STATE HOETICULTUBAL SOCIETY. 115 



May 8, Clear and warm with strong winds. Transcendent crabs 

 are in full bloom. Duchess and Tetofsky are showing considerable 

 color. The blossom or petals have all fallen from the plum trees; also 

 from the Juneberry. 



May 10. Ground so dry we can scarcely plow. Duchess, Wealthy, 

 and Tetofsky trees in full bloom and petals falling from the Transcen- 

 dents. 



May 13. Warm to hot. The bloom has entirely disappeared from 

 all our fruit trees. It seems to us that we have never known 

 them to hold their blossoms for so short a time. During the season 

 of blooming the weather has averaged warm, the ground has been 



jr We have had considerable wind and not very much dew. 



May 15. Blackberries are commencing to blossom. 



May 17. Blackberries in full bloom. 



May 19. Black raspberries commencing to bloom. 



May 26. Concord grapes in bloom. 



BESULT8. 



Fruit of all kinds appeared to set as well as usual, at least it com 

 menced to grow and enlarge. In a few days the principal part of the 

 plums had dropped to the ground, and none held on to mature except 

 a few of the DeSoto. The young apples commenced to drop immedi- 

 ately, and continued to do so up to the twentieth of June; by that 

 date the Wealthys were literally all gone; Duchess, with the excep- 

 tion of a single tree, but a few left. A portion of the Transcendents 

 dropped about as bad, while a few trees produced a half crop. Te- 

 tofsky, Strawberry crab, Pride of Minneapolis and Montreal Beauty, 

 matured full crops. 



The raspberry and blackberry crop would have been good but for 

 the drouth. Grapes were a large and good crop. 



Query. Was the loss of the plum crop and the shortness of the ap- 

 ple crop caused by drouth or a failure of the blossoms to fertilize from 

 imperfect reception of pollen on account of strong winds and dry at- 

 mosphere? I thing the latter. Why? First, in the town of Green- 

 field, Wis., two neighbors have a quantity of the cherry plum; in one 

 case they are on sandy ground and exposed to the winds and the crop 

 was a failure; in the other case they are on a moist, loamy soil and 

 sheltered from all but southeast winds, and they matured a large 

 crop of good fruit. 



On my place the DeSoto, the only variety that matured fruit, were 

 •haltered by other taller trees. The other varieties were exposed on all 



