USA > Minnesota > Wright County > History of Wright County, Minnesota > Part 28
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Grapes prefer a sunny location, a south slope of a hill is the best and should be well protected from the cold north and southwest winds. Only in such locations do they develop to perfection. They require a fertile but somewhat sandy, gravelly soil. Their propagation is quite simple. While fruit trees must be grafted, it is only necessary for the grape to cut off a well- grown piece of the vine from last year's growth about ten inehes long, and stiek it in the sandy soil up to the last bud. As a rule, many such cuttings will grow and make nice plants by fall. Pro- teet them over winter and in spring they may be transplanted in the vineyard or garden. The vines should be set apart at least eight feet each way. The grapevines should be pruned, laid down
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every fall and covered with ground for protection over winter. The first fall they should be cut back to two buds, the second fall to one foot above ground. The third year they will begin to bear. In the fall one shoot, or, if the vine is strong, two shoots may be eut baek to three good buds, and all other shoots eut away entirely. Do this pruning every year and always in the fall. As the vines grow stronger more bearing wood may be left on, but remember that at least nine-tenths of the wood grown last season ought to be ent away, if you desire nice bunches with large berries. A trellis should be built for the vines, to which they are tied in the spring. A fence with three barbless wires set up along the rows of grapevines will do.
Raspberries and blackberries may be propagated by suekers or root divisions. Currants and gooseberries are generally grown from cuttings just like the grapevines. But the euttings are made as soon as the leaves drop off about the middle of August, and planted at once. They will be rooted by late fall and may be transplanted next spring or better grown another year. They should be planted four feet apart in rows and the rows six feet apart. Mulching is a good thing for them. Raspberries and blackberries should be laid down and covered. The land may be of a sandy nature but rich in plant food.
Strawberry plants should always be obtained from nursery men, unless you want to grow them yourself from plants that were never allowed to bear fruit. The land for strawberries should be made extra rich, as they are great feeders. They prefer a sandy loam. The rows should be about four feet apart and the plants in the row about eighteen inehes. Take care to spread out the roots well in planting, which may be done with a spade, and just so deep that the crown of the plant is on a level with the ground. Cultivate frequently, but do not allow them to bear the first season. When the runners appear, spread them out so that the new plants will grow about six inches apart. Keep the walk between the rows free from plants and weeds. The path should be at least a foot wide. Late in the fall the strawberry beds are to be covered with elean straw or marsh hay. In the spring this eover is raked off and partly left in the paths. The plants will now grow vigorously, bloom and ripen lots of fruit by the end of June. Strawberries need much water just when the berries are about ripening. Should it not rain frequently, water must be applied rather freely. After the berries are pieked, the bed is mowed, and the leaves removed and burned. Straw- berries may bear a second year. For that purpose plow and harrow between the rows, leaving of the old bed only a strip one foot wide. New runners will soon grow new plants and the bed may be treated as the year before. After the second year it is better to plant a new bed.
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There are many people in the county who like to experiment a little for themselves in growing fruit trees from seed. Some have already tried it, but for the greater part the results are not satisfactory, for the new fruits do not come true from the seed. As a rule they revert baek to some of their worthless aneestors. But many times very good fruits may be grown that way and this work should be encouraged. The seeds should be taken from the finest, well-colored and best apples of its kind grown in Wright county. Only the most perfect seeds should be planted one and a half inches deep in October. They will come up in the spring. When the little trees have grown five or six leaves, they should be transplanted at least a foot apart in rows and culti- vated. Those that grow a straight, vigorous, strong and clean stem with large, thick, glossy leaves are the ones to grow seedling fruit from. The others are no good, but may be used for root- grafting. As this work is of much value, the Plant Breeders' Auxiliary was started a few years ago and affiliated to the Min- nesota State Horticultural Society. Any one interested may join it. To encourage this work many premiums are offered for new seedling apples and other fruits annually by the State Fair, and other premiums from $100 to $1,000 by the Minnesota State Horticultural Society.
