'While it is not the intention to publish anything in this magazine that 

 is misleading or unreliable, yet it must be remembered that the 

 articles published herein recite the experience and opinions of their writers, 

 and this fact must always be noted in estimating their practical value. 



Vol. 45 FEBRUARY, 1917 No. 2 



Minnesota State Fruit-Breeding Farm in 1916. 



CHAS. HARALSON, SUPT., EXCELSIOR, MINN. 



December 5, 1916. — Owing to peculiar and unusual condi- 

 tions during last winter and spring, a large per cent of the fruit 

 buds on plums were killed more or less, and this applies to the 

 native plums nearly as much as to the hybrids. Some trees blos- 

 somed quite freely but were in a rather weak condition to set 

 fruit, which accounts for the small crop of plums. However, 

 some varieties bore a light crop of good fruit, and we had approxi- 

 mately seventy bushels of plums; with a fair crop we should 

 have had several hundred bushels. 



Apples were also a light crop, and standard varieties as well 

 as seedlings bore very little. Fruit was not up to size and crip- 

 pled to a great extent, even where thorough spraying was done. 



Small fruits such as strawberries, raspberries, gooseberries 

 and currants were up to the usual standard and bore one of the 

 best crops we ever had, and the fruit was large, perfect and 

 firm. The weather was fine during the ripening season, with 

 plenty of moisture all through the strawberry season. At the 

 first two pickings, with careful sorting and packing twenty- 

 seven berries would fill a quart box in good shape. 



A great many improvements have been made at the Fruit 

 Farm during the past two years. A substantial and comfort- 

 able modern living house has been built at a cost of approxi- 

 mately $4,000, an addition to the greenhouse 20x100, a steel 

 water tank with seventy-five barrel capacity for water supply, 

 a machine shed 20x30. A sewer and drainage system has been 

 installed, which was very much needed. The old farm house has 

 been made partly modern. 



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