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For medium season and main crop, I consider the Wyant, Desota and Wolf my most profitable varieties, and I recommend them for general planting all over southern Minnesota. The Wyant is not as well known in this section as is the Desota, but it may prove one of the most valuable medium season plums we have got.

I prefer to set a two-year old tree to one that is older-even a one-year old tree that is three or more feet high is good enough for me. The ground should be very rich and trees kept well cultivated, but good results may be obtained by cultivating only until they get to bearing well and then keeping them well mulched with stable manure. The distance apart to grow the trees is not so very material. Varieties differ in habits of growth. I usually set them in rows that are sixteen to twenty feet apart and from six to eight feet in the rows. The varieties I have recommended for general planting are all perfect flowering varieties, and as far as my observations goes isolated trees bear as well as where they are mixed with other sorts.

Do not buy your trees from nurseries located any further south than northern Iowa, as you are very apt to get trees worked upon Marianna stock, which is not hardy, and your trees are pretty sure to root-kill some winter. Besides, our northern plums are not as productive grafted on Marianna stocks.

To those who think that our wild plums don't amount to much anyhow, I will say that all the horticultural awards made at the World's Fair to Minnesota individuals was given to these same wild plums, and if any Minnesota individual received any awards on apples or other fruit, it has been kept a profound secret.

MY HOME GARDEN.

MRS. N. S. GORDON, AUSTIN.

Gardening is as old as history, for did not an all-wise Creator plant the garden of Eden for the home of our first parents? Amply was it supplied with fruit and flowers in the greatest possible abundance and profusion, giving succeeding generations, even down to this great nineteenth century, an example to follow. As a fact, wherever civilization is found, gardening early receives attention, but high art is only attainable when wealth and refinement are fairly established.

My subject naturally divides itself into three distinct, though very closely related heads, for to my mind a home garden must consist of vegetables, small fruits and flowers to make it complete and well worth the effort of care.

Select your seeds early, buy from a reliable house, and disappointments will be few. Be sure you order all the varieties you want at first to avoid delays when seeding time comes. Then fit the ground, which must be amply enriched and properly prepared to receive the seed. Leave no idle spots anywhere, for they will be a sure harbor for weeds.

To me the problem of getting everything in its place has been a hard one. Indeed, my currant bushes might tell a woeful tale of

their repeated moves, thus blighting fair prospects of fruit bearing. Lack of experience is the principal trouble, for with a small plat of ground one can hardly exercise forethought enough in the arrangement. For example, such plants as strawberries and asparagus must be planted so as not to interfere with the annual plowing and fitting of the rest of the garden, and yet should be conveniently located and at the same time look well; for let us not forget that even in a home garden, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever." Plant the latest growing varieties so the view from the walks will not be obstructed, and the plants requiring shade in a sheltered spot. Vegetables, like celery, which require more water than others, put where time can be saved in watering, especially when one is not better equipped for it than amateur gardeners are generally. In short, plan to have things handy and easily taken care of. Utilize every corner, and make your ground, as far as possible, produce more than one crop each season, for after lettuce and radishes, cabbages and tomatoes may be transplanted on the same ground. I have sometimes taken out a few seeds when I pull radishes for dinner, and put them in as I take out the others, thereby losing no time at all. As a time saver, plant the vegetables you like best and use oftenest nearest the kitchen door. The small fruit section of your garden is more of a fixture and should be laid out even more skillfully and artistically, for it comes to stay. Plant on a line running exactly each way three feet apart. This makes cultivation with a horse possible. Leave a walk between the vegetables and fruit so the horse can turn without stepping on anything.

Last comes the be auty and ornament of my garden, and flowers are planted in just that profusion which time and space warrant. A pretty way to hide the view of the other sections is to arrange a trellis of woven wire for sweet peas or flowering vines to cover. Or plant a hedgerow of hollyhocks or some tall flowering plant to separate the practical from the beautiful. My idea of arrangement in a flower garden is in solid variety, each in its own bed, bordered if you like, with a low kind of harmonizing color. But individual taste must dictate here, of course.

All this is accomplished not without some expense and a good deal of real hard work, but the saving when all is garnered in is, indeed, hard to estimate from a financial standpoint and harder still from the real satisfaction which comes of having fresh flowers, fruits and vegetables for our table. Health is an item of no mean importance, and it is a conceded fact that a home garden is an "ounce of prevention" many a time. If a love of nature and seeing things actually grow count for anything, the effort and expense is amply repaid. As for myself, I can say no work I ever do gives me more real pleasure than actually being able to say, I put every seed in its place and behold the outcome. Should one in my audience be loth to believe my sincerity let him call next summer, and I will give an object lesson surrounded by good, pure air and God's own sunshine.

RECIPES FOR COOKING MALINDA APPLES.

LENA M. FREEMAN, AUSTIN.

APPLE SAUCE NO. 1.-Pare, quarter and core; put into a sauce kettle, half cover with boiling water, add nearly as much light brown sugar as required for tart fruit; put over a steady fire and keep constantly boiling for about an hour, or until the quarters are pink in color. Be sure the kettle is tightly covered so as to retain all the steam. Do not stir once while cooking, or after, but allow them to become cold before even removing from kettle. On this depends the fine flavor, the sauce resembling pears. Eat when cold.

No. 2.-Quarter and core Malinda apples, do not pare; stick in two cloves in each quarter; sweeten with light brown sugar; allow about one hour for cooking, do not stir. Eat hot with meats. Stick cinnamon could be used with or in place of the cloves, if desired.

