122 ANNUAL REPORT. 
APPENDIX B. 
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS AND REPORTS. 
NOTES ON THE HISTORY OF FRUIT CULTURE IN MINNESOTA. 
BY JOHN 8. HARRIS. 
[From the Transactions of the American Pomological Society, Session of 1877.] 
[Norr.—Some of the facts stat=d in these notes have appeared repeatedly in 
the Transactions of the Society, but we think their republication in this form 
will be acceptable to many horticulturists, as well as interesting to future gener- 
ations. -SECRE'WARY. } 
From its earliest settlement, even down to the present time, an opinion has 
prevailed very extensively with our people, that Minnesota is not, and wili never 
be, a fruit producing State. And in the early years of its sett ement it was no 
easy matter to find men with nerve and hope enough to enable them to plant 
trees in opprsition to the public sentiment, and in the face of the difficulty 
attendant upon the settlement of a new country. Nevertheless, a few men, 
strangers to each other, and in different parts of the State, have planted and 
replanted fruit trees for more than twenty-five years, and struggled to sueceed 
with a tenacity and persistency that excited the mournful pity of their neighbors; 
but, as for the first fifteen years of that time we were without horticultuczal 
societies or any organized effort in that direction, mest. of the early history of 
their trials and triumphs is lost to the world, or can only be gathered up by 
months of painful research, which I am unable to give at this time. 
The first attempts at fruit growing in Southern Minnesota were made by John 
Shaw, in Winona county, and Samuel McPhail, in Houston county. John 
Shaw first came to the State in 1851 and remained during the summer, and 
the next spring, 1852, made a permanent settlement in the Rolling Stone Val- 
ley. He brought with him “from his eastern home, a nai keg full of apple 
seeds, which were planted by himself and a few neighbors. A portion of the 
trees have withstood the severity of our climate for a quarter of a century and 
borne several crops of fair fruit, and become the nucleus of flourishing orchards, 
a lasting monument to him whose forethought has brought about so much good, 
for he soon fell a victim to overwork and exposure. His name isa household 
€ 
en 
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