Chapter 19

SCIONS FOR TOP-WORKING.--Stark Bros. Nurseries, of Louisiana, Mo., have sent to us for use in testing on top-worked trees a quantity of scions of the following varieties: King David, Jonathan, Delicious, Stayman Winesap, York Imperial and Liveland Raspberry. These scions are to be used primarily to fill orders for top-working from members who have selected them as one of the plant premiums, No. 8. There will, however, be a considerable surplus, we believe, and as far as they hold out we shall be glad to send them out to members of the society who have trees for top-working, and know how to graft properly, upon receipt of postage stamps to the amount of postage and packing, which would be approximately ten cents. We are not sure that we can supply all who may ask for them, but to a limited extent we can do so. I would suggest promptness in making application for these scions. Address Secy. Latham.

WHO IS GROWING MCINTOSH RED APPLE?--Information from an interested member of the society is called for as to what success, if any, has been had in growing the McIntosh Red top-worked on hardy trees here in Minnesota. Scions of this variety have been sent out several years by the society and probably some have already come into fruitage, or perhaps they have been secured from other sources. Replies will be published. Address Secy. Latham.

NO PLANT PREMIUMS AFTER APRIL 1ST.--All members ordering plant premiums have undoubtedly noted this important condition that "all applications for plant premiums must be made prior to April 1st." This condition will be strictly adhered to, and those sending in selections for plant premiums after that date need not feel disappointed if they do not receive them. It is absolutely necessary to make a definite date beyond which no applications will be received in order to work out successfully the problem of distribution which faces us at that time.

TO MEMBERS OF AUXILIARY SOCIETIES.--Occasionally a member of an auxiliary society writes to this office asking for a copy of the annual volume of the society. Members of auxiliary societies are entitled to this volume, but the State Society does not pay postage on it, the amount received from auxiliary societies for memberships not permitting this expense. Any member of any auxiliary society who wishes to have a copy of the annual volume mailed from this office should send with the application postage at the rate of seven cents if within one hundred fifty miles of Minneapolis, and ten cents to points in the state more than one hundred fifty miles from Minneapolis.

BUY NURSERY STOCK AT HOME.--There are always more or less agents of foreign nurseries, that is nurseries located outside the state, canvassing for orders of nursery stock in our state, and many citizens are also tempted to reply to advertisements of outside nurseries who are trying to secure business in Minnesota. It is not my purpose to condemn these outside nurseries nor their methods of doing business, which in most cases undoubtedly are honorable and straight forward. But there is a real advantage in buying nursery stock at home, that is, from nurserymen located in our own state, and especially from nurserymen who are in the immediate vicinity. There is no class of goods that one can buy in connection with which there is such opportunity for mistake and fraud as in nursery stock. It is impossible for any but an expert to tell by the appearance of a tree or plant of any kind what the variety is, and either through mistake or purposely it is no uncommon thing for those purchasing trees to be disappointed as to the names of varieties when they come into fruitage or flower. If the nurseries are in our own state, or in our vicinity, it is a very easy matter to get at them, and they will almost uniformly be found willing to make good such blunders, or if they don't and the matter is worth while they can be made to do so. Don't place your orders outside of the state if the things you want can be purchased at home. You will find it a real advantage to act on this counsel. Especially in the case of strawberry plants the element of distance is a very important one as on account of their leafy character they heat and spoil readily. A few plants near home are often worth more to the recipient than a large shipment from abroad.

NURSERYMEN OF MINNESOTA.--The secretary endeavors to keep a correct list of all those engaged in the nursery business in this state. As far as his personal acquaintance goes of course the list is known to be a correct one, but there are doubtless a number engaged in the nursery business in a small way of whom he does not know personally, and he would be glad to hear from any engaged in the nursery business who are not personally acquainted with him so that their names may be added to this list. The address of the secretary is always to be found on the front cover page of this magazine.

THE SOCIAL ELEMENT AT OUR ANNUAL MEETING.--Those of our members who attended the last annual meeting could not have failed to note the large proportion of ladies in attendance at these meetings, not only at the one managed by the Woman's Auxiliary, but also at every other meeting during the four days session. You may be surprised to learn that approximately one-third of those who registered as purposing to attend the meeting belonged to the gentler sex, and the proportion in attendance was somewhere in that neighborhood. This is one of the delightful features of our annual gathering which is steadily increasing. More and more are the ladies attending our meetings, and in larger number are they becoming members of the association aside from any relation they may sustain as wives or daughters to those who are already members. This movement should be in every way encouraged, and we hope another year to be able to offer still more attractive accommodations in this direction. In planning for a new building for the society, this feature of our work should not by any means be lost sight of. I believe that very few organizations of this kind can boast so large an interest on the part of the ladies in the various branches of its work.

