The hardy ornamental shrubs, honeysuckle, lilac, mock-orange and spirea Van Houttii can be grown here.  Hardy perennial flowers that do well are peony, phlox, golden glow and bleeding heart.  This northern section of the state is the land for the hardy perennials.  Nowhere else do we get such beautiful colorings and bloom.

Annual Report, 1915, Madison Trial Station.

M. SOHOLT, SUPT.

This season has been very good.  We have had plenty of rain, so that all nursery stock set out this last spring has made a good growth.

The first part of May a hard frost did quite a good deal of damage to small stock just planted or lined out in the nursery.  This frost also damaged the blossoms on the fruit trees.  The plum trees happened to be in full bloom when this frost came, so that froze them entirely, and so we did not get any plums to speak of.  We also had a light crop of apples, especially of the early varieties.  The Northwestern and Patten’s Greening bore a good crop.

The grapes also froze.  I expected to get some fruit off those grape seedlings I received from the State Fruit-Breeding Farm three years ago, but they went with the rest of it.

The plum trees I received this and two years ago are all doing well.  They did not freeze back any when we had that hard frost; so far they seem to be hardy for this location.

Had a medium crop of raspberries, also a light crop of currants and gooseberries.  We had a good crop of strawberries.  Seedling strawberry No. 3 is doing very well.  Everbearing strawberries are doing nicely.  We had a nice fall and plenty of rain, so that trees and shrubbery went into winter quarters in good condition.

Growing Beans and Sweet Corn.

P. B. MARIEN, ST. PAUL.

Since it is one thing to grow beans and sweet corn and another to make money on them, I think from a market gardener’s point of view my heading should have been “growing beans and sweet corn at a profit.”

I will talk of beans first, because while the two are planted at about the same time, beans make their appearance on the market long before sweet corn.

Beans have a nitrogen gathering power and are therefore a soil-improving crop.  They are to the gardener what clover is to the farmer.  For early beans we have found that sandy soil well fertilized is by far the best.  If possible it should be sloping toward the south, although we have had good success on level land well drained.  One should have the best seed possible, and if you get hold of a good strain of seed that produces nice, velvety beans earlier than your neighbor, save as much of that seed as you can.  Of course now that the price of seed is $10.00 to $14.00 a bushel one cannot be too particular.

[Illustration:  P. B. Marien, St. Paul.]