Part 4
When I was a small boy I was fortunate enough to be raised on a farm in Butler County, Iowa, that was well protected by a good Norway spruce, white pine and Scotch pine windbreak. The Norway spruce and white pine are still there and if anything better than they were thirty years ago. At that time my father fed from one to five carloads of stock every winter back of this grove, and I honestly believe that he fed his steers at a cost of from $5 to $15 per steer less than a neighboring feeder who fed out on the open prairie with a few sheds to furnish the only winter protection. I shall never forget the remark a German made who was hauling corn to us one cold winter day. As he drove onto the scales back of this grove, he straightened up and said: "Well, the evergreen grove feels like putting on a fur coat," and I never heard the difference in temperature described any better. Our evergreen grove moved our feeding pens at least 300 miles further south every winter, as far as the cold was concerned.
Near Hampton, Iowa, we have three or four of the best stock raisers in the United States. Every one of them is feeding cattle back of a large evergreen grove. In recent years they have divided up some of their large farms into smaller places and made new feeding sheds, and the first improvement that they made on each and every one of these places was an evergreen grove. They buy the best trees that can be obtained that have been transplanted and root pruned, and most of them prefer the Norway spruce in the two to three foot size. After planting, they take as good care of them as they do of any crop on the farm, for they fully realize that cultivation is an all important thing in getting a good evergreen grove started.
Several days ago, I talked with one of these feeders who has time and again topped the Chicago market. He made the remark that the buildings on his farm cost thousands of dollars while his evergreen grove had only cost from $100 to $200, but that he would rather have every building on the place destroyed than to lose that windbreak.
As the price of land and feed increases, the farmers of the Northwest are waking up to the fact that an evergreen grove is an absolute necessity, and that they cannot afford to plant any other. The maple, willow, box elder and other similar trees take so much land that they cannot afford them. They are a windbreak in the summer, but a joke in the winter.
The time is not far distant when every up-to-date farmer in Minnesota, Iowa, Nebraska and other Northwest states will have a good evergreen grove which will be considered as much of a necessity as his barn, house or other outbuildings.
Late this fall, my wife and I left Hampton for an automobile trip through Minnesota, North Dakota and into Canada. It seemed to me on this trip that the most beautiful thing we saw about the farm buildings were the evergreen groves that many of the farmers now have all through Minnesota and Dakota. I was certainly very much surprised at some of these windbreaks and at some of the varieties of evergreens that were being grown successfully as far north as Fargo. Near Fargo we found some extra good specimens of Norway spruce, which I consider the best of all windbreak makers. We also found the Scotch pine doing well 100 miles northwest of Fargo, and other varieties which were naturally to be expected being planted to a considerable extent.
As far as usefulness is concerned, the farmer of the prairie states is bound to get more real value from an evergreen than any other person, but I am very glad to say that the homes of the wealthy in the cities each season are being improved more and more by the planting of the more ornamental evergreens. Cities like Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, Boston, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and other large cities of the United States are using thousands of evergreens every season to beautify the homes, of not only the wealthy but of the laboring man also. The price of evergreens at the present time is within the reach of everyone owning a home, and there is no other improvement that can be placed upon a piece of ground at so little expense and so little labor that will add so many dollars in real value to that property as will the evergreen, either as a windbreak or in landscape work.
Annual Report, 1915, Executive Board.
J. M. UNDERWOOD, CHAIRMAN
The report of the executive board is necessarily brief from the fact that the machinery of our society is kept in such excellent condition by our secretary, that there is little left for our board to do. His monthly issues of the "Horticulturist" keep the membership posted on all important items of interest and are a splendid examplification to the public of the value of our publications and of the meetings of our society. Your executive board meets twice a year to verify the accounts of the secretary and treasurer and at other times when there is something of importance to attend to.
We wish to call your attention to the fact that your board is practically self supporting. The members work for nothing and board themselves, which is a mighty good way to do.
There is a work of very great importance for the _members_ of our society to do the coming year. That is to help in every legitimate way to _secure an appropriation_ by the next legislature with which to build for our society a _home_. We should have had it provided so that we could celebrate our semi-centennial a year from now in our own home. If we were a private society, we would have had a home years ago.
We should be closely affiliated with the horticulture of the State University. Our home should be located on the grounds of the Agricultural College, where the building could be used for other purposes when not needed by our society. Let every member of our society interview the senator and member of the house from his or her district next fall and secure their promise to support a bill to appropriate $50,000 for building us a home.
Annual Report of Treasurer, 1915.
GEO. W. STRAND, TAYLORS FALLS, TREASURER.
