re. 
APPLES. 91 
how worthless, there is little said about it, and it is looked upon as 
a business transaction; but if that nursery is in Minnesota, itisa 
swindle and a fraud. They do not appreciate what nurserymen have 
accomplished in getting a class of fruit adapted to our climate. 
Every farm should have a small piece of ground for plum trees. 
This should be as close to the barn as possible, so chickens could 
have free access. They will, to some extent, destroy the curculio, 
which is fatal to our fruit. Set eight feet apart. It is better to have 
two or three varieties. Keep well mulched with any coarse litter; 
straw is best because chickens will work in it more than in any other 
litter. There are a number of good varieties: Desota, Forest Garden, 
Weaver, Rollingstone, Hawkeye and many other varieties that will 
amply repay for labor bestowed. No farmer should be without this 
beautiful fruit. 
ORCHARDING IN FARIBAULT COUNTY. 
S. D, RICHARDSON, WINNEBAGO CITY. 
Between fifteen and twenty years ago the tree agent put in consid- 
erable work in this section and, as they mostly represented Minnesota 
and Northern Iowa nurseries,there are today many good trees bear- 
ing fruit in Faribault county as the result of their labors. Many of 
the trees were bearing fruit previous to 1885. I saw many young 
Wealthys heavily laden with apples that fall. Andrew C. Dunn 
has a small orchard set at different times previous to 1878. When he 
set his first trees, he took pride in his young orchard and used to 
prune his trees so as to have them have tall trunks; later he got dis- 
couraged and let the trees alone; and the result is that many of the 
Duchess set first have a dead strip on the southwest side of the 
trunk, and the Wealthys planted later are healthy, vigorous, low-top- 
ped trees. This orchard is well protected on the west and northwest 
only. It was cultivated when small and has been seeded to timothy 
for the last ten or twelve years. 
Mr. Sholl has a fine orchard of some two hundred trees, mostly 
Duchess, Wealthy, Minnesota and Haas. The Haas show the effect 
of the winter of 1885; aside from that the trees are in good condition. 
This orchard is protected on all sides. It was cultivated when small, 
but has been seeded for years. It was mulched several] years ago. 
The trees are set sixteen feet apart each way and branch very low. 
On the other side of the road, a little farther north, is the orchard of 
Mr. Holly, on the high prairie, exposed to wind from every direction 
except what a few evergreens on the north and west may hinder. 
There were originally set in this orchard 700 or more Wealthys, set 
twenty-five or thirty feet apart each way. Mr. Holly sold one hun- 
dred and fifty bushels from this orchard in the fall of 1885, and it has 
been bearing heavily every other year and, sometimes, every year 
since, and has paid better in dollars and cents than any other part 
of the farm for the past ten years. 
There are many other orchards as well worthy of mention as those 
I have named, but this paper would be toolong if I undertook to 
