352 ANNUAL REPORT 



DUCHESS IN FARIBAULT COUNTY. 



By L. C. Taylor, of Wells, M inn. 



In 1871 I planted twelve trees of the Duchess of Oldenburg. 

 They are all good now. My orchard is on the level prairie about 

 twenty miles south of the big woods. It is on the bank of the 

 Cobb Creek which is generally nearly or quite dry iu summer. 

 The apple trees are not more than fifteen feet above the bed of the 

 creek. The soil is a rather deep black, sandy loam on clay subsoil. 

 Trees stand about sixteen feet apart with trunks five feet or more 

 in height. The best trees are on the lowest ground and in freshets 

 the water is up to them. The bed of the creek is from four to 

 twenty rods from the trees. I have cultivated the orchard every 

 year until about five years ago, when I made a hog pasture of it. 

 I think hogs are an excellent thing for an old orchard. I always 

 mulch the trees with manure after the ground freezes, spreading it 

 out well over the roots. This keeps the frost in the ground later 

 in the spring. I cultivated well after the frost was out under the 

 manure. The bark on my trees fairly glistens they are so thrifty. 

 They began to bear about fifteen years ago. They bear very heavy 

 crops. I have eight children married and living in this vicinity 

 and the most of them get their apples at "Father's" but notwith- 

 standing that large market, I sold sixty bushels to other people in 

 1888. I think the twelve trees must have borne about ten bushels 

 each that year. Sometimes the snow will be drifted eight feet deep 

 among my apple trees. My wind break is one row of Cottouwoods, 

 eight feet apart on the west side; a heavy grove on the north side; 

 a thick row of soft maple on the south side and one row, eight feet 

 apart on east side. There is space of about fifteen rods between 

 the Duchess trees and east wind break but they are pretty close to 

 the west wind break Snow has never broken my Duchess but it 

 used to break the limbs of the Crab apple trees. I once had a large 

 orchard but in the spring of 1873 the most of the apple trees killed 

 except the Duchess. Have set a good many since of New Russians 

 and others but the Duchess are the only good trees I have except 

 Crabs. I am now nearly eighty years old. If I were twenty years 

 younger I would plant twenty acres of Duchess on this cold windy 

 prairie; nothing would pay so well. I am heartily ashamed of 

 thousands of younger men who are either too stupid, lazy or shift- 

 less to grow their own apples. Their course only encourages their 

 children to steal apples from the few who do raise them. Let me 

 say to all such. You do not deserve to be called a respectable far- 

 mer unless you raise all the summer apples your family needs. If 

 you do not do it you are no honor to our state. You are trying to 

 prove to the world that our state is not fit for a white man to live in 



