154 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
CHERRIES. 
The Early Richmond is producing some good crops. I have quite a variety 
of Russian cherries, most of which have fruited, seeni rather poor 
growers and bear very little. The Cerisa De Osthiem is the most 
promising, but we have Russian seedling cherries that are better grow- 
ers, better bearers, and produce better fruit than any of them. 
RUSSIAN PEARS 
These are very promising, and I have about come to the conclusion, 
that, if the blight don’t take the trees, we can grow the Russian pears as 
well as we can growapples. They are very strong growers, seem perfectly 
hardy, every twig growing from the topmost bud. My pear trees were 
mostly set the spring of ’86. The Tonkevirthka, Victorina and Lemon are 
especially promising. The Bessamanka has about gone with blight. 
They were close to my Transcendents. 392 Kruskaye is the weakest 
grower of them all. The Russian Germans here are growing a pear they 
call Kruskaye. It is the wild pear of Russia and blights badly. It is 
very thorny and is altogether distinct from the 392 sent out by Prof. 
Budd. 
RUSSIAN PLUMS. 
I have several varieties of Russian plums. The Arab, Russian No. 3, 
and Early Red Russ seem to stand our recent mild winters fairly well, 
and may be of some value for our southern counties. 
NATIVE PLUMS. 
All varieties, both cultivated and wild, bore heavily. For dessert, the 
Rollingstone was in the greatest demand. The Speer is perhaps the 
best in my list for canning. The plum is undersized and is a poor dessert 
plum. The Wolf is large and fine,and very firm. The Desota should 
take first place as a general purpose plum, but it does not seem to stand 
drouth as well as some of the others. The Forest Garden is a grand suc- 
cess, is a heavy and annual bearer, about ten days earlier than the Desota. 
The fruit cracks and does not keep well after getting ripe, and for that rea- 
son I do not like it for market; flesh is very rich, and has a strong syrup fla- 
vor. Our best varieties of native plums should be more generally planted. 
STRAWBERRIES. 
I am not testing many varieties of strawberries. 'The Manchester, 
Greens Prolific, Bidwell, James Vicks Jewel, and severai other varieties 
have failed with me. If I was to grow only one variety, it would be the 
Downers Prolific. The Crescent does finely fertilized by Downers Pro- 
lific. Iam expecting much from Warfield No. 2 and Haverland. 
RED RASPBERRIES. 
I have a pretty long list of these. The Shaffers Collossal I shall dis- 
card. The canes winter kill; it is very difficult to give them winter pro- 
tection; the rootsare very near the surface and do not stand drouth well. 
The Caroline (yellow) is also a worthless berry; I can neither sell the fruit, 
nor get any one to eat it. The Turneris hardy, (as a ruleall our red rasp- 
berries rarely need winter protection here) early, and best quality, the best 
single variety for home use. The canes of the Turner seem to be infested 
more by the snowy cricket than any other variety. The Marlboro is as 
hardy as the Turner, rather a slow grower, immensely productive, of very 
large, firm, bright red berries of about third rate quality; valuable for 
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