432 



FIB ST FR UITS. 



ance, as shown by their making grove planting their 

 pioneer horticultural work, and now that the govern- 

 ment has withdrawn the slight encouragement hitherto 

 given, it is of the utmost importance that the combined 

 efforts of all interested classes be secured in the promo- 

 tion of this form of enterprise. 



The western farmer will grow his own fruit as soon 

 as he has provided a sheltered location for his orchard ; 

 by attempts to push the interests of the fruit nursery 

 where the windbreak has not been planted failure is not 

 only the immediate result, but discouragement and prej- 

 udice attend the failure and prevent trials under more 

 favorable conditions. 



The plum is the pioneer fruit of the northwestern 

 states, especially the native Primus Americana, from 

 which many sorts of good quality are being secured, and 

 is much hardier than Primus Chicasa, which has a 

 more southern range, from which have come Miner, 

 Wildgoose and others. It will be sound business policy 

 for the nursery trade to discard all the entire Chickasaw 

 family for planting north of central or northern Iowa, 

 even though it is necessary to substitute a poorer quality 

 and of more difficult propagation, so long as perfect 

 hardiness is secured. 



The De Soto plum is the standard sort all over the 

 northwest, but in Dakota is too late to be relied upon, 

 being injured by frost some years. Fruits which will 

 withstand cold, and also heat and drouth are constantly 

 being discovered, and although the greater part of the 

 "discoveries" are discarded after general trial, still it 

 must be with nursery stock as with living things a case 

 of the survival of the fittest, which at last will produce 

 something to be relied upon. 



If this association could lay dense lines beyond which 

 its members and the trade would not go in the matter of 

 varieties of fruits for the northwest, a great stride 

 towards a mere general use of nursery stock would ensue. 



Forty varieties of plums are being tested at this sta- 

 tion, where precautions are taken to insure the thorough 

 ripening of the wood in the fall, but many sorts must 

 be dropped. In addition to Mmer and Wildgoose there 

 is Forest Garden, which is so weak in the joints as to be 

 worthless. Wolf not hardy, an example of many more. 

 Besides De Soto, Harrison's peach promises to be of 

 great value. 



The northwest has definite needs in the apple line, 

 and does not care whether a sort is Russian, Yankee or 

 Turk, as long as it will live through our winters and 

 withstand intense heat and sunshine even if it yields 

 only a moderate quality and quantity of fruit. The 

 crab, which must be the predecessor of the standard 

 apple, while hardy, is subject to a severe blight which is 

 a serious drawback. Nurserymen anxious to extend 

 their northwestern trade will do well to disseminate the 

 best varieties of crab apple ; root grafts with long 

 scions make the best trees, as although it is easy to secure 

 hardy plum stocks for budding, yet there has been so 

 much budded stock broken by the wind at the point of 

 union, that it is not safe to invest in anything but grafts. 



The northwest Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska and the 

 Dakotas have been planted thickly with orchards and 

 fruit gardens, for it is inhabited by men who are not 

 only farmers, but home-makers as well, who would 

 reproduce on the prairies the surroundings of their east- 

 ern and European homes ; failures have been countless, 

 successes few, but this region is in the morning of an 

 increased activity in horticulture. 



The following stirring and emphatic resolutions of 

 Minnesota State Forestry Association were adopted by 

 the nurserymen : 



Whereas, The beneficent effects of great forests, in 

 compact form, are not circumscribed to any special 

 locality, but extend over vast territory, protecting against 

 cyclonic storms so often destroying the crops, econo- 

 mizing the snows and rains for slow and healthful 

 evaporation, preserving the flow of our springs that 

 feed our lakes and rivers, imparting humidity to the 

 atmosphere, thus promoting rain-fall, serving every- 

 where as a factor in the agricultural and horticultural 

 industries and all correlated business interests of the 

 country ; and 



Whereas, Congress had delegated to the President 

 the right and duty to reserve to the people at large, 

 under the control of the National Government, such 

 woodlands as in the judgment of citizens of states and 

 territories where such lands are located, will tend to 

 secure these benefits in perpetual inheritance to the 

 people ; therefore, 



Resolved, That the American Association of Nursery- 

 men recommend and urge our agricultural and horticul- 

 tural co-operators in every part of the country to take 

 immediate steps for the security of such reserves of 

 woodlands, not privately entered, wherever it is possibly 

 practicable, and that special attention be given to this 

 matter by the people occupying the Rocky Mountain 

 regions to save the native forests there from further 

 vandalism of axe and fire, so that their great reservoirs 

 of water may be wisely economized for general atmos- 

 pheric humidity and for irrigation over and on the 

 great plains of the west. 



Resolved, That such a reserve of the beautiful wood- 

 lands in the northern part of Minnesota, not yet en- 

 tered, to be used as one of the national parks, is 

 essential to complete the interlocking chain of forests to 

 be stretched over the country, and that such reserve 

 comprise at least four or five millions of the six mil- 

 lions of unoccupied acres, and that said park be located 

 in as long a belt east and west as possible within the 

 Governmental domain, and extend south where its waters, 

 by natural or artificial channels, can help feed the 

 sources of the Mississippi river. 



Resolved, That printed copies of these resolutions be 

 sent to the executive officers of the Government, of the 

 Forestry divisions and organizations, and to 9.II the 

 governors and congressmen of the states, and measures 

 be provided to have them circulated to the people 

 through the principal papers of the country. — Elmer 



E. SUMMEY. 



{Concluded next month.) 