Every one interested in horticulture should know how to graft and grow his own trees. This is easy to learn and saves him many a dollar for nursery stoek. We would suggest to get Pro- fessor Green's Amateur Fruit Growing. You may have it for a premium, if you join the Horticultural Society. This book will teach you not only how to graft and grow your own trees, but everything a fruitgrower should know. We can give here only general directions. Sow the seeds from hardy crabapples in the fall for growing the seedlings. Late in the fall next year take out the strongest ones, cut back the top and roots a little, pack the roots in moist sawdust and keep them in a cool eellar. Cut the seions from apple trees you wish to grow late in the fall, too, but there should be no frost in the trees. The seions should be strong tips of branches grown last season and should be kept the same way as the roots. In February you may do the grafting in your room. This is done by making a slanting cut three-quarters of an ineh long at the eollar of the root, make a similar cut at the end of the scion, which should be four inches long, so that both euts fit fairly well together or cover each other. Make a perpendicular eut in the center of the cut of the root and seion and interlock them by inserting the tongue of one into the slit of the other so that bark and wood fit well together, at least on one side. Wind a waxed strip of eloth over the entire eut part and the graft is finished. After grafting, put them back again in the moist sawdust in the eellar. In early spring plant the
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grafts in rows, open the ground with a spade, set down the graft to the last bud, firm the ground and eultivate. It will take but a week or two until the grafts start to grow, provided the work has been done well. Should small apple or plum trees already growing in the garden be grafted above ground it is necessary to put an extra eoat of grafting wax over the tie, that the grafts will not dry out. There are many different methods of grafting, but the principle is always the same. A good grafting wax may be made by melting four ounees of yellow beeswax, three ounees of rosin and one ounee of pure tallow together. Mix well and run yarn or strips of eloth one-third inch wide through the wax. The strips should only be saturated with wax, and as too much wax will adhere, pull the strips through between two stieks.
To round out these gleanings, to make them more useful to the farmers, we should not omit to write about some of the worst menaces to our fruit trees. We do not mean bugs, worms and insects in general, for these ean be controlled with chemieals, and in particular eases the proper remedies will be suggested by the State Entomologist, but we mean to say that blight has been and is still responsible for the loss of many of our fruit trees. Since the initial years of horticulture in Wright county many thousand trees have been planted. Where are they now? Gone, mostly killed by blight. It is not so much the cold, for we have trees hardy in top and root which are able with a little eare to with- stand the cold and outgrow an occasional injury from frost. But it is blight, which is in evidence in so many of our orchards and gardens some years, that canses our trees to go down. In mid- summer, when everything is growing vigorously our trees are strieken, the leaves wither, turn brown, as if seared, the branches get dry, the infection spreads from tree to tree, and in a year or two the orchard is only a sad ruin of its former health and vigor. What ean we do to save our trees? In the first decade of horti- culture our fruit growers were simply at a loss what to do, and even now we have no sure remedy for this condition. Yet we ean do much to save the trees by eutting out the blighted branches, by being vigilant and ever ready to remove any part of the tree on which blight makes its reappearance. As blight is an infee- tion, it becomes necessary to disinfect the knife after every cut by the use of kerosene or other means. The infected branches should be cut off about six inches below the infection and all branches and leaves burned. Only thorough work will be sue- cessful in saving the trees and eradieating blight.
Sunscald also eauses much damage to our fruit trees. It craeks the bark on the south side of the tree, generally in early spring ; in summer the bark drops off, the wood is exposed and decay sets in. Many shade and other trees may be seen injured in that way on the south side from the branches down to the
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ground. Many apple trees may be observed leaning over to the northeast, with but a few green branches on that side, while on the opposite side the stem and branches are dead. Such trees are an eyesore and will soon pass out of existence. With a little care this injury may be readily prevented by inelining the trees at the time of planting to the one o'clock sun, by shading the stems with anything handy except tar paper, by encouraging branches to grow on that side, by white-washing the stems in the fall. This latter treatment may also be recommended against many inseets and miee. Always try to keep your trees in a health- ful, vigorous condition and they will reward you with bountiful erops.
Now we have to pay a little attention to our large fruit list. A beginner in fruit growing, not knowing the different varieties, would find it very difficult to select the proper ones. Though they are all recommended and may be planted, they are not all equally good in quality, in bearing, keeping and hardiness. For his little orchard the beginner wants the very best trees. We shall now assist him and mention only the best bearing trees in the order of their keeping quality, which is from one to five months. Should a man want to plant a half dozen apple trees on his town lot, we would suggest : One Duchess, one Okabena, one Patten's Greening and three Wealthy. For planting a dozen trees, double the above number. For an orchard of twenty-five apple trees and six plums we would seleet two Duchess, two Okabena, five Patten's Greenings and fifteen Wealthy. Should a few erabs be desirable, two Whitney, four Florence and two Transeendent crabs may be selected. Of plums, DeSota, Forest Garden or Wolf will be all right. If an orchard of 100 trees is to be planted, we would suggest five Duehess, five Okabena, twenty-five Patten's Greenings, ten Anisim, fifty Wealthy and five Malinda. Should erabs be planted, the above number may be reduced and Whitney, Florence and Transcendent erabs planted instead. For larger orchards, plant liberally of the Wealthy, as this apple may be kept till February with a little eare and is the best one we can grow, and always sells for the highest price. For plums, every variety from the general list is all right. As grapevines, raspberries, blackberries and straw- berries should be protected over winter, it does not matter much which varieties are planted. Yet we would not plant the Con- cord, as it does not get ripe every year, but we would prefer the Janesville and the Worden, and of strawberries the Splendid and Dunlap.
