The growing conditions of the season have been of the best, and all stock goes into the winter in excellent shape with a good amount of soil moisture and a promise for better conditions next season.

Several market reports have been received which give valuable information.  Prices of fruit, vegetables and floral stock have been low in almost all cases.  The public demand has been rather below normal, although it has been steady and fair in volume.  There seems to be a good deal of complaint about the care of the railroads, etc., with fruit and perishable products, but, on the other hand, a good deal of local produce is not put up in good shape.  The uniformly good packing of western fruit reveals the cause of its popularity on the local markets.  Certain kinds of fruit almost glutted the market this season, notably Florida grape fruit, western box apples and peaches.  I quote one market statement as very pertinent: 

If Minnesota apple growers would gather their apples before they are too ripe, carefully grade and pack uniformly through the barrel, thus making it possible for the wholesaler to ship out on orders, they would undoubtedly realize more for their product than to market them themselves in the usual manner in which apples are marketed.

Ornamental horticulture in my district is making rapid progress.  Large lots of nursery stock are yearly put in with excellent results.  The influence and interest of the “Garden Flower Society” and of these horticultural meetings is nowhere more felt than in Hennepin County.  The gardens of the Minneapolis park board, in Loring Park, at Lyndale Farmstead, and near the Parade and Armory, give the horticultural public much valuable information.  Even the wild flower garden in Glenwood Park is yearly receiving an increasing number of visitors.  The increasing use of perennials is creating a new gardening enthusiasm.  The perennial exhibit at the summer meeting of the Horticultural Society was worthy of much study.  Careful use of hardy evergreens is increasing also, adding value especially to our winter landscapes.  This season has been very favorable to gardening work and steady has been the progress made.

Greater care with insect pests, and better methods of preparing fruit for market seem to be the two greatest needs of the horticulturists of the Fifth District.

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APPLE PRODUCTION AND PRICES.—­According to the best authority available, the apple crop in the United States for 1915 promises to be about 22,500,000 barrels, says The Niagara County, New York, Farm Bureau News.  This will be the lightest crop in several years, the 1910 crop being the next lightest, when about 24,000,000 barrels were produced.  In comparison, the 1914 crop was about 45,000,000 barrels and the 1913 crop about 30,000,000 barrels.

The above refers to the commercial crop that is marketed in closed packages, and should not be confounded with the recent estimate of the United States Department of Agriculture, which is understood to refer to the total production of apples, including those used for cider and shipped to the market in bulk.