Careful records have been kept of expenses and of the size and grade of all fruits produced under the several soil treatments.  To date six crops have been harvested from the 475 trees under experiment.  The lowest was 1,700 bushels in 1911 and the largest was 6,000 bushels in 1915.  It is estimated that there is about thirty per cent. of a crop on the trees this year.  Demonstrations were given in spraying, dynamiting trees, treating trees affected with blister canker, and grading apples with a large grading machine.

The second day was spent in orchards near Omaha.  Some excellent orchards that have been very profitable were visited.  It had been very dry in that region, consequently the fruit was undersized.

The third day was spent in southwestern Iowa, from Hamburg to Glenwood.  It is impossible to tell about all the good things seen on this trip.  We saw all kinds of pruning, cultivated and “sod cultivated” orchards and, above all, corn, corn and more corn.  At Shenandoah the nurserymen and seedsmen took charge of the party and entertained all in a very hospitable manner.  There were ninety at the noon banquet.  In the afternoon they showed us the large nurseries and seed warehouse.

Toward the end of the trip we stopped at a 40-acre orchard, mostly Grimes Golden.  A hailstorm had injured the fruit very much.

One of the great lessons gained from the 150-mile automobile tour was the fact that spraying is one of the most important orchard operations.  It was interesting to hear what some of the older orchardists would say when they saw fruit injured by scab.  It is an important matter with them, because it means dollars to have disease-free fruit to market.

[Illustration:  VETERAN DOUGLAS FIR, STANDING MILES OUT FROM THE PROTECTING MOUNTAIN, EXPOSED TO ALL THE FIERCE WINDS OF THE PLAINS.]

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 OCTOBER, 1916 No. 10

Camping on the Yellowstone Trail.

CLARENCE WEDGE, NURSERYMAN, ALBERT LEA, MINN.

I suppose that civilization is the correct thing for mortals to aspire to.  As a boy, while I hated it with a bitter hatred, I accepted it as inevitable because my elders approved it and because it seemed indissolubly linked to the school, the church and the things of good repute.  As I grow older the yoke sits easier on my shoulders, but doubts have increased as to its necessary connection with the good, the true and the beautiful.  It surely kills the sweet virtue of hospitality.  In my home church lately there was a call for volunteers to entertain a visiting