing 

 likely to be of value for the Northwest. The Compass cherry, ori- 

 ginated by Mr. Knudson, of Springfield, is fruiting very abundantly 

 on trees of only one year's growth. It shows in many ways its cur- 

 ious parentage — takes well on both plum and sand cherry and 

 easily makes a good four to five foot nursery tree in one year on 

 either stock Like the sand cherry, it is not visited by the curculio, 

 and, like the plum, the fruit is of a clear, bright red color. The pit 

 is an interesting compromise between the sand cherry and plum. 



Strawberries. — The Bederwood and Lovett are the best of our 

 staminate varieties, and the Crescent and Warfield of the pistillate- 

 We find that our plantations that are under the shelter of wind- 

 breaks have done far better the past two seasons than those in 

 open exposure, and think that, as a rule, it is a great advantage to 

 plant all small fruits in sheltered situations. We find that the 

 close shelter and even shade of the evergreen and apple tree is 

 rather grateful than otherwise to all such plants, while the cotton- 

 wood, box elder, soft maple and such like trees, appear to rob the 

 plants for several rods from their stems. 



This report might be very greatly extended, but we believe we 

 have noted the experience of most value to our members. With 

 such abundant moisture in our soil and the trees and plants in 

 such healthy and beautiful condition, the present prospect is cer- 

 tainly verj'^ encouraging. 



June 18, 1896. 



