Part 36 (1/2)

The plums sent to this station the spring of 1913 bore no fruit at all this season, but the trees made a fair growth and all appear healthy except a few that froze back the winter of 1913-14.

The plum trees sent from the central station the spring of 1914 made a very poor growth that season, owing undoubtedly to the fact that the roots were dry when reaching here, but this last season all but one made a splendid growth, and one No. 10, to my surprise, produced five plums that for beauty and eating qualities would place this variety in the front rank with the best in the state. We shall watch these trees with great interest and will report on their actions as they develop.

The four trees of No. 1 plum, sent here the spring of 1915 from the central station, made a splendid growth, each tree developing fruit buds in abundance.

Of the seven varieties of raspberries sent here the spring of 1913, three made good this last season. No. 2 bore a tremendous crop of very large fruit, in quality the best; No. 4 bore heavily, an all around good berry and apparently a good s.h.i.+pper; No. 7 produced a good crop, not quite as large as No. 2, but continued in bearing for a long period.

Further testing will be necessary for these berries, but so far they look good.

There is little to say about grapes, except the growth has been good, and the amount of fruit buds started immense, but the frost and unsuitable weather told the tale--we won't repeat it.

Of strawberries we will say this: If the central station did nothing in five years except to produce the strawberry known as Minnesota No. 3, they have still done well. It is hardy, a good s.h.i.+pper, it is delicious with cream and sugar, a good canner, in fact a great big Senator Dunlap with no green core, but ripens to the tip. It is also a good plant producer.

The strawberry known as No. 1017, planted last spring, did well. It is a wonderful plant producer, having a very heavy, dark green foliage, it seems to be a good bearer of large, dark red berries.

With the wood on the fruit trees thoroughly ripened, and fruit buds in good condition, we may look ahead to the future with courage, believing that all things come to him that waits in Minnesota, providing he hustles while he waits.

RED ROSE BEETLE IS EASILY KILLED.--Did you ever wait patiently in the spring for your favorite j.a.panese rose to bloom and find when the buds were ready to burst that it was scaly and spotted around punctures made by the red rose beetle? Then did you vow once more to destroy the beetles when you saw the roses begin to wither from punctures made by the beetle in the stem?

The destruction of the red rose beetle is simple, according to a circular recently issued by the Minnesota state entomologist, University Farm, St. Paul. The method is to cultivate the ground around the rose bush early this spring and cultivate it again in the late fall. This will destroy many of the beetles, for they live in the soil in the winter. Then a few of the pests can be hand-picked and destroyed.

If they are still too thick, they may be removed next fall for safety to next year's blooms. The beetle lays its eggs in the hip of the rose.

These can be seen after the rose is in full bloom as a black spot, covered over with no noticeable depression. The growing pests leave the old blossom by the middle of September and go into the soil until next spring.

The bush should be examined in the latter part of August for any flower hips containing insect larvae and all found should be plucked and burned. A few hours' work will insure a beautifully blooming bush next year.

Annual Report, 1915, Jeffers Trial Station.

DEWAIN COOK, SUPT.

The 1915 apple crop at this station was a complete failure, owing to the freezes of late May and early June. This apple failure, so far as I have been able to ascertain, was prevalent over the entire county of Cottonwood, although we could hear of plenty of apples being grown only a short distance over the county line in all directions excepting to the west of us.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A windbreak at Dewain Cook's, mostly white willow.]

The season has been one of cool weather and much rainfall, so much so that although we had no killing frosts this fall until October 5th, yet no corn or melons ripened in this vicinity. We quit spraying our fruit trees when the freeze came last spring and destroyed the apple crop, and the result has been that there was much scab on the foliage of many varieties of our apple trees. The Antonovka and the Hibernal seem to be about the healthiest in this respect. As to the fire blight there has been absolutely none at this station the season just pa.s.sed.

As for plums we got a few bushels in the final roundup, De Sotos, Wolfs and Wyants mostly. Of the j.a.panese hybrids, we got a few specimens of the B.A.Q. The Emerald bore freely, but the fruit mostly either was destroyed by the brown rot or cracked badly just as they were getting ripe. The Tokata, one of Hansen's hybrids, gave us specimens of very fine fruit.

Of the apricot hybrids only the Hanska made any pretense of trying to bear anything, but the curculio got away with about all of them.

When I made the midsummer report most of Hansen's sand cherry hybrids were promising a good crop, but with the exception of the Enopa and Kakeppa, from which we gathered a few quarts of fruits, we got nothing.

The brown rot, a.s.sisted by the curculio, took them all. It sure looks as if we ever expect to make a general success with these sand cherry hybrids and with the j.a.panese hybrids, we will have to be better educated along the line of controlling this disease that is so very destructive to the fruit of some varieties of plums, especially of those varieties that have sand cherry or j.a.panese blood in them.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A veteran white spruce at Mr. Cook's place.]