DID YOU SELECT EVERBEARING STRAWBERRIES AS YOUR PREMIUM?--An altogether unexpected demand has been made upon us for the Everbearing Strawberries the society is offering as plant premiums to its members this spring. Probably twice as many plants have been called for as can be furnished in the amount asked for. Under the "right of substitution" which the society reserves in the matter of its plant premiums, probably plant premium No. 16 will be substituted for Nos. 17 and 18 if matters turn out as now appears, though the number of plants sent will be more than is offered under No. 16. As this everbearing strawberry, originated at the fruit-breeding farm, No. 1017, is a very prolific plant maker, a dozen plants, if the runners are allowed to grow, will make plants enough to set out a bed of them next year, large enough in all probability for family use.

In the matter of June-bearing strawberry No. 3, offered as premium, there is undoubtedly stock enough to fill all orders including those asked for for which money has been sent, and we are in hopes that orders for raspberry No. 4 can be filled in their entirety, though it may be necessary to return money which has been sent for additional plants.

In this distribution all members will be treated exactly alike and altogether in accordance with the conditions noted in connection with the list of premiums as found on page six of the society folder and on the inside front cover page of the magazine.

While it is not the intention to publish anything in this magazine that is misleading or unreliable, yet it must be remembered that the articles published herein recite the experience and opinions of their writers, and this fact must always be noted in estimating their practical value.

THE MINNESOTA HORTICULTURIST

Vol. 44 MAY, 1916 No. 5

What is Hardiness?

PROF. N. E. HANSEN, HORTICULTURIST, BROOKINGS, S.D.

By the term hardiness is understood the capacity to resist against any special condition of environment. So in speaking of hardiness of the plant it may mean hardiness as to either cold, heat, drouth, fungus or insect trouble. In the present discussion hardiness against cold will be considered mainly, since that is the most difficult problem we have to meet in this horticultural field. It would be of great advantage could we determine by examination of the plant its power to resist cold. If we could determine by the looks of a new apple tree its power of resistance to our test winters, it would save us many thousands of dollars and much vexation of spirit. Some years ago the Iowa State Horticultural Society made a determined and praiseworthy effort to determine hardiness by some characteristic of the plant, especially in apple trees. A chemical test of the sap of hardy and tender varieties was made. The palisade cells of the leaf, and the cellular structure of the wood, were examined under high powers of the microscope to determine some means by which a tender variety could be distinguished from a hardy one, but no general rule or conclusion could be formulated. In a general way nurserymen and orchardists say that a variety that ripens its wood well in the fall shows it by the twigs being sturdy and not easily bent, while twigs that are not well ripened indicate lack of hardiness.

The winter of 1884-85 was preceded by a late, wet autumn that kept trees of all varieties growing very late, so that winter came before the wood was ripened. In all the literature on this subject, I have been unable to find any method by which a hardy variety could be distinguished from a tender one of the same species, or, in other words, there is no correlation between morphology and hardiness.

Although we do not know what determines hardiness, we may still go ahead with our experimental work. We do not really know what electricity is, but inventors in that line have enough of a theory on this subject so that they are able to work very successfully with this gigantic force of nature. We know there is a difference in hardiness between the red cedar of Tennessee and the red cedar of Minnesota, and that it is safest for us to plant the tree as it is found at the north. The same applies to many other trees that are found native over a wide area. At Moscow, Russia, the box elder as first imported was from St. Louis, and it winter-killed. Afterwards they got the box elder from Manitoba, and it proved perfectly hardy. Although botanically both are the same, yet there is a difference in hardiness.

My way of securing hardiness is to work with plants that are already hardy. I like to work with native plums in my plant breeding experiments because there need be no concern about their hardiness. We know they are hardy, or they would not be here after thousands of years of natural selection in this climate.

The other way of obtaining hardiness is by crossing a tender variety with a hardy one. When we cross the native plum with the Japanese plum, we obtain seedlings that combine in a fair measure the hardiness of the native plum with the size and quality of the Japanese plum.

In many states of the Union the question of varieties for commercial orchards has been to a large degree settled. There is always room for a new apple, but for commercial purposes the varieties already in cultivation are sufficiently satisfactory as to size, color and quality as well as in keeping and shipping capacity. So the main effort in their horticultural societies is along other lines, such questions as marketing, packing, spraying, insects, fungi and orchard management. But in this region the winter apple question is still a vital one.

Some promising winter apples have appeared recently, and it remains to be seen whether they will stand up under the next test winter. They are certainly satisfactory in size, color, quality and keeping capacity.