RECEIPTS.
1914.
Dec. 1. Balance on hand $4,948.35 Interest on certificate of deposit, six months, to November 1, 1914 126.15
1915.
Mar. 1. Semi-annual allowance 1,500.00 Apr. 5. Interest on deposit, six months, to April 1 85.96 A. W. Latham, receipts secretary's office, November 25, 1914 to June 21, 1915 3,290.74 Sept. 4. State Treasurer, semi-annual allowance 1,500.00 Dec. 1. A. W. Latham, receipts secretary's office June 21, 1915, to December 1, 1915 1,064.30 ---------- $12,515.50
DISBURSEMENTS.
1914.
Dec. 12. Order 229, A .W. Latham, Revolving Fund $600.00 Dec. 12. Order 235, Premiums Annual Meeting 596.50
1915.
Mar. 1. Order 230, A. W. Latham, first quarter salary 450.00 Apr. 5. A. W. Latham, interest on deposit 85.96 June 1. Order 231, A. W. Latham, second quarter salary 450.00 June 21. Order 232, A. W. Latham, expenses secretary's office November 25 to June 21, 1915 3,290.74 June 25. Order 236, Premiums Summer Meeting 1915 172.00 Sept. 3. Order 233, A. W. Latham, third quarter salary 450.00 Dec. 1. Order 234, A. W. Latham, fourth quarter salary 450.00 Dec. 1. Order 237, A. W. Latham, expenses secretary's office June 21, 1915 to December 1, 1915 1,064.30 ---------- $7,609.50 Dec. 1. Balance on hand 4,906.00 ---------- $12,515.50 Deposits, Farmers & Mechanics Bank $4,276.15 Deposits, First & Security National Bank 629.85 ---------- $4,906.00
Annual Meeting, 1915, N.E. Iowa Horticultural Society.
C. E. SNYDER, PRESTON, DELEGATE
Your delegate arrived at Decorah at nine-thirty, Wednesday, November seventeenth. Full accommodations offered by the Winneshiek Hotel made the trip complete and homelike to delegates and members.
The convention was held in the old Marsh Hall, a very suitable place, offering ample room with all necessary accommodations for such a gathering.
Decorations showed much time and skill, resulting in a beautiful display of shrubbery-boughs, evergreen, etc.
The area of a table about one hundred feet long and six feet wide, running through the center of the hall, contained a great variety of apples surprising for this season. Many, including C.H. True, of Clayton county, proved themselves successful orchardists.
On various other tables large displays of agriculture, apiary, greenhouse and garden products completed the harmonizing of horticulture, floriculture and agriculture, including mentioned decorations appearing as a striking feature and an encouragement to the cause.
The meeting was called to order shortly after ten o'clock by President Geo. S. Woodruff. The mingling of many instructive papers with humorous selections and music proved the program well arranged. Same carried out very successfully held the interest of a not large but fair attendance throughout. A paper and address by Wesley Greene, of Des Moines, should have reached the ears of every Iowa and Minnesota citizen. A striking selection on "The Tree," by J. A. Nelson, was descriptive, instructive, humorous and poetic.
A topic of great interest was the everbearing strawberry, which persistently bobbed up every now and then in interesting discussion. Brother Gardner, with his practical experience, was right at hand, a leader and authority on this fruit. Clarence Wedge, who always contended that the Progressive was away ahead of all others, was endorsed by every man that grew them in this convention, by a vote on merit of varieties.
Reports from the different districts showed a heavy rainfall throughout the season, resulting in rust and scab. Sprayed orchards showed better results than others. Small fruits were abundant and good.
Shortly after four o'clock Wednesday afternoon automobiles drew up and took delegates and members over beautiful Decorah, stopping at Symond's greenhouses, and on through the most beautiful park in this section, then to the palatial residence of John Harter, where a very bountiful banquet was enjoyed.
During convention Secretary Black's and Treasurer True's reports showed the society in flourishing condition.
All officers were re-elected, place of next meeting to be chosen later by the executive committee.
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HANDLING RASPBERRIES.--In 1911 the Government investigators made comparative tests of the keeping qualities of carefully handled raspberries and commercially handled raspberries. Several lots of each kind were held in an ice car for varying periods and then examined for the percentage of decay. Other lots were held a day after being withdrawn from the refrigerator car and then examined. The results are most significant.
