ali Ree es eT estes 
GENERAL FRUITS. 147 
In Wisconsin, from 1848 to 1860,we raised German prunes and plums, 
some of them as large as small hens eggs. After 1860, timber got 
to be lighter—most of it had been cut away—so that plums and 
prunes could not be raised with any certainty in Ozankee county. I 
brought along scions of the hardiest plums, and topgrafted same 
on wild plum, but they proved too tender for Minnesota. 
In 1869, I bought six Transcendent, and six Hislop crabs and two 
Flemish Beauty pears. Only four Transcendents and two Hislops 
grew, butafter that we had a nice lot of crab apples for years. Then 
came the blight, and one by one they died until not one was left. 
IT always think much of plums; I had some Miner and Wild Goose 
plums that bore a few andthen died. They were not hardy with me. 
Then the old Desota and Weaver came into market,and I bought six 
of each kind. They grew finely and were the first plums I had to 
stand the Minnesota winters. 
In 1874, I bought fourteen evergreens, Balsam, Norway Spruce and 
Scotch Pine. I had no idea that such trees could be grown 
in Minnesota. Six of them grew, two Balsam and four Scotch Pine. 
I gave them the best of care, and they are today fine trees. 
In 1872,I bought Houghton gooseberries and the Philadelphia and 
Turner raspberries. They grew finely and gave us lots of berries. 
In 1874, I planted the first strawberries; they were Crescent and 
Charles Downing, and did well. I had about one-fourth of an acre, 
and sold the second year seventy-eight gallons of fine berries. I 
sold them by the gallon as there were no quart boxes at that time. 
I received sixty cents per gallon. I have raised some ever since. 
Every farmer ought to raise some, at least for his own family. 
They are as easy to raise as potatoes and corn. 
Of black raspberries, I keep the Ohio, Mammoth Cluster and Shaf- 
fer. Small fruitsand plums are my favorites. I have the following 
plums growing: Desota, Potawatomie, Peach, Rollinstone, Wyant, 
Cheney, Hawkeye, Black Hawk and my two seedlings, “Surprise” 
—the other is not named yet. 
I sold last fall twenty-seven bushels of plums, the best at $2.00 per 
bushel, the medium at $1.50 per bushel and the smallest at $1.00 per 
bushel. They were mostly Desotas. The Desotas run down too 
smallina dry season, more so than any other kind. I will discard 
the Potawatomie, as they are small and not quite hardy. All the 
other kinds are hardy on my ground. 
This is the second year I have joined the Horticultural Society, 
and I will stick to them. Every farmer ought to join them that is 
interested in fruit. The dollar invested in horticulture will give 
them more knowledge in one yearthanallthe books they can buy. 
How nice it is to read those discussions! 
My mind was to give up planting any more apple trees, but I have 
changed again since I read the horticultural reports. Last spring I 
planted seventy-five apple trees, mostly Russians, a few of which are 
Patten’s Greening and Duchess No.3. I set them six inches deeper 
than they stood innurseryrow. I also set out Russian plums of the 
following kinds: Long Blue, Early Red, Minnesota, Hunt and White 
Nicholas. I begin to see into the fruit business, and I think we can 
