—.  . ANNUAL REPORT. 
his fruit being protected by a strip of timber from the sand prairie _ 
where they were hatched in immense numbers. Ps 
Hastily, hie ; . 
T. G. Carrer, Secretary. 
, 
M’LEOD COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
James Chesley, Hutchinson... ..... cesses sececcscevcccsecces ssse President. 
Wm. H. Pendergast, Hutchinson .......+se+ sees seeeecees oo sees Secretary. 
Organized September 27th, 1876, with ten members. P 
- 
OLMSTED COUNTY HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
A. W. Sias, Rochester ...---2cee cece cece ccccccscccrece se eeeeeees President. . 
S. D. Hillman, Rochester .....+--eee+ -2ee cece cece cee cenceceves Secretary. 
Fourth annual meeting held at Rochester, Feb. 22d, 1877. The 
following extracts are taken from the report of this meeting : 
Varieties of Apples Recommended. 
Wealthy—For a late fall and early winter variety. 
Elgin Beauty—For general cultivation. 
Rollin’s Russet—For general trial as a winter apple. 
Rollin’s Prolific and Rollin’s Pippin—Second and third for gen- 
eral trial. ; 
Duchess of Oldenburg—For late summer and late fall. 
Tetofsky—F or early summer. 
White Astrachan—For trial. 
Haas—For general cultivation for late fall. 
Seeding down Orchards. 
Mr. Hillman called attention to an inquiry of a Byron corre- 
spondent in regard to seeding down orchards, ete. 
Mr. Sias said the subject was of much importance, as they had 
recommended varieties which, under certain conditions, were sub- 
ject to blight. Some claimed that the Wealthy and Haas blighted 
badly. But the varieties that blighted the worst were frequently 
free from the disease where the orchard was seeded down. Clover 
was the best for this purpose. Some of the finest varieties might 
thus be raised and kept free from blight. He valued the blighting 
varieties highly, and meant to set them largely and seed down to 
clover. He would seed before planting. He would mulch the 
trees with straw, but not with manure. He regarded blight asa 
parasitic funga. 
Mr. Mason said he had observed marked results from seeding 
down. A man near Spring Valley had trees in his garden which 
