226 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



BLACKBERRIES. 



Blackberries have done finely; the Stone's Hardy is the hardiest on my 

 list, but the Snyder and Ancient Briton are oi better quality; Agawam 

 andWaschutt rank with the Snyder for hardiness and are not so difficult 

 to lay down for winter, but they lack the quality. All varieties must 

 have winter protection in order to bear well. 



DEWBE]?,RIES. 



Dewberries also produced well, the Wlndom being mostly grown. We 

 are also growing the Bartell and the Lucretia, and think very highly of 

 them. They have never failed to bear abundantly of fine fruit where 

 the canes had not been winter-killed. 



CHERRIES. 



We have several varieties of Russian cherries that are doing fairly well, 

 having fruited some of them for three years. The birds and children usu- 

 ally take the fruit about as fast as it gets ripe. The Early Richmond is 

 reasonably hardy and a good cropper, but like the other varieties gave 

 little fruit the past season. My most promising cherries are some Russian 

 seedlings. I am trying the sand cherry; have not fruited it yet;it is easily 

 propagated by cuttings. We fruited nine (9) varieties of cherries besides 

 our seedlings. 



PliUMS. 



Plums were practically a failure, although about all varieties produced 

 some fruit. The plum gouger did an unusual amount of damage. Of the 

 known kinds the Forest Garden is considered the most reliable and 

 valuable. The Desota set considerable fruit,but it was of inferior size and 

 was badly stung. 



1 would call attention to the Wolf plum. It is not a freestone, as it is 

 sometimes called. I am not sure but it is the most valuable plum in my 

 collection, it should be more generally planted. 



Mr. A. Norby of Madison, South Dakota, sent me specimens of a plum 

 that he calls the Iowa; it is a good plum, and on account of its extreme 

 earliness it may prove valuable. I would recommend it for trial at our 

 experiment stations. 



RUSSIAN PLUMS. 



We fruited six varieties of the Russian plums. Like the natives, they 

 produced very sparingly. The fruit is larger than our natives, and most of 

 the varieties appear hardy. I am convinced that we can grow these plums 

 all right, but they are inferior in quality to our best natives. It is proba- 

 ble that the Early Red is the best of its class. These plums are all blue or- 

 black, even to the Early Red Russian right from the Iowa Agricultural 

 College grounds. I don't understand it. The Russian No. 3 and Arab are 

 also promising varieties. It seems to me that the crossing of these plums 

 with our best natives should be undertaken by our experiment stations. 



PEARS. 



My only varieties are Russians. They were mostly set the spring of 1886 

 and seem perfectly hardy, but as yet none of them have fruited. I have 

 five varieties that promise to fruit next season; 392 is the only variety 

 that showed any blight the past season. My most promising varieties 

 are: Tonkeveithka, Lemon, Gaskovka, Bessamanka and 518. I have hopes 

 that we can grow these pears here. 



