410 ANNUAL REPORT. 



the large Yellow Siberian crab. It is as large as the Transcendent, 

 and will keep right along, and for sauce is better than the Trans- 

 cendent. He did not think it possible for the cold of Minnesota 

 to injure a fruit tree that is in j)erfect condition. But they may 

 be injured by very cold weather coming on before the moisture 

 had passed out and the wood was perfectly ripe. 



Mr. Gilpatrick. Could not this ripening be helped by keep- 

 ing the ground well cultivated ? If the ground is plowed deep 

 around the trees would not they get the benefit they ought to re- 

 ceive ? The important thing is to 'keep the roots so low that they 

 will not mind the heat, and if the ground is well plowed the 

 tree will keep growing steadily. Deef) cultivation will keep a 

 tree growing, and it will mature at the right time. 



Mr. Pearce. We have a climate here that is worthy the atten- 

 tion and study of every fruit grower and farmer. We mature 

 corn here in ninety days that will take one hundred and fifty 

 days a few hundred miles south of us. It is precisely the same 

 with the fruit trees. The reason is that we have a wonderfully 

 dry atmosphere. We have double the growth in the same length 

 of time, and before we are aware of it the roots of our trees are 

 suffering for a supply of moisture. I have no doubt but that 

 nine-tenths of all the fruit trees in Minnesota have been killed 

 by drought. We have got a dry atmosphere and that is the sal- 

 vation of our agi'icultural pursuits. 



Mr. Smith. The great cause of the failure of the importations 

 from Russia is that instead of coming from the dry portions of 

 the country they come from the Gulf of Riga. Trees gradually 

 adapt themselves to that particular climate in which they are 

 grown. The man who had an orchard last year and wished to 

 carry his trees through this year ought to have gone to work 

 and started their growth as quickly as possible, and he should 

 have done so in a manner which was easiest for him. But above 

 all he should have kept them growing. A rule that is safe to 

 follow to insure safety through the winter is to keep up the 

 growth until the first of August. I believe that it takes thirty 

 days from the formation of a bud before the conditions are per- 

 fect for a second growth. We can avoid the second growth by 

 keeping the tree growing as near to the first of August as we 

 can. If we do that the buds will be in a dormant condition, and 

 by the tenth of September the conditions of temperature will 

 have changed so that there will be a second growth. If we can 

 keep np the continuous formation of wood in the tree until the 



