GENERAL FRUITS. 249 



VICE-PRESIDENT'S REPORT, SECOND CONGRESSIONAL 



DISTRICT. 



DEWAIN COOK, WINDOM. 



The past has been a season of successes and of failures. The strawberry 

 was not up the expectations, through a good many were grown, mostly 

 in the eastern part of the district. The Crescents are mostly grown. The 

 Cumberland has given the best of satisfaction wherever tried. The prices 

 have ranged from eight to fifteen cents per quart. The strawberry is one 

 of our reliable fruits -and is destined to be more largely grown. 



The raspberry crop was light and of poor quality, in many cases the 

 crop was an entire failure, the cause appearing to be a plant disease^ that 

 is sometimes called "the curl." Where the plants were badly affected the 

 fruit had a bitter taste. I believe the Turner and Brandywine to be the 

 two best varieties: they are hardy and not as liable to overbear as 

 some other varieties. 



The blackcaps were but little affected by the prevailing disease, and the 

 same may be said of the redcaps. They are but little grown here, not as 

 much as they should be; they bore well and the fruit was of good quality. 

 The Gregg and Souhegan are good varieties to grow. The outlook for the 

 raspberry is not particularly bright. We will have to grow less of the 

 sucker varieties and more of the caps. What we most need is a hardy 

 vigorous redcap that is of good size and color and firm enough to ship. 



The currant crop was very poor; perhaps, they were only taking a rest 

 after producing the heavy crop of the previous year. It seems to be a 

 misfortune for the currant, the raspberry and varieties of other small 

 fruit to bear an extraordinarily heavy crop; I have doubts about their 

 ever fully recovering from it. The Downing gooseberry has done finely; 

 other varieties had more or less mildew. 



Although the season was'extraordinarily wet up to about the first of 

 August, we had a very good crop of grapes. Of black grapes, the Moore's 

 Early I consider the most valuable. The Delaware is a reliable and val- 

 uable grape and will bring the most money in our market. 



As grapes are shipped in in great quantities from southern Iowa and 

 western New York, and sold so cheap, I do not consider the growing of 

 them for market a paying industry; but every farmer and lot owner can 

 and should have an abundance of home-grown grapes. There are not 

 many blackberries grown in this district, but what we had that were given 

 winter protection did finely. If we could only have moisture enough at 

 the right time, the growing of the blackberry could be made a paying in- 

 dustry. 



The dwarf Juneberry is at home here and should be grown in every 

 garden. 



The plum crop was light and inferior in most respects to the preced- 

 ing year. The people have not yet learned the value of the best varieties 

 of natives. I expect the time will come, and in the near future, when the 

 native plum will be considered a valuable fruit to grow. I would recom- 

 mend the Wolf and the Forest Garden as being among the most profit- 

 able varieties to grow. 



As to apples, as our county is new, that is, most of it, we are not yet 

 shipping apples to Iowa and Missouri by the car load, but we had a good 

 crop and they are coming into some of our markets by the wagon load, and 

 there is a feeling among our citizens that we can grow the apple. 



