12 ANNUAL REPORT. 
years ago in his nursery and was worst on ver heavily 
The General Grant, Quaker Beauty and Transcendents_ 
blighted some, especially on sandy soil. ae <3 
Mr. T. G. Carter, of St. Peter, had not seen much blight ntil 
past season. The Transcendent and other varieties had bes 
ed more or less. ner 
Prof. Lacy being called upon, stated that he had prepared a ps 
per, at the request of the Secretary, to be read at the mnt and 
one of the subjects treated was that of blight. {ec earmaie 
SOME PROBLEMS IN HORTICULTURAL PRACTICE—BY PROF. C. Y. nerd 
STATE UNIVERSITY, MINNESOTA. 
It will hardly be expected of me, I think, to take up and discuss 
the details of practice peculiar to your own soil and climate. In the 
effort to make myself acquainted with such I have examined a very 
valuable and very creditable volume, entitled ‘* History of Horticul- 
ture in Minnesota.” It is full of the valuable experiences of horti- 
culturists located in different parts of the State, and of the opinions 
based upon those experiences. 
A recent writer has affirmed that Adam was born with two inter- 
rogation points on his eyes and one on the end of his tongue. I 
claim to have some of the characteristics of our illustrious ancestor, 
and in looking over the records of the Society, I have frequently 
asked myself ‘‘ why” such and such a thing was done—** why” such 
and such a thing is true. I believe that if I can throw any light 
upon two or three of these points your time and mine will not be 
entirely wasted. Ifit shall appear that I am laboring under any 
misapprehensions, I beg that you will take occasion to set me right. 
Without further introduction I will now proceed : 
Mutcuine.—In the volume above referred to a majority of speak- 
ers and writers recommend mulching. The light and sandy charac- 
ter of many soils and the dryness of the atmosphere explains the 
importance of mulching in summmer. Downing says, ‘‘ mulching 
is nothing more than covering the ground about the stems with 
coarse straw or litter from the barn yard, which by preventing evap- 
oration keeps the soil from becoming dry and maintains it in that 
moist and equable condition of temperature most favorable to the 
growth of young roots.” This shows the benefit of summer mulch- 
ing; but many claim to derive great benefit from mulching in winter 
also, applying the mulch even after the ground has frozen. What 
purpose can this mulch serve but to protect the roots? This, you 
perceive, brings up the question as to which is killed by our winters, 
top or roots: ” Without going into the merits of this question, I will 
simply avow the belief that winter mulching often saves the life of 
the tree. Freezing of the roots may not do any material injury, but 
sudden changes of temperature, especially sudden thawings, unques- 
tionably do injure the tree, and cold snaps after the tree has started 
into growth are still more disastrous. Again, as has been recently 
stated by a member of the Society, the tree keeps up a certain 
amount of activity to which moisture is an essential condition, 
throughout the winter. Dry winds evaporate this moisture, and the 