The greatest question now presents itself in planting apple seed. What variety shall I choose? Some pedigrees may be like a blind alley, they will lead us nowhere. The commercial apples of the East and of the Pacific Coast are the survivors of millions of apple seedlings raised by immigrants from Western Europe during the past three centuries. They survived because they were the best. From time to time very good varieties are super-ceded by new ones that appear. From the ashes of millions of seedlings will arise, Phoenix-like, the creations that will dominate our future prairie pomology. Here in the Northwest thousands of farmers have already determined to a considerable extent what we may expect from planting the seed of certain standard varieties.

Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa are full of seedlings of the Duchess. Some of the best are Okabena, Peerless, Patten's Greening, Milwaukee, Dudley, Pewaukee. A very large amount of Wealthy seed has been planted, especially in Minnesota. Many of these give promise, but in none do we appear to have obtained the true winter-keeping capacity. The Wealthy has given us the Lord's L, Evelyn, Lyman Sweet, Perfect and many more, observed at Minnesota state fairs from time to time. The Malinda has given us in the Perkins' seedlings a number of promising new varieties that evidently are true winter keepers. The fact that they appear hardy may come from the fact that the original orchard had hardy varieties, like the Duchess, standing near the Malinda. From the experience with these three varieties I would like to draw the conclusion that in order to get winter apples we should save the seed of winter apples, but it would not be safe to draw this conclusion without further experiments. There is an immense number of Ben Davis seedlings in Missouri and adjoining states, but none appear to have come into extensive commercial notice except the Black Ben Davis and Gano. But as near as I can learn we cannot obtain real hardiness from this line of descent, unless the Ben Davis in the mother orchard is standing near varieties like the Duchess.

The seed of standard winter apples top-grafted on hardy stocks like Hibernal should be carefully saved as nature may have smiled with indulgence upon your efforts and created the desired variety. I am watching with great interest a tree of very vigorous, smooth growth, from seed of Talman Sweet top-grafted on Duchess. You would not expect to get anything hardy from seed of the Talman Sweet, but the entire hardiness so far of the young trees propagated from the original seedling, makes me impatient to see the fruit. A blend of Talman Sweet and Duchess ought certainly to bring something good, but they will not all be hardy or all good. The fact that there are so many different lines of pedigree available to us in our apple work, makes it all the more necessary for us to divide the work.

Let us gather inspiration from the story of Johnny Apple-Seed--one of the patron saints of American horticulture--who about one hundred and twenty-five years ago forced his way through the wilderness of Indiana and Ohio and planted many bushels of apple seed as he went along, so that when settlers came they found their orchards ready for them. The story of John Chapman and his unselfish efforts in planting the seed of apples and other fruits in the American wilderness should give us courage and patience to give a little of our time to this work. Make a record of what seeds you plant, and when the seedlings are one year of age plant them out in a row where they can be cultivated. Select the best ones as they fruit and bring to the state fair or horticultural meeting. You may not win the grand prize, but you will have the satisfaction of having made some contribution to the common welfare.

* * * * *

In localities where cottontails are sufficiently abundant to be a continual menace, the safest and most nearly permanent method of securing immunity from their ravages is to fence against them. It has been found that woven wire netting of one and one-half inch mesh and thirty inches high will exclude rabbits, provided, that the lower border of the fence is buried five or six inches below the surface of the ground. In cases where a small number of trees are concerned, a cylinder of similar wire netting around each tree, if so fastened that it cannot be pushed up close against the tree, serves the purpose more economically.

Standardizing Minnesota Potatoes.

A. W. AAMODT, UNIVERSITY FARM, ST. PAUL.

(Gideon Memorial Contest.)

The potato is one of the large farm crops of the country, rating next to the cereals in importance. According to the census report of 1909, United States produced 389,194,965 bushels, and three-fourths of these were consumed in the states in which they were produced. The report also shows that the most extensive production was along the northern tier of states, from Maine to Minnesota. In 1909 the states ranked in production as follows: New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois and Colorado. In the same year Minnesota ranked fourth in surplus production, producing sixteen per cent. of the potatoes which entered into interstate commerce. Wisconsin produced twenty per cent., Michigan twenty-four per cent. and Maine twenty-five per cent.

In Minnesota the largest part of these potatoes are grown in certain districts of the state, and according to the 1909 census the counties rank in respective order, namely: Hennepin, Isanti, Chisago, Clay, Anoka, Sherburne, Washington, Ottertail, Dakota, and Mille Lacs. This shows that the largest production is in the vicinity of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the Red River Valley, especially in Clay County.

