THE DUCHESS APPLE AND HOW TO HANDLE IT.

E. H. S. DARTT, OWATONNA.

Before you handle the Duchess apple you must get it. That is the first thing to do, and you will not get it unless you set it on favorable ground. If in southern Minnesota you set it out without any protection, it will not grow. I have known lots of them to kill out. Now, the handling, of course, depends upon the cultivation of the orchard, whether it is carefully cultivated, well manured and in good condition-and then you will get apples larger and earlier than you will from a neglected orchard. I have had experience in that line this year. In one orchard the apples were small and inferior, and in another orchard that was young and thrifty we commenced picking nearly a week or ten days before any of the other orchards were picked. Those early apples I sold on the market netted me nearly $3.00 per barrel, and the other apples coming in competition with the Duchess brought me only $1.50 per barrel; just enough to pay for getting them to market. In the first case I picked the largest apples through the orchard. I would pick before fully ripe, but pretty nearly ripe, and I picked all I could at that time. If you cannot market them at once, if the market goes down, you must either let the apples rot or else you must have cold storage to put them in. Every man who raises Duchess apples to any amount should have cold storage, and then place the apples in cold storage before fully ripe. In that way he can keep them until the rush is

over.

For picking apples I have an apple cart. It is a high wheelbarrow with two long handles and two wheels at the foremost end. It sticks up in front about six feet high, where there is a platform. The men take that and run it right under a tree, and they say it is handier than a step ladder. I put my apples in crate that will hold a bushel, and then put them in cold storage. I can stack those crates, and I put almost as many in the same space as bulk apples. I set them all close together, as close as I can, and generally there is room enough for the cold air to come down from above and circulate through the crates. In my method of storage the lower crates keep remarkably well, but the top crates do not keep as well. I stack them up about five or six feet, but the highest do not keep as well, for the reason that the cold air goes down and the warm air rises. I do not know that I can tell you anything else that will interest you in this line.

Mr. Elliot: How long do you keep them?

Mr. Dartt: The apples are put into cold storage until I sell them about the first of November.

Mr. Elliot: What did you get for the last?

Mr. Dartt: Sixty-five cents a bushel. Understand, I could not have sold the Duchess apples at the time I put them in storage; I could not have sold them for anything. Duchess apples must either rot or be put in cold storage.

Mr. Elliot: Where did you find your best market?

Mr. Dartt: Minneapolis was the best market I had, unless it was Fargo or Grand Forks. I sold some up there, and they paid me a little better than Minneapolis after the first shipments; they sold for pretty nearly $4.00 per barrel. In a week the market dropped right down to $2.00, and then to $1.50, and then to such a low price it would not pay to ship at all. The Fargo market was very good; at first they netted me over $2.00 per barrel, and then the market flattened out.

SOMETHING ABOUT THE TREES NEAR MY HOME.

MISS MARTHA DENISON, MINN. COllege of AGRICULTURE. The one feature which we first notice about a place is its trees. There is something about them which adds very much to the appearance, making a place more attractive and more homelike. Is there any home more lonely or more desolate than the one where there are no trees?

We first think of them from an ornamental point of view, without considering the purpose each one serves, and it is only by study of the different trees that we are able to appreciate their true value.

During the hot summer we find the trees a great comfort in protecting us from the hot rays of the sun, and if planted close enough together they serve to break the effect of the warm winds. During winter, or when it is colder, a shelter belt of trees is found a great benefit as a protection from the cold northwest winds and also in keeping the snow from drifting near the buildings.

Near my home, in Rice county, the soft maple and the white willow are used generally for shelter belts, but occasionally we find the white pine, Norway pine and Scotch pine used for this purpose, or, perhaps, the white spruce to a limited extent.

The soft maple is grown quite extensively, the principal reason being that it grows very easily from seed which matures in the early summer, and if planted that year quite a growth will be made during the season. It is a desirable tree because of it rapid growth, but there is also an objection because of its being easily broken by the wind,and it is apt to sunscald if not properly protected. As an ornamental tree it is used but very little compared with the sugar maple, which, although it grows very slowly, takes on a much more beautiful form than the soft maple, and in autumn the leaves are brilliantly colored, making a fine effect. The wood of both varieties is valuable as fuel and is used a great deal in the interior finishing of houses. The sugar maple is also used in the manufacture of furniture and for flooring. Maple sugar is obtained from both the soft maple and the sugar maple.

The white willow makes a rapid growth and is a desirable tree for a windbreak. It is usually propagated by cuttings, which grow readily. It does not form a very beautiful tree, as it is rather spreading, but where there are several together, with their straight, uniform branches, the effect is quite pleasing.

On one farm, a short distance from my home, a row of willows has been planted on either side of a lane, and from this the farm has been named "Willow Lane Farm."

Quite often we find farms named for some particular variety of trees grown commonly on that place. One has a great number of maples and is called "Maplewood Farm," while another is distinguished for its oaks and is called "Oakland Farm."

The white oak and the bur oak are quite common in Rice County. The white oak forms a noble and picturesque tree. It is highly esteemed as an ornamental tree on account of its sturdiness and magnificent spreading form. It is one of the hardiest trees, but is seldom planted because of its slow growth. The wood is strong, very heavy, tough and close grained and is of great value in the manufacture of agricultural implements, for interior finishing of houses, cabinet making and fuel.

The bur oak is a large, magnificent tree and is the most durable and longest lived tree in this section. It is very valuable for timber, although the wood is coarser grained and not so strong as that of the white oak.

Evergreen trees are grown a great deal and are highly esteemed because of their constant color during the entire year. They are stately trees, with their branches almost touching the ground. The pines, Norway, white and Scotch, form beautiful trees and grow quite rapidly. They are used as ornamental trees as well as for windbreaks.