After 4 days in the ice car it was found that the carefully handled berries showed only 0.4 per cent. decay, while the commercially handled fruit had 4.6 per cent. After 8 days in the car the difference was vastly greater. The carefully handled fruit showed only 2.2 per cent. decay, but with the commercially handled this percentage had risen to 26.7, or more than one-quarter of the entire shipment. When the fruit was examined a day after it had been taken out of the ice car, the evidence was equally strong in favor of careful handling. Carefully handled fruit that had remained 4 days in the car was found a day after its withdrawal to show only 1 per cent. of decay against 17.5 per cent. in commercially handled berries. Carefully handled fruit left in the car 8 days, and then held one day, showed only 8.1 per cent. of decay as against 47.6 per cent. in commercially handled fruit.
The following year experiments were made with actual shipments instead of with the stationary refrigerator car, and the results confirmed previous conclusions. It was found, for example, that there was less decay in the carefully handled berries at the end of 8 days than in the commercially handled berries at the end of 4. Carefully handled fruit that was 4 days in transit, and had then been held one day after withdrawal from the refrigerator car showed less than 1 per cent of decay, whereas commercially handled berries subjected to the same test showed nearly 10 per cent.
Orcharding in Minnesota.
RICHARD WELLINGTON, ASST. HORTICULTURIST, UNIVERSITY FARM, ST. PAUL.
This paper is purposely given a broad title so that it may cover any questions which come under the head of orcharding. Many of you who have been pestered with an "Orchard Survey Blank" can easily guess what subjects are to be taken up. Thanks to many of the members of this society and other fruit growers for their hearty co-operation, a large amount of data has been collected from fifty-three counties, representing most of the districts within the state. As would be expected certain counties have contributed much more information than others, probably owing to their greater interest in orcharding. For example: Thirty-one replies have already been received from Hennepin County, seven from Goodhue, six from Renville, five each from Houston, Meeker and Rice, four each from Chippewa, Dakota, Mower, Polk and Wabasha, three each from Blue Earth, Nicollet, Ottertail, Pine, Ramsey, Steele, Washington and Watonwan and one or two each from the remaining counties. Perhaps if the right parties had been reached the low-standing counties would have a higher ranking.
The best way to present the data is an enigma. If all the information was given at one time we would need a whole day instead of fifteen minutes. Of course much of the material is a repetition, and a general summary will cover the main facts in most cases. Nevertheless it is not feasible to take up all of the subject matter in this short period, and therefore the first two topics on the survey blank have been selected, namely, orchard sites and protective agencies. At a later date, if you are sufficiently interested in dry facts other subjects, as soils, dynamiting, orchard management, stock of fruit trees, methods of planting and pruning, varieties for various localities, etc., will be taken up. Some of the subjects, like sites and soils, will be treated as state problems, while others must be considered as sectional.
Minnesota, as you all know, contains many different climatic conditions, and consequently its orchard practices and recommendations must vary accordingly. To meet this problem the writer, in consultation with Prof. Cady, divided the state into six sections, namely, the southeastern, east central, northeastern, northwestern, west central and southwestern. Many counties are, of course, in an intermediate position and might be thrown into either of the adjoining sections, but an arbitrary line must be drawn somewhere. Freeborn, Waseca, Rice, Goodhue and all the counties east of them are placed in the southeastern section. Nicollet, LeSueur, Sibley, McLeod, Wright, Isanti and the counties to the east are included in the central east, and Pine, Mille Lacs, Morrison and the counties to the north and east are placed in the northeastern section. Beltrami, Hubbard, Ottertail and the counties to the west are placed in northwestern section; Traverse, Douglas, Todd, Stearns, Meeker, Renville, Yellow Medicine and the enclosed counties in the west central, and the remainder to the south and west are in the southwestern section. Thus, when the various sections are mentioned, you will know what part of the state is being referred to.
