236 ANNUAL REPORT. 



REPORT ON VEGETABLES AND SMALL FRUITS. 

 By Wm. Lyons, Minneapolis. 



The past season has not been as favorable for the gardener or farm- 

 er as the average, it being one of the dryest ever known in the North- 

 west, yet in the vicinity of Minneapolis and St. Paul there were quite 

 a number of refreshing showers, which done a great deal of good; 

 but they were local in their nature. Thus while one location got 

 rain, others only a few miles apart had to suffer from drouth. 



Early vegetables were extra fine and abundant, owing to a very fa- 

 vorable spring, and brought satisfactory prices. 



Late planted vegetables, such as potatoes, cabbage, celery, etc., 

 were benefited by late rains, and yielded a good crop; and, where 

 properly cared for, brought the best returns for the gardener's labor. 



A severe and an unexpected frost in October did a great deal of 

 damage to potatoes, and destroyed nearly all the late cabbage crop, 

 consequently vegetables are scarce and dear in our markets. 



At the present time, while the early and late vegetables yielded good 

 crops, the medium planting were almost, and in some instances entire 

 failures, the potato crop seeming to suffer most from the effects of the 

 drouth. Our markets were well supplied with home grown vegetables. 

 in their season, except celery, of which the supply generally came 

 from Michigan. 



I don't feel like charging the drouth altogether with our short crop 

 of potatoes; in the absence of a name for the difficulty I will call it a 

 blight. About the 20th of June there were several heavy showers; 

 immediately after I noticed small spots of rust on the leaves, and they 

 continued to grow larger until the leaf was destroyed; then the vine 

 became affected and died a premature death. All the potatoes in my 

 locality that had reached a certain stage of growth were affected in 

 the same way. 



Would like to hear what Prof. Porter has to say on the subject. I 

 had seven acres affected in this way; the land had been seeded to clo- 

 ver and timothy, and pastured for a number of years; broke up the 

 fall previous. At the time the blight struck them they were as prom- 

 ising a patch of potatoes as I ever saw. 



Early Ohio and Pearl of Savoy yielded about 100 bushels per acre. 

 Clark's No. 1, Beauty of Hebron, White Star, and White Elephant 

 were not worth digging. 



FRUITS. 



I will speak first of strawberries. They suffered more from drouth 



