President Cashman?
The President: Yes.
[Illustration: Mr. S. P. Crosby, St. Paul.]
Mr. Crosby: If we only have two or three in some counties, if they would
make an effort to see every representative and senator and talk the
matter over, that is what is going to count. It is a year or something
like that before the legislature meets again, but it don't want to be
forgotten, and if every live member of this society will put his
shoulder to the wheel, I don't think there is any possible doubt but
what we will succeed and have the bill pass.
We broke the ice last winter and got acquainted with some of the people.
And another thing I want to say, and that is if that bill the next time
is not reported favorably out of the committee I would be in favor for
one of having it reported to the house or senate without any
recommendation of the committee. I talked with probably fifteen or
twenty, I should say, of the different members of the senate and house
about that bill, and it had a great many friends both in the house and
senate. Some of them came to me and said: "Crosby, why don't you put it
in the house, and we will show you how we will vote." There was a whole
lot of feeling that way, because if men investigate and find out what
the society is standing for and what it has done they will know it is a
perfectly meritorious bill. I think with a reasonable amount of work we
will accomplish a great deal, and we shall succeed eventually in having
the bill passed.
Another matter that is proper to speak of now is to see where the
members of this organization stand. I am going to tell you something. I
didn't hear it personally myself, but I did hear it from Mr. Yanish. He
is a man of veracity and he told me. He said in the last legislature the
Hennepin delegation used all the strength they could against this bill.
If it is a rivalry between the two cities, St. Paul and Minneapolis when
we propose to put the building in neither Minneapolis or St. Paul, but
practically midway between the two cities, if that rivalry can go to
that extent, it seems to me mighty small business.
We were very careful not to conflict in any way with the state
university in getting any of those appropriations they were asking for.
They wanted big sums of money. We didn't conflict with them, we didn't
do anything against them. We made a gentlemanly campaign and put our
case before the committee. There were a number of members who were
favorable, but of course there were thousands of bills in there, and it
didn't get out of the committees, as I said.
We see more and more every year what great necessities there are for a
home for this organization. We ought to have a building like as the
plans given in Mr. Latham's last report, a building that would have a
fine auditorium, a fine exhibit room, a place where we are at home
instead of going from place to place and meeting at different places and
not having the adequate facilities we ought to have.
* * * * *
STORE VEGETABLES FOR THE WINTER.--The basement is often the
best place on the farm for storing vegetables, says R. S. Gardner, of the
University of Missouri, College of Agriculture. It must be properly
built, and the temperature, moisture, and ventilation conditions kept
right if the best results are to be obtained. If it is too warm the
vegetables will dry and shrivel, and if the ventilation is poor, drops
of water will form and the vegetables will be more likely to decay. If
there is a furnace in the cellar, the storage room should be far enough
away so that it can be kept cool, and during very cold weather the door
may be opened to prevent freezing.--Mo. Exp. Sta.
Tomatoes for the Kitchen Garden.
C. W. PURDHAM, MARKET GARDENER, BROOKLYN CENTER.
The first and most important thing in raising tomatoes is good seed. To
raise good tomatoes does not depend so much on the variety you have as
it does on the seed.
In the fall select your best tomatoes and save the seed. Then about the
first of April sow your seed.
You can sow them in a box behind the stove, and as soon as they are up
give them all the sunlight you can. When they are about two inches high,
have some four-inch flower pots and transplant, giving them a good
thorough wetting before removing them from the seed box to the flower
pots.
By this time it will be warm enough to have a cold frame, which may be
prepared by nailing four boards together any size desired. One three by
six feet will hold about 150 plants. Shelter it well from the north and
slope it a little to the south with enough dirt in the frame to hold
your pots.
You can cover them with storm windows or cloth tacked onto frames. Keep
well covered nights and give all the sunlight possible through the day.
After danger of frost is past, set them out. Sandy loam is best, which
must be well pulverized and fertilized.
