GENERAL FRUITS. 177 



quality. Its flavor and keeping qualities surpass the Duchess; no better 

 for cooking, but a pleasanter apple to eat out of hand, thuogh not as hardy 

 a tree. Some like a few Tetofskys on account of earliness and quality of 

 fruit. It is not as good a bearer as the Duchess and not as profitable a tree 

 to the orchardist. The Whitneys No. 20 is coming into favor more every 

 year, as planters find what the hardiness of the tree is, beauty of the 

 growth and quality of fruit. The last year I noticed the blight amongst 

 the trees, at the same time the fruit seemed to be of full size. The Tran- 

 scendent seems to take the lead among the market gardeners as the best 

 crab for all purposes. And I think more of these trees are bought than 

 any other crab, notwithstanding the ravages of blight they are subject 

 to. They do not buy as largely of Hyslop, but the prices in St. Paul 

 market range from $1.50 to $2.00 per bushel. The Early Strawberry crab 

 and Orange crab do well. I find in my travels Orange crab trees 4 to 5 

 inches in diameter fruiting well, also Minnesotas. A Mr. Frost, of Tower 

 Grove township, Dakota county, reports to me that he picked ten bushels 

 from five trees, also gathered 50 bushels of Duchess, which he sold in St. 

 Paul market at an average price of $1 .35 per bushel. The Transcendent he 

 sold from $1.00 to $1.25 per bushel. He raised two thousand pounds Con- 

 cord grapes at an average price of four cents, and sold forty bushels of 

 currants at $1.75 per bushel. 



Mr. Bole, of the town of Woodbury, Washington Co., showed me Duchess 

 trees that he planted twenty-three years ago. They apparently looked 

 healthy and are productive. The plums that are principally planted are 

 De Soto, Weaver, and the Forest Garden for the early plum. What fruit 

 there was brought a good price, though the blossom buds were injured by 

 spring frosts. A few pay attention to raising grapes, and where they do 

 they make a success. The grapes shipped from below keep the price down. 

 Currants and raspberries were a paying crop. The currants planted princi- 

 pally are Red Dutch, some Cherry, Victoria and a sprinkling of white and 

 black. Raspberries planted are Turner and Cuthbert for red, Mammoth 

 Cluster, Gregg and Shaffer's Colossal for black. More attention is being 

 paid to the planting of blackberries. I would recommend Stone's Hardy 

 and Ancient Briton with winter protection. Strawberries weie al- 

 most a failure though considerable better than in the year 1889. The 

 gardeners still stick to the old reliable Wilson for shipping. For produc- 

 tiveness, on all kinds of soil the Crescent excels it. I haven't had much 

 chance to see what the Jessie would do, but I think where they are well 

 cared for they make runners fast, and the fruit grows large. As to the 

 Bubach and Warfleld No. 2, I don't find many of them plentiful where I 

 travel. In fact the berry growers around this city I don't think have tried 

 them much. 



A limited amount of gooseberries are planted, Houghton and Downing. 

 But little is known about the Industry. Some of the farmers are paying 

 attention to planting of evergreens, which is a wise plan. It is one of the 

 best protections a farmer can have to shield him from the sevei e storms. 

 The Norway spruce is my favorite tree. White spruce, Scotch and white 

 pine are good. I find it difficult to make evergreens do well in the city,, 

 owing, perhaps, to the gas and smoke which arise. 

 Now for planting an orchard I would select a high location north 

 -11 



