172 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
quite small, and no considerable amount of fruit can reasonably be 
expected for a few years. Many of these trees present a very hardy 
appearance, while the fruit from them is of excellent quality. Some 
of them have been grown for twenty or more years in this state and 
have proved themselves to be varieties of great value for this section. 
Among the kinds on trial, there are some apparently of greater 
hardiness than the Duchess that are just as desirable and of a dif- 
ferent season. 
The varieties bearing large fruit, which, so far as tried, are most 
desirable for planting in this section, are: 
Summer and autumn apples.—Duchess of Oldenburg, Breskovka, 
Borovinka. 
Late autumn and winter.—Hibernal, Lieby, Longfieldand Anisim. 
The division is paying considerable attention to the raising of 
seedling apples with the hope of securing varieties more desirable 
than those we now have. For this purpose, it is now growing several 
thousand seedlings. 
Plums. The plum crop of the season just past was unusually 
abundant and perfect at the university farm; in fact, it never pro- 
duced more perfect fruit. Our orchard is located on the north slope 
of asmall, gravelly ridge and is protected from the south winds by 
trees. It has been heavily manured, and the soil is kept cultivated 
alisummer. Theresult of these conditions and the proper selection 
of varieties is that since the trees commenced to bear in 1888, only 
one crop has been missed. Six good crops have been produced in 
that time. In quality and general appearance, this fruit compared 
favorably with any fruit exhibited in our markets the past season. 
The quality of it was very excellent, many varieties being very de- 
sirable for dessert purposes. 
The varieties that are most desirable are as follows: 
Forest Garden, Desota, Weaver, Wolf and Cheney. These are all 
good, reliable, hardy kinds. Perhaps, if only one kind is to be 
planted, the Desota should be selected. 
Ten varieties of plums have fruited with us the past season. The 
varieties of plums on trial in this division includes nearly all the 
varieties of promise sent out within the last few years, as wellas the ~ 
older kinds. Besides the named varieties on trial, we have several 
hundred seedlings from valuable kinds that are being saved for 
fruiting. Many of these are from carefully made hand-crosses. 
Grapes. Perhaps, there is no crop thatis more certain than grapes 
in favorable locations in this state. At the experiment station, in 
eight successive years, we have not missed having a good supply of 
this fruit from our vines. The past season was exceptionally hard 
on them, and only a fair crop was produced. Success depends very 
much on the proper varieties and methods of pruning. 
The varieties that have given us the most satisfaction are the ~ 
Worden, Moore’s Early, Lady, Agawam, Amina (Rog. 39), Brighton, 
Barry, Herbert and Green Mountain. The fruit ripened unusually 
early this year and, on account of the drouth and the leaf-hoppers, 
was not so good as in 1893. We have now on trial nearly all the im- 
portant varieties of grapes and several hundred seedlings of our 
own raising. Experiments to note the effect of different systems of 
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