320 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Currants and g-ooseberries were quite plentiful and very large, as 

 the frost thinned them to advantage. Grapes also did quite well, 

 but up here we keep them partly covered until danger from late 

 frosts is over. Several people here have raised some fine large 

 apples this summer (1895). So far I cannot recommend any partic- 

 ular apple for this section, as it needs more time to judge. Of named 

 plums, Desota and Weaver have proved hardy and good here, and if 

 apples prove a failure we can always sell enough plutns to buy the 

 former fruit. Wild plums are plentiful here, soine quite fine, but 

 this 3'ear even they were a failure. Every one should plant a few 

 grape vines. Brighton and Worden, with Concord for fertilizer, will 

 generally give a good crop, and if the Concord does not always 

 ripen, why they need only be half ripe to make delicious jelly and 

 preserves. Then one or two hundred strawberry plants, Crescent, 

 Bederwood and Warfield, will provide many a luscious dish for the 

 family — and a hundred Cuthberts and the same number of Gregg 

 raspberries. 



Of course, I need not mention currants and gooseberries, as most 

 every garden has them. They will help the wife and inother out 

 nicelj' with her bill of fare. I suppose jou all know that Sauk 

 Rapids is having a boom, and we expect before long to rival Minne- 

 apolis, not only as a city but as a fruit center, and we may then 

 hope to entertain the members of the society, if not before; and our 

 great ambition will be to give you, if possible, as pleasant a time 

 as we had last year at Lake City. 



Mrs. Stager: I want to speak about some seedling apples. 

 Some years ago Peter Gideon sent me several hundred apple 

 trees and some other seedling trees. I gave them to one of 

 my neighbors, who planted them, and last year he fruited some 

 twenty trees. They were very nice apples, and I sent a box to 

 Professor Green. One of the seedling plums was the largest 

 I ever saw. I saw some large ones at the fair, but they did 

 not come up to mine. This year they were larger than ever. 

 I sent some of them to Professor Green, but they were spoiled 

 when they got there; I suppose it was because they were so 

 long in reaching him. 



