98 ANNUAL REPORT. é 
Raspberries. 
Black cap raspberries were injured considerably by the severity of the previous 
winter but blossomed and set a fair quantity of fruit, but before ripening most 
of the bearing canes were apparently struck with a blight and in a few hours the 
half grown berries had blackened and withered, thus ruining the crop. I think 
the yield of fruit was less than five bushels per acre. With the reds the Phila- 
adelphia froze mostly to the snow line and fruited but little. The Turner was not 
very much hurt by the winter and was well loaded with fruit, but alas! the birds 
had found out their good quality and claimed the whole. We could not yield to 
their claims very cheerfully and fought desperately for our rights, but powder and 
shot did not seem to diminish their numbers, and we retired from the contest, 
leaving them the whole crop. 
Currants. 
Currants—there were none in all this region; apples, cherries, and plums the 
same, or nearly so. Crabs and Siberians produced perhaps one-fifth of a crop. 
Grapes. 
Grapes did not exceed one-half crop but the quality of the fruit was superior. 
Now the question arises, will this unfavorable result of the year be set down 
against Minnesota as a fruit state, and discourage or deter our farmers from 
planting orchards or fruit gardens? I trust not. According to reports received, 
other states and sections of our country have done but little better. When our 
wheat or other crops are a partial failure do the people attribute the fault to the 
state, or in any wise discontinue the planting of wheat and other grain? Neither 
should they give up the planting of trees and vines, but rather should study and 
investigate the cause of the failure, that in the future they may be able to some- 
what guard against or prevent a like occurrence. 
Apples and Crab Apples. 
Doubtless the extraordinary crop of 1876 had much to do with the short crop 
of the apples and crabs. ‘The trees were greatly enfeebled by maturing so much 
fruit, and after the fruit was harvested had not time to recruit up and get in good 
condition to endure a Minnesota winter, and the wonder really is that so many 
have survived and still live to give promise for the future. Iremember that when 
gathering fruit in the fall of ’76 we found the elasticity of the wood gone and 
even the branches of the so-called iron clad Siberians would snap like dry sticks, 
and the wood looked sick and used up. The great thaw and continued warm 
weather of the latter part of winter, followed by zero weather in March, by in- 
juring the vitatity of the fruit buds that were to give the year’s crop, was proba- 
bly an assisting cause but not the principal. One lesson taught here is do not 
let the trees in young orchards over bear. Our most severe losses of trees have 
invariably followed a season of excessive fruitfulness. The same causes will 
account for the meagre crop of cherries and plums last year. From conversation 
held with a number of fruit men I am led to believe that the failure of currants 
is generally attributed to the late May frost, but on my grounds that cannot be, 