The timber yielded by the white pine is the most useful in this country. Norway pine is sometimes used to take the place of white pine, but is not so good.

The white spruce is a favorite tree for ornamental purposes. It is conical in form and grows to a great height, although somewhat slowly.

Among the native trees are the aspen poplar, cottonwood, white elm, black cherry, wild crab and wild plum. Scattered here and there were groves of the aspen poplar, which, with their trembling leaves and greenish white bark, looked very pretty, but the poplar is a short lived tree, and only a few trees are seen now.

The cottonwood grows to a great height and is longer lived than the aspen.

The elm grows well and makes a pretty tree with its long sweeping branches.

The black cherry, wild crab and wild plum are very common and grow and fruit well, but during the last few years all such trees have been cut down to make room for others thought to be more important.

In many places the natural timber has been cleared away, and some cultivated varieties planted, while in others there is not the trace of a tree left.

It may be worth while in this connection to quote from the Hon. Eliza Wright, who says: "The nation which neglects its forests is surely designed to ruin. If the trees go, men must decay."

PEAR AND APPLE BLIGHT.

H. E. VAN DEMAN, PARKSLEY, VA.

This species of blight is due to a very minute germ which finds access to the tender cells and juices inside the protecting bark of the tree. There is multiplies into the untold billions, turning the healthy sap into a poisonous fluid, and causing serious injury or death to a part of a tree and in extreme cases to the entire tree. What will stop it? When the blight is rampant in the orchard, very little, if anything, can be done to stop it. The dead and dying leaves and branches are but the natural results of the disease that has

long been ravaging the vital parts within. It is the sickly portion of a blighted leaf or branch that contains the elements of danger. Fighting fire blight can only be done effectively by preventative measures. Nothing will cure it, so far as known, short of fire. Nor will spraying even check it. The disease is too deeply seated to be reached by outside treatment. It will go from apple to pear or quince trees, or from them to the apple. The wild red haws and some other pornaceous trees are slightly effected by it. The germs will not multiply when the temperature is cool. They lie dormant during the winter time, and under the warming influences of spring they begin to grow. A liquid oozes out of the diseased branches, which contains millions of these deadly germs. This is carried on the feet of insects and in other ways to neighboring trees, where the germ finds lodgment. They are often introduced through the delicate floral organs, where they find easy access to the circulating sap. From there the disease soon spreads into the twigs and then into the larger branches. They also enter through the tender growth of the new wood. It is there that the disease most commonly appears, especially on apple and quince trees, during the warm, sultry weather in June and July, when the shoots are very tender. Where thunder showers are very frequent in mid-summer, the conditions are just right for the introduction and propagation of the disease, which has caused some to think that electricity did the damage.

As has already been said, preventive measures are the only kind to use. The source of infection must be destroyed. If the sickly, half-matured twigs are cut off below where any disease exists there can be little opportunity for its spread. The great difficulty is, to know when we are below the disease. No one can tell absolutely how far down it may extend, except the most skillful scientist, and with a compound microscope. It is usually safe, however, to cut a foot or a little more below where there is the least outward sign of any affection. If the cut is not made below the diseased part, there is great danger, if not certainty, of carrying the germs on the knife or saw to healthly wood in cutting off other branches. The trees should be carefully gone over in late fall or early winter, but any time before the trees bloom will do.

A DRY SEASON decreases the yield of potatoes, but increases the starch content. A wet season has the opposite effect.

Calendar for August.

O. M. LORD.

Nearly all fruit growers advise us to discontinue cultivation in August to allow the wood to ripen, as cultivation has a tendency to prolong the growth, leaving the wood succulent and more liable to winter-kill. Nurseries and fruit fields that were cultivated late last year and kept clean, suffered more from the winter than those that were not so well cared for. But we know that last winter was exceptional, and in a series of years it pays best to keep the ground free from grass and weeds, especially with young stock. A week of rainy weather in July upset our work in cultivating, and although we kept the cultivator going when we could every bit of grass and the weeds started into growth with the cultivation; so that if we do not cultivate more or less in August we shall be overrun with weeds. Especially is this true of nursery stock. Strawberries, of course, must be kept clean, but we shall be glad this year to see the frost to help us master the purslane. The winter was not so destructive to insect life as it was hoped. With the exception of black aphis and web worm, insects injurious to fruit are very prevalent. It pays to gather and destroy fallen fruit during this month.

Our old strawberry bed could not be burned over this year after the picking; the weather was too wet for several days after mowing. We used the horse rake, instead of burning, and then run the plow between the rows and harrowed, as usual. I would prefer to burn if I could in season.

Though there is no disease nor injurious insects to be seen, a good many of the older fruit trees, though leafing out this spring, have not vitality to stand the July heat and will probably be found dead next spring. The young apple orchards are making a vigorous growth, and if a succession of moderate winters occur we may again look for fruit in abundance. And yet the severity of the winter may not always be considered, as some of the so-called tender varieties fared better last winter than some that have been considered very hardy. Why this is so we do not know.

Grapes need very little work this month. They are later than usual but at present appear to be doing well.

Currants. If a second brood of worms appear, now is the time to destroy them. Paris green is the best application, either with water or the dust gun. The currant worm appears to be the only serious drawback to plenty of the fruit, and the worms are easily controlled if taken in time.

Gooseberries are becoming more popular. They also are liable to destruction by the worms and need the same treatment as currants. Some kinds are subject to mildew, and it is doubtful if it pays to plant them, but the Houghton and Downing are comparatively free and do well in most places.