After you have removed the plant from the pot and set it in the ground,
place the pot about two inches from the plant, also about two inches
deep in the ground. Then throw a small handful of dirt in each pot and
fill with water as often as necessary.
This is the best way of watering that I know.
Mr. Sauter: What kind do you think is the best for an early variety?
Mr. Purdham: Well, the Earliana is extensively raised and the Dwarf
Champion.
Mr. Sauter: What do you think of the Red Pear?
Mr. Purdham: I don't know anything about that, but for a late variety of
tomato the Ponderosa is quite a tomato; it is a very large tomato.
Mr. Sauter: How about the Globe?
Mr. Purdham: That is a good tomato.
Mr. Sauter: What do you know of the paper cartons instead of flower
pots?
Mr. Purdham: I have never tried the cartons; I should think they would
be all right.
Mr. Miller: In saving your seed from year to year, is there any danger
of the seed running out in time?
Mr. Purdham: I don't think so. If you take your best tomatoes I think
you will improve them.
Mr. Miller: I should think the germination of that seed would run out?
Mr. Purdham: That may be, I can't say as to that. There are people that
make a specialty of studying that.
Annual Report, 1915, Vice-President, First Congressional District.
F. I. HARRIS, LA CRESCENT, MINN.
In making a report for the First Congressional District, I will say at
the beginning, that all my observations and interviews were taken in
Houston and Winona counties, an especially favored locality this year,
and I am well aware that the conditions and results are exceptional and
do not form a just estimate for the district and are certainly very much
above the average. The apple crop in the section named was a record
breaker, and where trees were at all cared for and properly sprayed the
quality and size of the fruit was very superior and remarkably free from
insect pests and disease.
[Illustration: Bridge on Lakeside Drive, at Albert Lea, in First
Congressional District.]
The yield of several orchards in this vicinity was from 1,000 to 15,000
barrels of marketable fruit, an increase of nearly 100 per cent above
the largest previous crop. From this station twenty-one carload lots of
apples, averaging 200 barrels per car, were shipped, besides nearly as
many more sold in the local markets of La Crosse and Winona and shipped
in small lots by freight and express. The prices obtained were in all
cases good, considering that the varieties grown are mostly summer and
fall and had to be sold in competition with Iowa and Illinois fruit.
While all markets were over-supplied, the demand for the quality of
fruit grown here in the commercial orchards was greatly in excess of
the supply and attracted buyers from Chicago and the Twin Cities and has
built a permanent market so long as the quality keeps up to this year's
standard.
At the same time, I am more than ever impressed with the necessity for
some manner of utilizing the surplus and low grade fruit with which the
local markets are flooded. It seems a great waste to have thousands of
bushels of apples fed to hogs and left to rot on the ground which would
be a large asset if converted into vinegar or canned. More than one-half
the fruit brought from farms is only fit for such use and by being
forced on the market serves to lower prices and demand for good fruit. I
visited one farm orchard within twenty miles of here and saw at a low
estimate 400 bushels of apples lying on the ground, all of which could
have been utilized in a factory, but not having been sprayed were not
fit for barreling, and the owner had turned the hogs in to get rid of
them. This is a condition that is sure to become worse in view of the
many small orchards recently set, besides the commercial orchards that
are just coming into bearing. From the reports received, in reply to
circulars sent out, I gather that the crop varied from nothing to 100
per cent and the quality in corresponding ratio, depending in most cases
upon whether orchards were properly sprayed or neglected.
Scab and other diseases caused a large proportion of the fruit set to
drop, and the remainder was unsalable in unsprayed orchards.
Considerable blight is reported in a number of orchards, especially
where cultivated. Trees growing in sod were noticeably free from it.
Practically nothing is being done to prevent its spreading. While
cutting out the affected wood may in some cases check it, I am satisfied
a better remedy will have to be found before it is wiped out. In my own
orchard just a few trees located on low land and under cultivation were
affected, and not a single case in sod.
There is from all reports an abundance of moisture in the ground, and
trees are in good condition to stand a hard winter, except that in some
cases the buds started during the warm days of November.
