1020 



MINNESOTA 



MIRABILIS 



tire species first named do wt^U uuder cultiyation, and 

 large quantities are raised for home consumption and 

 are profitably marketed. Tlie Concord, Worden, Dela- 

 ware, and grapes of similar character, are easily raised 

 in the many good locations along the lake shores and 

 the river bluifs, and this is an important industry not- 

 withstanding the fact that tUey have to be covered in win- 

 ter, which adds somewhat to the expense of culture. 

 However, on account of the peculiar adaptability of the 

 Delaware grape to some of our soils and to the climate, 

 it is raised with profit in competition with the growers 

 of the eastern states, though the Concord is not high 

 enough in price by one cent a pound to permit of tliis 

 to any great extent. 



Apples are raised on a commercial scale in southern 

 and eastern Minnesota, the high, rolling land in the 

 southeastern portion being especially well adapted to 

 their cultivation. The varieties of the eastern and cen- 

 tral states generally prove a failure here. The Duchess 

 of Oldenburg is the standard of hardiness in apples, and 

 can be grown successfully in good locations as far north 

 as St. Paul, and in a small way 100 miles further north. 

 The Talman Sweet is raised to some extent, hut is liable 

 to suffer in severe winters. The Minnesota seedling 

 ■apple known as the Wealthy is geuerallythe most prof- 

 itable kind grown. (See Gideon, p. 642.) Much inter- 

 est centers around the introduction of varieties of ap- 

 ples of unusual hardiness, and a few of the Russian 

 sorts are proving very satisfactory. The hardiest va- 

 riety of this origin so far found is the Hibernal, which 

 represents a class of sour autumn apples that will thrive 

 on suitable soil in almost any portion of the state. The 

 Charlaraotf is another very liardy early autumn apple of 

 the same class. Such hybrid crabs as the Transcendent, 

 Martha, Gideon No. G and Minnesota maybe successfully 

 grown in suitable locations and soil over most of the state. 



The Americana class of plums is found growing wild 

 all over the state, and the fruit is gathered in large 

 quantities. The cultivated sorts of this class are easily 

 grown everywhere. Wild plums can generally be 

 obtained in abundance in autumn at about $1.50 per 

 bushel. There is no variety of any other class of plums 

 that is appreciably cultivated, although in very favor- 

 able locations a few of the Japan and domestic sorts 

 are generally grown. 



Cherries may be successfully grown on a large scale 

 in extreme southeastern Minnesota, and there are some 

 commercial orchards; there but generally throughout 

 the state the fruit buds are so injured in winter that the 

 trees are unproductive, although they may make a very 

 satisfactory tree growth. 



Pears generally blight to death earlj', and tliere is no 

 variety that is generally cultivated. Several of the 

 Russian pears are as hardy as the Duchess apple, Iiiit 

 they have died, so far as tried, from blight before be- 

 <roming very productive. Apricots are not snfficiently 

 hardy. 



The most common injury to trees is known as sun- 

 scald of the trunks, which often causes severe loss. It 

 is easily avoided by shading the trunks. Blight seri- 

 ously injures some varieties of apples. Winter protec- 

 tion of various kinds is important and carefully attended 

 to by our best horticulturists. 



Vegetables of all the kinds grown in the northern 

 states are very easily raised, and the display of these 

 products in the large markets is very excellent. Cab- 

 bage, caulitlower, celery, peas, lettuce, potatoes, beans, 

 corn, cucumbers, tomatoes, squash, watermelons, musk- 

 melons and eggplant are to be had in ab^indance, and 

 the markets are often glutted with them. Native mu.sk- 

 melons and tomatoes occasionally retail at 10 to 15 cts. 

 per bushel. The canning of vegetables is becoming an 

 important industry at several points. The climate 

 seems to be especially favorable to vegetables, and there 

 is much less trouble from diseases than in many more 

 humid sections. 



The demand for ornamental horticulture is consider- 

 able and rapidly increasing, giving investment to per- 

 haps $200,000 in the greenhouse business, and adds no 

 small sum to the receipts of the several large and the 

 many small nurseries in the state. The love for horti- 

 culture is also shown by the imnu-^nse sun)s spent by the 

 cities and small towns for public parks. St. Paul and 



Minneapolis together have upwards of 3,000 acres in 

 their public parks, which are well cared for, very 

 beautiful, and visited by at least two million persons 

 each year. 



The Minnesota State Horticultural Society is a very 

 strong and popular organization, having a member- 

 ship list of about 800, each of whom pay an annual 

 membership fee of $1. It publishes, at the expense of 

 the state, a monthly journal and au annual report. 

 It also receives aid from the state to the amount of 

 $1,500 annually. It has recently offered $1,000 for a 

 seedling winter apple especially adapted to Minnesota 

 conditions. Great interest is taken in the raising of 

 seedling apples, and at some of the state fair meetings 

 more than 300 separate varieties of Minnesota origin 

 have been shown. 



The state experiment station is located near St. Paul 

 and pays considerable attention to horticulture. It has 



1406. Four-O'Clock— MirabiUs Jalapa. 

 Nearlj' natuviil size. 



four sub-experiment stations, located in various parts of 

 the state. One of these is located at Owatonna, and is 

 devoted almost exclusively to the raising of seedling 

 apples. The Agricultural Department of the university 

 had over five hundred in attendance in the school year 

 of 1899-1900. Pour hundred of these attended the agri- 

 cultural high school, where, in addition to the other 

 agricultui'al studies, much attention is paid to horticul- 

 ture and forestry. Samuel B. Gref.n. 



MINT. See Mmtha. 



MINT GERANIUM. 



var. hniace/i>i(lfs. 



MIEABILIS ( AdivirahiJls, meaning wonderfid, 

 strange; shortened by Linnaeus to Mirabilis). yyctagiix'i- 

 cete. About ]0 species of the warnier parts of America, 



fhrifsanihemum Balsam Ha , 