_Site of Orchard._ By site of orchard we refer to its location, that is, whether it is on rolling, level or hilly ground, and the direction of its slope, provided it has one. From past experience it is believed that an orchard situated on a north slope is ideally located for Minnesota conditions, as its blossoming period is retarded and consequently the liability of injury from late frosts decreased. But all people who want orchards do not possess such a slope, so they set out their orchards on the most convenient location. A few growers have orchards sloping in all directions, and their opinion on the influence of slope on hardiness and retardation of the blooming period should be valuable. It is of interest to note that, out of 108 reporting on the levelness of the orchard ground, only twelve had level ground, two level to nearly level, one level to decidedly rolling, twenty-nine nearly level, seven nearly level to slightly rolling, three nearly level to medium rolling, twenty-nine slightly rolling, four slightly rolling to medium rolling, eighteen rolling and three decidedly rolling. A glance at the figures shows that the majority of orchards are on nearly level to slightly rolling land. In addition to the numbers given thirteen reported a slight slope, one a slight slope to a medium slope, two a slight to a steep slope, sixteen a medium slope, one a medium to a steep slope, and five a steep slope--the emphasis being laid on the moderate rising ground. No grower reported an orchard location entirely at the base of a slope, but six reported orchards extending from the base to the top of the slope, two from the base to midway of the slope, twenty-five at midway of the slope, seven from midway to the top and twenty-two at the top of a slope--the high ground evidently being preferred for orchard sites. As a general rule, as would naturally be expected, those who reported their orchards on the top of the slope usually reported their ground as either high or medium. Of ninety-six reports on the elevation of the orchards only four reported low land, and two of these were on top of a slope, two low and medium, one low and high, forty-six medium, fourteen medium and high, and twenty-seven high--the medium taking the lead. These figures have been given of the state as a whole, but when the sections are considered the southeastern and the west central take the lead in the highest percentage of high ground in comparison with the lower ground; the southeastern and east central, for the greatest amount of rolling land; and the southwestern, for the most level or nearly level land.
As for the effect of direction of slope on hardiness, there were many varied opinions. Thirty stated without question that the direction had an effect, thirty-one stated that it had no effect, and seventy-two admitted that they did not know. Of those answering in the affirmative only seven had two or more distinctly different slopes, while fifteen of the negatives had two or more slopes for comparison. Nine of those who stated they didn't know had two or more slopes upon which to base their judgment. In summing up the direction of sites preferred, seventy-seven recommended a northerly slope, nine had no preference, one preferred southeast, one west, one west and east, two east, one north and east, one northeast or east, and sixty-four expressed no opinion. Two growers stated that the north slope prevented early bloom and thereby lessened liability to injury from late frosts, two growers stated that northern slopes decreased the loss of moisture, and one stated that the northeast slope gives the largest fruit and the west the best colored.
As a brief summary of the reports on orchard sites, it may be stated that high ground, rolling or sloping to the north, is preferred by the majority of growers who filled out these orchard survey blanks.
_Protective Agencies._ Under this heading comes windbreaks of all kinds, whether hills, natural timber or planted trees, and bodies of water which ameliorate the climate. Out of fifty-four replies from the central east section, sixteen reported that their orchards were favorably affected by lakes, the benefit coming in most cases from the prevention of early and late frosts. One grower attributed the cooling of the air during the summer as a benefit and two stated that the bodies of water furnished moisture. Two growers in the southeast section received favorable influences from the Mississippi River, and one in the southwestern and two in the west central sections thought they received beneficial effects from lakes. According to this data, orchards in the east central section, owing largely to the influence of Lake Minnetonka, are greatly benefited by the presence of water.
Windbreaks are a very important factor in successful orcharding in Minnesota, even though one party in the southeast section and three parties in the central east noted no beneficial effects. According to reports from the central west and southwest sections they are of great benefit and in some cases indispensable to apple growing. As would be expected by any one who is acquainted with Minnesota, the planted windbreaks are a more important factor in the prairie country than in the natural wooded and hilly regions. In the southeast section, five orchards were reported as protected by bluffs and hills, three by both hills and natural woods, two by natural woods, two by both natural and planted woods, and twenty-one by planted woods; in the central east section, one by a hill and a planted windbreak, one by a town, fifteen by natural timber, two by natural and planted timber, and nineteen by planted windbreaks; in the northeast section, two by natural and four by planted windbreaks; in the northwest section, three by natural and two by planted windbreaks; in the west central section, one by a hill and natural timber, five by natural timber, two by natural timber and planted windbreaks, and eighteen by planted windbreaks; and in the southwest section, one by a hill and natural woods, one by a hill and planted windbreak, two by natural timber, and fifteen by planted windbreaks. If Meeker County, which has natural timber, was not included in the central west--and perhaps it should have been included in central east--this section would have only one orchard protected alone by natural timber; and if Blue Earth County was eliminated from the southwest, this section would have no orchard protected alone by natural timber.
The beneficial effects from windbreaks may be summed up as follows: Twenty-five reported that they prevented fruit from being blown off trees, nine that they prevented trees and limbs being broken by winds and storms, ten that they protected trees from injury by winds without specifying the kind of injury, four that they reduced injury from frosts, ten that they either prevented or reduced winter injury, four that they helped to retain moisture, five that they helped to hold snow, eight that they prevented snow drifting, five that they protected orchards from hot and dry winds, three that they permitted the growing of apples, and one that they supplied all advantages.