The crop of strawberries was generally a very light one on account of
blossoms being injured by late frosts and winter killing, but a few
correspondents report a full crop.
Other small fruits, including currants, raspberries and blackberries,
were a practical failure and light crop.
The crop of grapes was very light and in only a few favored localities
ripened before killing frosts. Plums, except in a few instances, were a
failure, the exceptions being in case of the Hansen hybrids.
[Illustration: Residence of S.H. Drum, Owatonna, in First Congressional
District--a veteran member of the society]
While more varieties of apples are successfully grown in this vicinity
than elsewhere in the state, and some correspondents recommend a long
list, my experience and advice is to set only a few varieties of known
commercial value, and while far too many early apples are being grown,
this condition is better than planting winter apples of unknown
hardiness and quality. The Northwestern Greening is the most profitable
winter apple here, but I understand it is not hardy in some localities
in the state.
* * * * *
ALASKAN BERRY HYBRIDS.--At the Sitka Experiment Station in
Alaska a strain of hardy strawberries is in the making, the result of
crosses between the native of the Alaskan coast region and cultivated
varieties. Several thousand seedlings have been grown, all very vigorous
and most of them productive and of high quality. The native variety of
the interior of Alaska is now to be used in similar crosses.
The Cuthbert raspberry has been crossed with its relatives, the native
Salmonberry (_Rubus spectabilis_ Pursh.) and the Thimbleberry (_R.
parviflorus_ Nutt.). The only interesting fact so far developed is that
the hybrids of the two species first named are almost entirely sterile.
Annual Report, 1915, Vice-President, Seventh Congressional District.
P. H. PETERSON, ATWATER, MINN.
From the answers received on blanks sent out I find there was a fair
crop of apples raised throughout this district, with the trees in good
condition for winter. Wood is well ripened up, leaves all shed and
plenty of moisture in the soil.
[Illustration: A productive strawberry field at P. H. Peterson's Atwater
fruit farm.]
All report none or very little blight this year. Spraying is not done
generally, but those few who do it are getting results. In our own
orchard, which was sprayed twice last spring, we have not found one
wormy apple.
Plums, none or a very few. Mr. Bjornberg, of Willmar, reports the
Surprise plum a full crop, others a total failure. Compass cherry bore a
fair crop, but with me it rotted badly, as also did Prof. Hansen's
plums, Sapa and Opata.
Grapes: Not many are grown except the Beta, which bore a heavy crop in
spite of the late spring frosts.
Blackberries: Nothing doing.
Raspberries and strawberries were a light crop. Strawberries especially
were badly damaged by late spring frosts--with me they were nearly a
total failure except the everbearing, which gave us a good crop. And I
want to add that they are here to stay for home use, and possibly as a
market berry. Plants are fully as hardy as the June-bearing sorts. No
matter how many times the blossoms are frozen off in the spring they
will come right out again and give us berries until it freezes up in
the fall.
Currants and gooseberries were a fair crop.
From the reports I gather that less nursery stock has been planted here
than usual, but with good results, as the season has been favorable for
plantings.
The fruit list recommended by the State Horticultural Society can be
relied on in this locality.
There is a good deal of interest shown here in top-working the better
quality winter apples onto hardy trees with good results, and the
Hibernal seems to be the best stock to use--it certainly ought not to be
planted for any other purpose. The apple is a drug on the market, and
those who planted largely of this variety find it difficult to dispose
of the crop at any price.
