June 24, 1891,] 



Garden and Forest. 



299 



with long cions make the best trees for the north-west. Nur- 

 serymen should not send a budded tree into the north-west, 

 for it is always sure to be deficient either in the hardiness of 

 the stock or in the union of the stock and bud. In the develop- 

 ment of horticulture in this region nurserymen must educate 

 the people. They must realize that wind and frost and burn- 

 ing heat are to be the portion of every tree that is planted, so 

 that it is idle to sell anything there but the very hardiest stock. 



NOTES ON MINNESOTA HORTICULTURE. 



The extracts which follow are from an address by Samuel 

 B. Green : 



Previous to 1884 Minnesota was generally looked upon by 

 eastern and southern growers as hardly adapted to a rational 

 system of farming, not to speak of anything in the line 

 of fruit-production. In that year she surprised the coun- 

 try by the prizes won and the show of fruit made at the 

 New "Orleans Exposition ; and the fine exhibition made last 

 year at the State Fair seemed to indicate that there was a pos- 

 sibility that she might do as well at the Columbia Exposition 

 in 1893. 



Apples. — Most of the well-known eastern varieties of Apples 

 have been tried here and found greatly wanting ; even the 

 popular, prolific and handsome Ben Davis was discarded 

 years ago as being too tender for this climate, while the 

 Baldwin, Yellow Bell-flower, Roman Stem, Golden Russet, 

 Winesap and a host of other favorites have been repeatedly 

 tried and rejected. In many parts of the state the Wealthy is 

 largely grown and bears early and heavily. 



We can grow Crab-apples in great quantities, and our mar- 

 kets are well supplied with this home-grown fruit each season. 

 The most generally esteemed are Transcendent, Orange, 

 Whitney, Early Strawberry, Virginia and Hyslop. Where the 

 old standard varieties of Apples can be grown the Russians 

 may not be welcomed, but in this state they are very promis- 

 ing. Take away from us to-day the Russian Apples and 

 their seedlings, and we would have almost nothing left in a 

 well-tried Apple of large size that can be grown at a profit. The 

 Duchess of Oldenburg and Tetofsky have been long and 

 favorably known here, and our markets are liberally supplied 

 with them each year. Minnesota orchardists who carefully 

 cultivate the Duchess get remunerative returns. Among other 

 Russians of promise that have been quite extensively tried are 

 the Hibernal, Autumn Streaked, Ostrokoff, Glass, White 

 Pigeon, Charlamoff, Green Streaked, Yellow Annis, and we 

 hope and expect that out of the many other varieties now on 

 trial in the state and from seedlings of those Russians to get 

 varieties better adapted for our own use than any now known. 



I believe the time is coming when Minnesota will raise 

 enough apples to supply her own wants. It has been found 

 by those having the largest experience that our own home- 

 grown nursery stock stands the rigors of our trying climate 

 much better than Eastern and Southern grown stock. 



Plums. — We cannot raise the varieties of Plums of the 

 Prunus domestica type without giving them winter protection, 

 neither do varieties originating from P. Chicasa do well here, 

 but all varieties of P. Americana yield abundantly each year, 

 and we think there is a great future for this hardy class of 

 Plums. Each year notes the introduction of new varieties of 

 merit. The best well-tried kind of this class of Plums is the 

 De Soto, but the Forest Garden and Weaver are favorably 

 known, and the Rollingstone, Cheney and New Ulm are new 

 kinds of great promise. 



Small Fruits. — All the small fruits grow here and yield 

 abundantly. Strawberries take the front rank in value of the 

 product, but we also raise large crops of raspberries, currants, 

 gooseberries and blackberries. It is generally considered prof- 

 itable to cover all small-fruit plants in winter, but some grow- 

 ers do not go to the expense of this even with Raspberries. 

 Cranberries can be raised at a profit, and the wild bogs pro- 

 duce in abundance. The fruit raised in Minnesota is of high 

 color, flavor and aroma, and finds a ready market in the large 

 cities and towns of the state. 



Horticultural Progress. — Minnesota established the first 

 purely horticultural experiment station in this country, in 

 1880, and the State Horticultural Society has to-day, besides 

 the department of horticulture in the central experiment sta- 

 tion, one experiment station and eight horticultural trial sta- 

 tions, the most of which are devoted to special lines of work. 

