108 



THE POMOLOGIST. 



August 



For the Western Pomologist. 



Fruit in Minnesota. 



Ed. Pomologist : — Perhaps some of your 

 readers may like to learn what varieties of 

 tlie apple promise best iu Minnesota. I will 

 give you an accouut of last winter's experi- 

 ence with me ~ a winter the most trying on 

 fruit frees that I have ever seen in the State, 

 though the average of the weather was mild. 

 The October freeze did the damage while 

 the sap was in full flow — tops killing some, 

 and bursting others at the collar. The more 

 thrifty the tree, the greater the damage. 

 That some trees should pass through the 

 frosty ordeal unscathed, while others staud- 

 i ng right along side were entirely destroyed 

 was singular. With me the damage was con- 

 fined to young trees — one, two aud three year 

 olds. 



Those least affected were Dutchess of Ol- 

 denburg, Fameuse, Tetofsky, and the St. 

 Lawrence. These were less injured than the 

 Transcendent and Hyslop crabs. The Haas, 

 Ben Davis and Plum's Cider suflered more 

 than the Transcendent. Still, some trees of 

 each came out as well as the best — those 

 trees standing on the most bleak exposure 

 being injured the least of all. I have never 

 had the Sops of Wine on my own grounds 

 until last spiing. But in my neighbor's or- 

 chards it stood so well that I deem it one of 

 the very best both in point of hardiness and 

 fruit. To say what has failed with me would 

 fill a column, and perhaps not one in ten 

 true to name. Such a list would do more 

 harm than good as no doubt some of them 

 will i^ucceed with others on different soil, aud 

 even with me under a different mode of 

 treatment. So I will not condemn those 

 S)rts I cannot at present consistently recom- 

 mend. 



Of apples aud cherries we have good crops 

 this season, taking into account age of trees. 

 The cherries come through the fall aud win- 

 ter apparently unharmed, but a late spring 

 frost thiuued out the fruit. No pears in 

 fruit yet, but the prospects are good for fruit 

 sometime. 1 he early freeze last fall found 

 the grapa vines unprepared for it. The eon- 

 sequence is a short crop this fall. 



Peter M. Gideon. 



ExeeUaior, Minn. 



For the Western Pomologist. 



Hardy Offspring— Fruit In Iowa County. 



Friend Miller : — I am in receipt of the 

 July number of the Pomologist, and beg 

 leave to say a word on the Assistant Editor's 

 remarks on seedling apples; he says: "It is 

 a law of nature that no offspring can be more 

 hardy aud healthy than the parents." It may 

 be that seed from tender varieties of the 

 apple will produce a proportionally greater 

 number of tender trees than seed from more 

 hardy trees. But I believe the former will 

 produce ofl'spring to some exteut, more hardy 

 than the parent, aud I will give a bit of my 



own experience in support of my position. I 

 have of my own raising some seedling grapes 

 grown from seed of the Delaware, that are 

 no less hardy than the wild grape indigenous 

 to this part of the country, and yet the Dela 

 ware is not ijerfectly hardy. 



Our fruit prospects are not very flattering 

 this season. I think the October freeze did 

 the injury. But very few apples, pears or 

 cherries. The N. Y. Pippin, (Ben Davis) 

 was the least affected for it is bearing more 

 fruit than any other tree. In the line of 

 plums the Lombard is heavily ladeu with fruit. 

 Strawberries badly winter killed. The cur- 

 rant borer seems bent on takiug all our cur- 

 rant bushes. Riispberries, a good crop, and 

 I place the Philadelphia at the head of the 

 list, ripening as it does after other sorts are 

 mostly gone, giving immense crops of large, 

 berries and being more hardy than any oth- 

 er sort. The oulj' objections I have to the 

 Philadelphia is, that it sprouts up from the 

 roots. But even with that objection I con- 

 sider it iiidtspeusable. It is among raspber- 

 ries what the Concord is among grapes— (/(« 

 berry for the miliion. I am growing it in 

 hedge fashion — keeping the plants in rows. 



But we can raise grapes if it does get al- 

 most dry enough to call it drouth. My vines 

 are full of large clusters. The October freeze 

 did much damage in the nursery, and what 

 is very strange, the most hardy sorts of trees 

 were damaged the most. 



The extent of the damage was not appar- 

 ent until the trees began to leave out. 

 Many kinds do not make the growth that 

 they should this summer. 



F. O. Harrington. 



Iowa County, Iowa. 



The Miner Plum— Its History. 



