122 ANNUAL KEPORT. 



Prof. Budd, at the Iowa Agricultural College, has a large col- 

 lection of natives for testing, with the kinds commonly cultivated, 

 and the opinion is prevalent among fruit men, that we must look 

 to the natives for any great improvement upon our cultivated va- 

 rieties which are not hardy in this latitude. Some of the blue 

 plums have occasionally succeeded in this vicinity. Mr. Wilcox, 

 of La Crosse, has fruited Moore's Arctic with some success, and Mr. 

 B. Taylor, of Fillmore county, has had moderate success with a blue 

 plum, from Iowa. Mr. Bollman, of Winona county, has top- 

 worked some natives with a large blue plum, and produced several 

 good crops. With these exceptions, I have not been able to learn 

 that any one has been successful with the varieties usually found 

 in the eastern and southern nurseries. 



So far as I am informed, the only efforts to improve the natives 

 in this vicinity have been in selecting from the groves, and simply 

 transplanting, without any particular system of after culture. In 

 this county a good many trees have been transplanted without any 

 proper selection, taking the first at hand. In almost every case this 

 method has proved unsatisfactory from the poor quality of the 

 fruit. A better plan is to carefully observe the quality of the fruit 

 as it grows naturally, and mark the trees, and afterwards at the 

 proper season, transplant. If the trees are too large or too old, cut 

 the roots, leaving them in the ground to sprout, and transfer the 

 small trees. By this means you are sure to get fruit of the same 

 kind, while planting the seeds might produce many varieties not 

 equal to the original. Only a few of the natives have as yet been 

 brought into prominent notice, but there are scattered here and 

 there a good many valuable kinds that should be more widely 

 known. Prof. Budd, in the Iowa report, mentions some natives, as 

 worthy of cultivation. 



Mr. B. Taylor, of Fillmore county, has been experimenting for 

 twenty years or more, and has produced some which he considers 

 superior to any wild ones in market. Mr. Cottrell, of Olmstead, 

 has one which has taken the premiums at the fairs, and is pro- 

 nounced excellent by all who have tested it. The late P. A. Jewell, 

 several years ago, found on the grounds of Mr. Brainerd, of this 

 county, what he considered a very superior variety which he 

 propagated and named Brainerd's Best. 



Of those which are known to be adapted to general cultivation, 

 the Desoto heads the list. The Forest Garden is quite prominent. 

 The Weaver is successful, and some of the Chickasaw varieties in 

 some locations do very well, but there are many others compara- 