The following statement shows the per cent. of increase in acreage from 1900 to 1910 and that the older districts are being rapidly outdone by the counties towards the northern part of the state:

Clay, 455 per cent.; Sherburne, 254 per cent.; Polk, 136 per cent.; Todd, 109 per cent.; Hennepin, 83 per cent.; Anoka, 58 per cent.; Isanti, 26 per cent.; Chisago, 17 per cent.

From these reports it is also evident that the distribution of the surplus is entirely towards the southern states, either as table stock or as seed potatoes, which in turn varies with the different years because of differences in crop yields. But as a general rule Maine, New York and Michigan supply the states in the east, east central and southeastern part of the country, Wisconsin the Chicago market and Minnesota the Mississippi Valley, especially Nebraska and Kansas. In addition Minnesota ships seed potatoes to many of the Southern states.

Because of these markets, potato shippers maintain that competition is extremely keen between the potato growing sections of this country. There can be no doubt that the only way Minnesota can meet her increase in yield and increase in demand is to determine whether or not she will expand her markets to the territory which is now being held by the other states. But before Minnesota can get these markets and obtain the better prices, she must standardize her potatoes. That is, Minnesota can obtain great improvement by adopting certain standards for the grading and sorting of potatoes.

At a conference held in Chicago, last February, of representatives from the growing, shipping and marketing interests, the following recommendations for greater uniformity in potato shipments were made:

_Size._--Market stock of round white varieties shall be graded over a screen which measures 1-7/8 inches in the clear. For long white varieties a screen of 1-3/4 inches, in the clear, is recommended.

_Weight._--Stock running over twelve ounces is undesirable and not over five per cent. of this maximum weight should be allowed in first class shipments.

_Quality._--Stock should be practically free from serious external imperfections, including late blight rot, common scab, sunburn, frost injury, bruises, knobbiness, second growth, etc. Stock should be mature and clean.

_Varietal purity._--Commercial potato shipments should be graded to one variety.

All indications show that Minnesota must grade and sort for commercial shipments of potatoes, and that a definite brand or grade designating a definite standard must be adopted in order to secure the highest prices. All inferior stock must be thrown out, and the best potatoes given a chance to make an attractive showing.

The standing which Minnesota potatoes will have in the market will be determined a great deal by the grading, which is usually the work of the dealer, although some farmers do their own grading by hand. Ungraded potatoes injure the Minnesota potato trade and reduce the profits, as the freight is the same on dirt, small and unsound potatoes as it is on the fine stock. As much as a ton of dirt and culls is sometimes found in a car on the Chicago "team tracks" after the wholesale merchant has sacked all he is willing to accept. This freight, sorting charges and cost of disposing of refuse must be paid by some one. Co-operating to improve the sorting done at loading stations is a means of establishing a grade to meet competition and to reach new markets.

Standardization also means grading to eliminate potatoes infected with disease, such as common scab and late blight, sunken discolorations or dry hard blisters, green, spongy and coarse stock. All of these defects tend to lower prices.

In order to increase the value of the Minnesota potato we must also supply the market with the variety which it demands, and, furthermore, this variety must be free from mixture. Minnesota has already taken a step in this direction. The Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station, Minnesota Crop Improvement Association and the Minnesota Potato Growers' Association have recommended the following varieties and types to be selected and grown.

The Rural New Yorker, as shown in Figure 1, is the leading round, white, late potato for Minnesota. It is a good yielding and keeping variety, fine in quality, an excellent market sort and suitable for almost any soil.

Similar to the Rural New Yorker are the Carman No. 3 and Sir Walter Raleigh.

The Green Mountain is a desirable white late potato, similar to the Rural New Yorker, but more oblong and with squarer ends. It is better suited to rich heavy soils than the Rural New Yorker, as they are not so likely to grow hollow.

Other similar varieties are the Carman No. 1, Green Mountain, Jr., and State of Maine.

The Burbank (Fig. II) is a long, white, late potato of excellent quality and suitable only for rich, loose, loam soils. Thrives well upon new rich soils that are well supplied with humus.

Other inferior varieties confused with the Burbank are the White Chief, White Star and Pingree.

The Burbank Russet (Fig. III) is a long, russet, late potato differing mainly from the Burbank in its heavily russeted skin. Very fine for baking. Suitable for low, moist, friable and peaty soils.

The Early Ohio (Fig. IV) is the leading early potato in Minnesota. The type is oval with a pinkish or flesh colored skin. It is particularly suited to the black, rich, friable soils.

The Triumph (Fig. V) is a round, red, very early potato, valuable for southern seed trade. It suffers severely from drought, and, therefore, soils subject to this condition should be avoided.