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MINNESOTA STATE HORTIUULTURAL SOCIETY. 133 
The currant crop was larger than usual, and they sold for lower prices’ 
than heretofore obtained. 
* Gooseberries were largely in excess of the demand. . 
Plums. 
Plums were not so plenty, and not so’ good as usual, except in a few 
instances. There are a number of excellent varieties of the wild plum in 
the county, which have been cultivated and many of them are of a large 
size. ' 
The Miner is about the only tame plum raised in the county. It is very 
late and should be planted on a light warm soil in order to ripen well, when 
it is hard to find its equal. Mr. Bergen, of Lake Prairie, has two trees of 
the German prune, six years old, which have borne fair crops of fruit for 
the past two years, and are healthy and flourishing. He also has several 
choice varieties of the native plum. He claims that spreading fresh stable 
manure over the ground under his trees once in two or three years protects 
his plums from the curculio. Also, that an application of pine tar to all 
kinds of fruit trees which are diseased in the body or branches is very bene- 
ficial. This does not refer to blight, as he is not troubled with it, but 
probably to the damage to the bark, wounds from borers, &c. 
Apples. 
The crop of Transcendent apples has been very large, so much so that 
large quantities have been made into cider. Within the last four or five 
years they sold here at four dollars a bushel. Notwithstanding that this 
apple is very much subject to the blight, I believe the time is not far distant 
when we shall export dried fruit, and that it will command a better price 
than the best quality of eastern dried apples. Consequently, I believe it 
should be generally cultivated. 
It does not need to be pared, I am told, and the core can be removed by a 
simple tin punch. 
The Hyslop also makes a good dried apple, and needs no peeling, although 
the better for it, of course. 
The blight has done no damage, so far as I have heard, except in the 
orchard of Ernest Meyer, of this place, where it attacked his large trees 
some two years ago, mainly Transcendents, I think, but has not touched 
two and three years old trees. Mr. S. B. Carpenter, of Lake Emily, across 
the river from St. Peter, in LeSueur county, also had a touch of the blight 
two years ago. It struck one row of young trees on highly cultivated new 
ground. He had used leached ashes freely on the balance of his orchard, 
and never had a tree touched. He applied them to this diseased row and 
they have never been troubled since. 
By the way, Mr. Meyer had nine or ten varieties of apples on exhibition: 
at our county fair, among which were some Fameuse and several seedlings 
of promise. Mr. Carpenter raised about twenty-five different varieties—the 