Sliced lemon would be good for a change in place of other seasonings, in either No. 1 or No. 2.

Malinda apples are also fairly good in mince pies.

PUDDING FROM MALINDA APPLES.-Pare, remove cores and fill shallow pudding dish with Malindas. Fill cores with teaspoonful of tart jelly, like pie-plant jelly, and a piece of butter or thick cream. Pour over this rice previously boiled thin in milk. Season to taste with sugar and cinnamon or essence of lemon. Bake until apples Eat with cream.

are done.

CLOSE ROOT PRUNING TREES.

PROF. J. TROOP, INDIANA EXPERIMENT STATION.

In order to determine whether close root pruning would be suitable for this climate or not, an experiment was begun on a small scale last spring in which four trees each of standard and dwarf pears, Early Richmond cherry, German prune, peach and quince were selected for trial. The trees were two years old and as uniform in size as it was possible to get them. Two trees of each of these varieties were pruned so that not more than an inch or two of the roots remained, and the tops were entirely removed. A hole with a two-inch stick was all that was needed in setting. The other two trees were planted in the ordinary way, leaving all the roots on the tree. Before planting, the trees were all photographed, and after they had completed the season's growth they were taken up and photographed again.

The result of this experiment showed that the peach was capable of producing a magnificent root system and a top to correspond, even after being deprived of all its roots and branches at the start. The dwarf pear also made a fine growth, producing a finer root development than the trees which were not pruned: The standard pear was not quite so good, and the German prune and cherry were next in order. The cherry made but very little growth, barely enough to maintain life. The quinces both died.

While this experiment shows results favorable to the system, it must be borne in mind that the season was an exceptionally favorable one for this work, there being timely rains throughout the growing period. A dry season might produce entirely different results, for that reason we shall continue the experiment for a srries of years. So far, it simply shows what these trees will do when treated in this way under favorable conditions.

Calendar for November.

PROF. S. B. GREEN.

In this section, November is the month in which we should expect but little opportunity to work the soil, since often the ground freezes in the early part of the month. Not infrequently, however, we get from ten days to two weeks in which we can finish our fall plowing and get a considerable amount of work done with the soil which would otherwise have to wait until spring. I think it very desirable to do in the autumn everything that can be done that will make our spring work easier, since at this season of the year we are more liable to have a little extra time.

The work of giving winter protection to our small fruit, roses, trees, etc., should be finished up as soon as possible. If there is plenty of mulch to be had, it is very desirable to put a covering of it over the raspberries and grapes and our herbaceous stuff which have been protected with soil for the winter. This is not so important in the eastern as in the western part of the state, where the snow is liable to blow off and the ground remain bare over winter.

The beds of tulips and herbaceous plants should have a good covering of mulch wherever they are planted, and they will well repay it by their increased vigor in the spring. The strawberries should be mulched as soon as the work can be attended to. I think it very desirable to do this before we have had severe frosts which kill the foliage.

During the bright days of this month, spring work may be helped along by pruning out the weak and diseased wood in currants and gooseberries, and some of our hardy trees, such as the willow and cottonwood, may receive very much needed pruning without injury, but most of the pruning is best done during mild days the latter part of winter or very early in the spring.

The hotbed frames for use next spring should be supplied with good earth and covered with a foot or more of leaves to keep out the frost during the winter, that they may be in shape for quick work when the time comes to use them in the spring.

Parsnips and salsify are generally the last vegetables to be left out in the autumn, and, as a rule, I think it better to dig them and carry them over winter in piles on the ground than it is to trust to their going through all right in the rows, for when left in the rows they sometimes get a little discolored or even somewhat rotten at the

crown.

Scions for root-grafting in the winter should be cut now and stored in sawdust in a cold cellar. Apple roots should be treated

in the same way. It is not desirable to cut plum scions of our hardy kinds in autumn, because they are liable to lose their buds during the winter even if they are carefully stored, and the chances of success are much better when they are cut at the time the work is done in the spring of the year.

Currant cuttings can be made up now to good advantage, although it would have been better to have them made earlier in the fall. The same is true of willow cuttings. But if the ground is still open after the willow cuttings are made they may be set at once, when if covered with two or three inches of earth they will go through winter in good shape.

After the ground is frozen too deep for plowing, there may be a considerable time in which pipe may be laid for irrigating or a tile drain put in for the drainage of some wet spot.

Biography.

F. W. KIMBALL, AUSTIN, MINN.

The subject of this sketch was born in Reading, Mass., in the year 1844, and spent his boyhood days on a farm in that town. In 1866 he came west to Minnesota, and has passed most of his time since then in civil engineering, though he had two or three years' experience as a farmer in the county in which he now lives. For eleven years between 1878 and 1889, he had charge of the surveys and construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railway. Since then, as the writer understands, he has been doing railroad construction as

a contractor.

Mr. F. W. Kimball's first interest in horticulture in our state dates back to 1874, at which time he planted a good many apple trees on the farm he then owned. There are still a few of these trees living, although most of them were of varieties not well adapted to our latitude. In 1861, he bought the place in Austin he yet occupies as a home, and since then has taken an active interest in fruit growing in an amateur way, and by precept and example has done very much to encourage this industry in his locality and through the state.

Mr. Kimball can scarcely be ranked with the old members of this society, as he first became identified with it in 1892, but he has been very active and forceful in its interests. The value of his services was recognized in his election to the presidency of the Southern Minnesota Horticultural Society the first year of its organization. He has been a very regular attendant at the meetings of the state society and one of its most zealous supporters. Being a compara. tively young man, we may expect much further service from him in our beloved art.

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