* * * * *
STUDYING FRUITS IN ILLINOIS.--Many seedling apples are being
grown at the Illinois Experiment Station. Reciprocal hybridizations
between standard orchard varieties and various species of the genus
Malus have been made, fifty-seven species and varieties which are not of
commercial importance having been obtained from the Arnold Arboretum at
Boston. Direct improvement through these violent crosses is not
anticipated, but it is hoped to acquire valuable information regarding
the affinities of the various species used, and also to produce material
for use in back crossing. Reciprocal crosses between standard orchard
varieties are also being made in large numbers, while a difficult piece
of work has been attempted in the reciprocal crossing of different
strains of the same variety, and different individuals of the same
strain. C.S. Crandall writes: "This project has aimed at the selfing of
particular individuals, and the use on trees here of pollen from trees
of the same variety in orchards 100 miles away and grown under quite
different conditions. Considerable effort has been expended in the
prosecution of this project, but up to the present time we have recorded
no successful pollinations. We have not as yet a very wide range of
varieties, but as far as we have gone we have encountered complete
sterility in the selfing within the individuals and in the attempt to
use pollen of the same variety brought from a distance. The unfortunate
feature about all the hybridizing work with apples is the mongrel
character of the plants on which we work. We know nothing of the
parentage of any of our varieties, and it seems quite useless to
speculate on what the segregation of characters may be in crosses
between different varieties. A further discouraging feature in apple
breeding is the long period required to get results from any particular
cross. Effort is being made to shorten this period by grafting scions of
hybrid seedlings on dwarf stocks and growing the plants in pots. This
will help some, but at best the attainment of results is some distance
in the future. We are endeavoring to maintain a reasonably complete
record of every step that is taken so that a complete history may be
available for those who may later continue the work.
"In pursuing the projects as outlined above there are a number of minor
problems that are receiving some attention: such as the retention of the
vitality of pollen, the period of receptivity, the seed production in
hybrid fruits, and the time for and percentage of the germination of
seeds. On all of these points we are accumulating considerable
information that it is hoped may be of some practical value."--Journal
of Heredity.
Spraying the Orchard.
HON. H. M. DUNLAP, SAVOY, ILLS.
I don't know whether I am out of place with this topic of mine or not
with a Minnesota audience, but I came through the exhibit rooms as I
came up to the hall, and whether you spray or not you certainly need to,
for I saw all sorts of fungous diseases upon your fruit. I presume that
these are not the poorest specimens you have--very few people, you know,
bring the poorest specimens they have to an exhibition place, Mr.
President, and I presume that if these are the best you have the poorest
must be pretty bad in the way of fungous diseases.
Of course, people don't like to have their faults told them, but if we
have anything the matter with us it is best for us to find out what the
matter is and then get rid of it. It is better than to do as many did in
the commercial fruit-growing states a number of years ago about the San
Jose scale, those that were interested in having that fact suppressed,
or at least thought they were interested in having the fact suppressed
that they had San Jose scale within the confines of their state. They
didn't want that information to get out, so they didn't discuss the
matter of San Jose scale in their societies.
In Illinois we took a different view of that proposition, and it was,
that we had the San Jose scale and we thought the thing to do was to
stamp it out, to get after it. So we agitated that subject in our
society and talked about it. We had the state entomologist canvass the
entire state to find out where the San Jose scale was doing its work and
gave him authority to go in and spray those places or cut down the trees
and get them out of the way. The effect of that work is very evident.
The people of other states would point to us saying that they did not
have the scale but that we had because we reported the fact, but I know
they now have it a great deal worse than we do because of this neglect.
In this matter of spraying and spraying materials, if we go back in
history--we have to look for truth wherever we find it, whether it comes
from low or high sources. As a matter of fact thieves and sheep ticks
and ignorance are largely responsible for our spraying and the spraying
materials of today. It doesn't sound very well in a scientific body to
talk that way, but truth is truth wherever you find it, whether it comes
from the university professor or from the farmer. If we recognize truth,
from whatever source it comes, then we are open-minded and can take
advantage of things that will be greatly to our benefit.
