It seems probable that the Scotch pines in the forestry plantation owe their comparatively good condition to the shelter they get from the hot winds from being planted close together, and from the fact that they are partly protected by the black pines planted to the west of them.  The single tree of Scotch pine above referred to has had garden cultivation for thirty years, but it seems likely that it was injured by the same hot winds that killed the white pine and the larch.  The Scotch pine is a native of Northern Europe, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Scotland, Normandy (near the ocean) and Germany and Russia around the Baltic, and all these countries have a moist, cool climate.  The black pine is a native of Southern Europe, growing all the way from Southern Spain to the Taurus Mountains in Asia Minor.  In its native habitat it has become accustomed to the hot winds that often sweep across the Mediteranean, the burning sirocco of the Great Sahara.  The dwarf mountain pine, Pinus Montana, grows in the Pyrenees, in the Alps, in the Carpathians and in the Balkan Mountains, so that it, too, often encounters the hot winds that come across from the African deserts.  It is probable that the ability of the black pine, the dwarf mountain pine, the Black Hills spruce, and the rock pine to flourish on the prairies of Southwestern Minnesota is due to the fact that all these trees have become accustomed to resisting the hot, dry winds that often reach them in their native habitats.

The Norway spruce (Picea excelsa) in its many varieties is native to almost the whole of Europe, extending from north of the Arctic Circle to the Pyrenees and Balkan Mountains in Southern Europe.  We could then expect that trees from the Pyrenees or from the Balkans might be so well accustomed to the hot winds from Africa as to make them resist, at least for some time, the hot winds of the prairies.  And they do seem to stand better than the white spruce or the balsam fir or the white pine.

Some report should be made on the material sent out for trial from the State Fruit-Breeding Farm.  The strawberry, No. 1017, made a fine growth, and promised a large crop of fruit in September, but a few days of quite dry weather, following a very wet spell, ruined the crop at ripening time.

The raspberry, No. 4, is a great producer of sprouts and multiplies enormously, but it seems to be a rather shy fruiter, and the fruit is not of the highest quality.  It is intermediate in season.  No. 5 is a much larger and better berry, although not quite so hardy.  Both came through the winter, without covering, in good condition.  No. 8 seems to resemble the old Columbian.  It does not sucker much.  It is a large, late berry of good quality.  It was covered, so its hardiness is untested.  Prof.  Hansen’s Oheta is a berry of much promise.  It is of fine quality and fruits abundantly.

The hybrid plums were sprayed with a commercial dust spray but not effectively enough, for the fruit all rotted.  We shall try more thorough spraying next season.