 We believe that by systematic selection and crossing of many 

 fruit-plants now grown, that their value for this climate may 

 be greatly increased, and we also believe that several of our 

 native fruits, notably the Sand Cherry {Primus pumila), the 

 Wild Plum (Prunus Americana') and the Buffalo Berry (Shefi- 

 herdea argentea), which are very prolific in their wild state, 



will well repay careful cultivation. We also look with favor 

 upon the newly introduced Russian Cherries and Pears, and 

 the growing of Peaches, by protecting them in the winter, is 

 attracting some attention. 



Alluding to Mr. Green's commendation of the Russian 

 Apples Mr. William C. Barry said that eastern nurserymen 

 were very desirous to ascertain which of these varieties has an 

 established value. Many years ago Russian Apple-trees were 

 imported by eastern fruit-growers, but none of them had been 

 found equal to the Duchess of Oldenburg, and, after taking 

 much pains and trouble with these varieties, they had become 

 discouraged. It would therefore be of advantage if the nur- 

 serymen of the north-west who had made experiments would 

 inform eastern nurserymen which Russian Apples ought to 

 be catalogued and disseminated. Mr. Barry had attended a 

 great many exhibitions of fruit in different parts of the country, 

 and he had never seen these apples on the tables, nor had he 

 seen accurate descriptions of them, and he said that it would 

 much more than pay him for his journey to Minneapolis if he 

 could secure one, two, three or more varieties which were as 

 valuable, or nearly as valuable, as the Duchess. If western 

 nurserymen have such varieties he assured them that there 

 was a ready market for them in the east. 



Mr. Albaugh added, that in Ohio no Russian Apples, except 

 the Duchess, had proved of real value. Out of thirty-seven 

 grafts obtained from the Iowa Experiment Station only one 

 variety, the Longfield, made a healthy tree at three years old. 

 Every other one was injured by winters which have not hurt 

 the Ben Davis nor affected Yellow Bell. 



Recent Publications. 



We have received advance-sheets of a Census Bulletin on 

 the Lumber-mills, Saw-mills and Timber-products of the 

 states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota. These states 

 embrace the great White Pine area of the north-west, which 

 has been so important in the development of the central por- 

 tion of the continent. Of course, the returns in this bulletin 

 are of very great interest, but they would be still more valuable 

 if the White Pine had been treated separately as a forest 

 product, since the exhaustion of our Pine supply is a matter of 

 national importance and interest. But it would have been 

 very difficult, and perhaps impossible, to divide the product 

 of the mills so as to show at once the quantity of White Pine 

 and of hardwood manufactured. In the Forestry Report of the 

 Tenth Census, Professor Sargent said : " The value of the 

 lumber product of Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota ex- 

 ceeds one-third of the total value of all the lumber manufac- 

 tured in the United States. This enormous development of 

 the lumber business is due to the excellence of the forests of 

 the Lake region, to the natural advantages of the country for 

 manufacturing lumber, and to the easy communication be- 

 tween these forests and the treeless agricultural region west 

 of the Mississippi River. The country between the Mississippi 

 River and the Rocky Mountains, now largely supplied with 

 lumber from the Lake region, must soon depend more upon 

 the remote Pine forests of the Gulf region or of those of the 

 Pacific coast. But the great north-western pineries are not 

 yet exhausted, and they may be expected to increase the 

 volume of their product for a few years longer to meet the 

 demands of the population fast covering the mid-continental 

 plateau." This prediction is justified in the report before us, 

 which shows an increase of mill products amounting to nearly 

 thirty per cent, in quantity and seventy-six per cent, in value. 

 The increase of the number of hands employed is 138 per 

 cent., and the increase of the total amount of wages paid is 

 141 per cent. The disproportion between the increase of 

 quantity of the product and its value is due to the fact that the 

 business of finishing and remanufacturing at the point of 

 original production has been developed largely, and this 

 augments the gross value of the product. The increase in 

 the output is probably due, in a large measure, to the increased 

 use of hardwood which, in late years, has been manufactured 

 extensively, especially in the northern peninsula of Michigan. 



Minneapolis now stands at the head of the lumber-producing 

 cities of this region, the value of the output here having reached 

 during the census year $6,584,456. In 1880 the value of the 

 output at the same city was $2,740,848, an output exceeded at 

 that time both by that of Bay City and of Muskegon. The in- 

 crease in this product of Minneapolis is due largely to the 

 opening up of the northern part of Minnesota, a region which 

 ten years ago was worked comparatively little. Of course, this 

 bulletin cannot show the quality of the Pine-timber manufac- 

 tured, but it may be that while the output is larger, it consists, 