In the matter of spraying materials: They were discovered through
accident, in an effort to prevent thieving in the vineyards of Bordeaux,
France. It seems that workmen on the way to their places of employment
were in the habit of foraging on the vineyards of the farmers along the
way. To prevent that some of the fruit growers conceived the idea it
would be a good thing in order to scare them to get blue vitriol and mix
it with water and spray it on the fruit along the roadside. Later in the
season, very much to their surprise, they found that the grapes that
were treated in that way were not affected with the brown rot. So they
tried it again to see whether they were right about that being the
cause, and it wasn't long before they used it for that purpose. They
stopped the thieving, but they also discovered a scientific truth, that
the Bordeaux mixture was a fungicide and that fact has been of immense
value to the world since then.
When the San Jose scale came into this country from the west, some man
who had used sheep dip for sheep ticks, said: "If it is a good thing
against sheep ticks, why isn't it good against this little vermin they
call the San Jose scale?" He tried it on the trees, and he found that it
was an effective remedy for the San Jose scale. So we have lime-sulphur
today as one of the spray materials in very common use.
Among other things the scientists told us we couldn't use lime-sulphur
and arsenate of lead together, that they would have to be sprayed over
the orchard in separate sprays, that is, we would have to go over the
orchard with lime-sulphur and then again with arsenate of lead, that
when you combined the two the chemical combination was such that it
deteriorated the lime-sulphur. Some farmer who didn't know about that
scientific proposition determined to put them both on together, and he
found that it not only worked all right but that the two were really
more effective when combined than if put on separately. So you see it
was thieves, sheep ticks and ignorance that are responsible for three of
our most successful ways of spraying at the present time.
Now, scientific men have come in and given us a great deal of
information along various lines in regard to spraying, and I don't decry
science in any sense at all. These men, while they were not
scientifically educated, discovered scientific truths, and it is truths
we want after all.
Just what your position on this spraying proposition is here in
Minnesota, whether you have commercial orchards up here or not, I have
not been able to discover. I presume that your plantings here are very
largely that of the farmer and amateur rather than the commercial
orchardist. In Illinois we have our large commercial orchards, and we
have gotten beyond the question of whether it pays us to spray or not.
For a man to be in the commercial apple business in Illinois and not
spray means that he doesn't accomplish very much and his product doesn't
bring him any profit.
Now, whether you spray commercially or whether you spray for your family
orchard in an amateur way, it doesn't matter so far as the spraying is
concerned--you should spray in either case. If you have a community
where you have few orchards and they are small, it behooves you to get
together and buy a spraying outfit, combine with your neighbors and buy
a good spraying outfit, and then have some man take that matter up who
will do it thoroughly in that neighborhood and pay him for doing it. In
that way, if you hire it done, it doesn't interfere with your farming
operations and gets your spraying done on time. I have noticed this with
stockmen and with grain farmers, men who are not directly interested in
fruit but combine it with their regular business, that they consider
fruit growing a side line and such a small part of their business that
they usually neglect it altogether. In the matter of the spraying they
keep putting it off until tomorrow. When the time arrives for spraying
you must do it _today_ and not put it off until tomorrow.
Time is a very essential element in spraying. To give you an
illustration: A few years ago, in spraying a Willow Twig orchard,
consisting of eighteen rows of trees, I sprayed nine rows of those
trees, or about half of the orchard, we will say, the first part of the
week, the first two days. And then there came on a two or three days'
rain, and the balance of those eighteen rows was sprayed the very last
of the week or the first of the following week. The two following
sprayings went on just at the right time for them, but when it came to
the harvesting of that crop the trees that were sprayed first, that were
sprayed immediately after the bloom fell, produced 175 bushels of very
fine No. 1 fruit, free from scab, while the other nine rows, equal in
every respect so far as the trees are concerned and the amount of bloom
there was, produced seventeen bushels of No. 2 fruit, no No. 1 fruit at
all.
The Willow Twig is one of those varieties that is very susceptible to
scab, and of course this is a marked illustration of what happens if you
don't spray at the right time. Notwithstanding the fact that the nine
rows, the last ones, I speak of, were sprayed with the two following
sprays at the same time that the other part of the orchard was sprayed,
the results were entirely different because the first spraying, which
was really the important one so far as the scab is concerned, was not
put upon the tree at the right time.