Ed. Western Pomologist. — ■<ome few 

 months ago I addressed a letter of inquiry 

 to Mr. J. C. Cover, Lancaster, Wiscoxisiu, 

 concerning what he knew about the history 

 aud merits of the Miner plum. As this plum 

 is exciting more attention at present than 

 almost any other variety, what is said of it 

 may be of interest to the readers of the 

 Pomologist, and of no little importance to 

 those who may wish to purchase trees. Mr. 

 C. says : 



"In the year 1847, one J, P. Miner moved 

 to this vicinity from the Apple River coun- 

 try iu Illinois, and brought with him about 

 twenty small shoots from the parent tree, 

 which he said would soon bear the fi lest and 

 best plums ever seen. These he distributed 

 among his newly formed frieuds ; myself 

 being favored with two of them. He had 

 no name for them ; and this is all we know 

 of their origin. In a few years the fruit of 

 these trees became noted in town for their 

 excellency of flavor, and especially for their 

 usafuluess for canning aud winter use, 

 esteemed as the equal of peaches. Since 

 then,al'.hongh the trees are abundant on the 

 farms and most every village lot, the supply 

 of truit has not been equal to the demand 

 for family use ; the price usually |2.00 per 

 bushel. 



As to the question, is this plum of native, 

 wild, or cultivated origin, I am unable to 

 decide, and do not know that it makes any 

 difference as Jto its value. Mr. Miner had 

 no name for it, and so il came to bj known 

 as the " Miner," from the name of him who 

 first introduced it hereabouts. Am told that 

 about Apple Kiver it bjars various namL-s, 

 aud some persist in classing it with the 

 Chickasaw Kind, and at Galena it has lately 

 been christened "Towusend." It is unlike 

 any Chickasaw I have ever met with. 



The tree is a remarkable grower, aud the 

 age aud size to which it may arrive are 

 unknown. In this county the oldest trees 

 are above a foot in diameter, with tops 

 spraeding thirty to forty feet. The trees, 

 therefore, require much room, aud should 

 be set at least tifty fei-t apart to do well. 

 Mine were uulbrlunalely set some twelve, 

 some twenty feet apart, aud I have had 

 to cut away alternates to cause them to 

 fruit well. 



As to the propagating, grafting upon wild 

 or other plum stalks of course must prove a 

 failure, as the "Miner" makes at least 

 three times the wood of any known tree of 

 the plnm kind. Iu these parts all methods 

 of artificial propagation have been tried and 

 failed. The large trees, ten years old aud 

 upwards, however, furnish aljuudaut shoots 

 which may supply the demaud, aud in this 

 viciuity all the trees sent abroad are such 

 shoots. 



some 'years ago the seed were planted in 

 view of supplying the demand, but these 

 were soon found to produce an inferior fruit 

 — though uot till alter thousands such were 

 set out, and from these sprang tens of thou- 

 sands hawked through the country by dis- 

 tant tree peddlers. The agents of nurseries 

 often go about hunting up stock and are 

 usually supplied with these seedlings, which 

 I presume are beiug sold for true " Miners." 



If it is true, as Mr. C. says, that spu- 

 rious trees have been sent out to people, it is 

 high time the imposition be ventilated. I 

 should like to hear through the Pomologist 

 from some of those who are propagating the 

 Miner, how they propagate it, the kii:d of 

 slocks used, etc. C. W. 



SpHiU/ViUe, Wis. 



Gkape Rot— The Alton, Illinois, Horti. 

 cultural Society have been discussing this 

 subject. Chas. V. Riley, State Entomologist 

 of Missouri, thinks the rot iu the berry may 

 be attributed to some constitutional defect in 

 the vine. Mr. btarr, of Alton, does not 

 believe it due to any co:;stitutional defect iu 

 the vine, nor to the mode of preparing the 

 soil, as some believe. J. M. Jordan, of St. 

 Louis, a successful cultivator said : — " I have 

 lost all confidence iu the statements of our 

 scientific men. I have seen grapes grow 

 where our scientific men say tliey cau t be 

 grown. I do not disapprove of scientific 

 investigation, but I do disapprove of stating 

 as facts what are merely suppositions. I 

 have grapes growing this year where you 

 could not pick a handful of rotten grapes. I 

 believe 1 can take any vine and make it pro- 

 duce souud fruit, free from rot. Close pinch- 

 ing is the main thing. Keep the foliage in 

 check. The soil should be well uuderdraiued 

 as I don't think one can grow fruit or veget- 

 ables with the feet of the plants iu water. 

 The rot last year was extensive, but on uu- 

 derdraiued siiil, where a careful system of 

 close pinching has been followed, we find the 

 srrape nearly exempt, ascompared with "those 

 vineyards where a different system has been 

 followed.' 



