t 
Minnesora Stave HorricvuLtTvrAL Sociery. 99. 
for they had failed to blossom or set any fruit to be injured, and the frost was so 
slight that tomato plants and early cucumbers recovered from its effects. If the 
weather had anything to do with it I must attribute it to the February thaws 
and March freeze, or to the snow storm of April 27th and 28th, and likewise the 
failure of the black caps may be partly attributed to the above causes. 
Our grape vines were wintered better and the short crop cannot be charged to 
any of these causes, as they did not start early enough to receive injury. In the 
early spring our hopes of a large crop were very sanguine, therefore we were not 
watching them with due viglance, and the little steel blue bud borer canght us 
napping, and in a very short time had stripped the vines of two-thirds of their 
buds. We have promised ourselves to watch for the little scamp this coming 
spring and try to head him off. 
No new varieties of apple, or other fruits, haye come out as candidates for 
favor in the last year. 
Our trees and vines generally ripened up the seasons growth well, and have 
entered upon the winter in good shape to endure a hard winter, and the soil was 
so thoroughly wet that there is but lirtle danger to be apprehended from root- 
killing. 
La Crescent, Minn., January 14, 1878. 
JOHN §S. HARRIS. 
DISCUSSION. 
Mr. Hall. Ihad Philadelphia raspberries on the side of a ditch 
well mulched, and got a good crop. 
Mr. Perry. I have a currant that ripens its fruit much later 
than other varieties. 
Mr. Pearce. I am sure of injury to trees from overbearing. 
Unless we remove a portion of the fruit we must give more manure. 
It is well to bear this in mind, as we are apparently going to have 
a great crop another year. 
Mr. Sias. I cannot endorse the shooting of birds recommended 
in the report. I think they were entitled to all the fruit there was 
last year. 
President Smith. As to overbearing, I picked fruit, while green, 
from several trees in 1876, and these were the only ones that bore 
in 1877. They bore well. I had but afew currants and those were 
of the Prince Albert variety. Prince Albert, Victoria and -—— 
are the best red varieties. 
Mr. Elliot. From two acres last year I got fifteen bushels. The 
ground was heavily mulched the fall before; the crop was best 
where the mulching was done latest, and poorest where mulching 
was lightest. Mine are mostly Red Dutch. 
