HORTICULTUEAL SOCIETY. 433 



YERBAL REPORTS. 



Mr, Sias. I havn't had time to prepare a written report. We 

 have added but little to our experimental station since our last 

 report. We received about sixteen varieties of Russians from 

 the state experimental station. We put them out and they have 

 done very well. We have set a few of the Eussian poplars and 

 willows, and several varieties of evergreens. We have some 

 new varieties of raspberries and strawberries. We have added 

 the Johnson Sweet raspberry. 



Mr. Cutler. How did your thornless blackberry do the past 

 year? 



Mr. Sias. I would say the experiments made with the thorn- 

 less blackberry have not been very satisfactory. The old bush 

 when we first found it had never been protected; I got a quantity 

 of the plants and put them out. The first hard winter killed 

 them to the snow line. They have sprouted out, but have not 

 done very well this year; by covering them they may do toler- 

 ably well. We havn't had sufiicient time to test them, and 

 havn't given them up as being worthless. 



Mr. Fuller. I wish to say a word in regard to my Eussian 

 trees. I have one Eussian pear that is over eight feet high. It 

 killed down two years ago, but it is now doing better than any 

 of the apple trees received from the same source. The willows 

 I regard very highly, especially the yellow, which is very orna- 

 mental. I put in some two acres of cuttings last spring, and al- 

 though I trimmed them up close, they have grown some four to 

 five feet, and have spread over the whole ground. I think it 

 will make one of the very best windbreaks we have. The limbs 

 spread out over the ground. The laurel-leaved variety of 

 the willow I think highly of. One tree is some ten 

 feet high, and is one of the most beautiful things on 

 my j)lace. It grows readily from cuttings. I have 

 a sprout that made a growth of nearly nine feet last summer. 

 These are the finest poplars I know of. They make fine trees 

 for shade. The leaves are very ornamental indeed. They seem 

 to be perfectly hardy. 



Secretary Hillman said he had visited Mr. Fuller's grounds at 

 Litchfield recently and could corroborate what had been said. He 

 had been surprised and pleased with the many evidences of care- 

 ful culture and good taste there displayed; of what was formerly 

 a smooth piece of prairie land, in a few short years Mr. Fuller 

 Yol. IV— 55. 



