STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 295 



had gone through twenty ^yinters unharmed, showing this to be 

 the hardest on fruit trees ever had. l^ot that the winter was the 

 coldest, for we have had cokler, and no damage done the trees. 

 Evidently it was tlie condition in which the trees went into 

 winter with sap up. They ripened up early and shed a part of 

 their leaves; then came a warmer spell, started the sap, revived 

 the remaining leaves and swelled the fruit buds almost to bloom 

 — too far out to stand any degree of cold — consequently on 

 many varieties all fruit buds are dead, and a prospect of a short 

 crop on the balance. But as yet we can't determine the full 

 extent of the damage, the inherent vitality in each variety to 

 surmount the shock hold their fruit and outgrow the discolor- 

 ing; but by next fall we can tell quite correctly what varieties 

 can stand best to have winter close in on them with their sap up; 

 or, in other words, which variety has the most Siberian crab in 

 its composition of tree, for it is the crab nature that carries 

 through when winter catches the sap up. With us the young 

 Wealthy trees stood full as good as the best of the Eussians, 

 side by side, same age and size of tree, and all showed more or 

 less damage. The Eussiau pears all killed — my last hojie 

 gone of pear culture in Minnesota. 



Peter M. Gideon. 

 State Fruit Farm, Minn., March 17. 



FEOM CLAEEN^CE WEDGE. 



Albert Lea, Minn., March 26, 1885. 



Kot being an expert I cannot thus early in the season ascertain 

 accurately what damage the past winter has done to the fruit of 

 any kind ; but the Duchess, Wealthy, Tetofsky and Elgin Beauty 

 appear to be substantially uninjured. Some terminal buds on 

 rank growths of Wealthy are killed, and Eollius Pippin are 

 seriously injured. My grapes are not yet uncovered. The Wor- 

 den, Moore's Earlj^, Cottage and Concord ripened their wood 

 well last fall and I expect to see them come out well this spring. 

 The Telegraph and Prentiss were caught by the frosts with very 

 immature wood, and although in the same soil and situation as 

 the above mentioned varieties, I fear they were badly injured. 



