356" ANNUAL REPORT 



contain many excellent suggestions, and with a little more study 

 and experience those boys will be able to write a very instruc- 

 tive and valuable essay upon that subject, and no doubt event- 

 ually become valuable members of the State Horticultural 

 Society. 



J. T. Grimes, 



J. M. Underwood, 



B. Taylor, 



Committee. 



ORCHAEDIN^G IX MINNESOTA. 



By Edgar D. Bias, Rochester. 



Honorable Judges and Gentlemen of the State Horticultural Society : 



Of the delights of the orchard it is not necessary to speak. 

 Thereof have bards long since sung their lays and tree peddlers 

 recited their pieces. My purpose is to tell how to secure these 

 delights in Minnesota. Let us follow the successive steps which 

 one must take to attain the desired end. Naturally, the first 

 thing to consider is 



LOCATION. 



Repeated experiment has shown that our apple trees do best 

 near the fekes, other circumstances being equal; that is, lati- 

 tude, slope, windbreaks, etc. The climate is usually more equa- 

 ble, the soil better, and perhaps above all, the best feature of 

 such a location, is the moisture. Droughts are among the great- 

 est of obstacles we have to overcome in growing fruit in our 

 state. Besides these general principles of location, such as lati- 

 tud<e, elevation and relation to large bodies of water, one must, 

 for a model orchard, select a north or northeastern slope, with a 

 windbreak on the southwest. The soil must be suitable. Avoid 

 a sandy subsoil. A clay loam is good. 



VARIETIES. 



Having decided upon the situation, we have next to consider 

 what varieties of the apple, plum, etc., are adapted to this cli- 

 mate. We have also to determine which are the better, home- 

 giown trees, which are thought to have become in a measure ac- 