In conelusion we may suggest, not to plant many of other varieties if you desire to get much and fine fruit from a few trees. Protect the grapes and small fruits well over winter, except the eurrant and gooseberries, the bushes of which need only be tied
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together. Leave new sorts with high priees alone, if you don't want to be humbugged, but rather follow the advice of those having experience.
The first nursery in Wright county was the Howard Lake Nursery, established in 1887, by E. J. Cutts and A. P. Ball. Two years later the partnership was dissolved, leaving Mr. Cutts the sole owner. Mr. Cutts eame from Maine to Minnesota largely for the purpose of benefiting his health. Soon he became inter- ested in outdoor work as a nurseryman. A man of high ideals, a thorough lover of nature, conscientious in all his undertakings, and willing to sacrifice much for the benefit of his fellowmen, he set at work with a will, and soon became an extensive fruit raiser. At one time he had three and a half aeres planted to grapes, then the largest vineyard in the county. He believed that the first place to try out a tree or a plant was the nursery. Thus year by year he labored. He was horticultural lecturer for the State Institute, and from 1892 to 1896 traveled with the Farmers' Institute Corps, and through leetures on horticulture, demon- strated in a praetieal way the things that he had learned from the suceesses and failure of plant life in this county, a subject of which he had a wide knowledge. He was editor of the hortieul- tural department of the Northwestern Agrieulturist and the Farmers' Institute Annual. He died suddenly, September 22, 1897, at the age of fifty-three years. The nursery was then sold to W. L. Taylor. In 1906 it was purchased by W. H. Eddy, the present owner.
The Wright County Nursery, with its splendid orehard, is loeated about four miles south of Cokato, and is owned by John Ekłof.
Wright county people have taken a prominent part in pro- moting interest in fruit eulture throughout the state. Among the residents of this county who are active in the affairs of the Minnesota State Hortienltural Society may be mentioned : Harold Simmons, J. A. MeVeety, A. N. Carter, A. W. Richardson, A. Engell, L. W. Terry, W. J. Wildung, W. H. Eddy, G. A. Koenig and Julins Stholl, of Howard Lake ; J. W. Beekman, Nels Munson and John Eklof, of Cokato; Dr. P. O'Hair, of Waverly; Ells- worth Seranton, of Montrose ; C. A. Brunkow, Walter Burrows, Albert Czanstowshi, Mrs. Freda Marki, P. R. Peterson, J. H. Quinn, Charles Sell and Rev. Mathias Savs, of Delano; Anna L. Allen, Mrs. William Davies, Mrs. Kate Denny, Rev. Joseph A. Heinz, T. W. Ingersoll, M. F. Lowe and Mrs. James Mulqueeney, of Buffalo ; John A. Ferguson, Mrs. Emma Maddy, S. H. MeGuire, R. Shannon and Fred Shadduek, of Annandale; F. C. Erkel, John Wilson and J. L. Ludeseher, of Rockford ; and S. Eriekson, of Hasty.
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Great interest has been taken in horticultural exhibits at the county fair, and the horticultural display takes up more than its share of the space in the agricultural building. Wright county people have also made extensive displays of fruit at the Minnesota State Fair, and have won many prizes.
Through a careful testing out of the various kinds of fruit grown in the nursery of W. II. Eddy in Howard Lake, it has been demonstrated that the following varieties are doing well in this county and ean be grown successfully commercially :
Apples. Wealthy, Duchess, Okabena, Patten's Greening, Ma- linda, Northwestern Greening, Eddy, Longfield, Anisim. lowa Beauty, University, Jewell's Winter, Whitney No. 20, Virginia and Florence.
Plums. DeSoto, Forest Garden, Wolf, Yyant, Surprise, Terry, Sapa, Opata and Hanska.
Grapes. Beta, Hungarian, Janesville, Very Hardy, More's Early, Campbell's Early, Brighton, Delaware, Worden, Concord.
Raspberries. King, Miller, Loudon, Commercial Red, Sun- beam, Ohta, Older and Columbian.
Blackberries. Ancient Britton, Snyder, Stone's Hardy and Eldorado.
Currants. White Grape, Cherry, Victoria, Long Bunch Hol- land, Pomona, Perfection and London Market.
Gooseberries. Houghton, Downing, Pearl and Carrie.
Strawberries. Senator Dunlap, Bederwood, Splendid, Glen Mary.
Everbearing Strawberries. Progressive, Superb and American.
Native Fruits. Dwarf June Berry, Sand Cherry, Buffalo Berry and High Bush Cranberry.
Nut Trees. Shellbark Hickory, Black Walnut and Butternut.
Wright county has as good a soil as can be found for growing fruit, a faet that has already been fully demonstrated. At the present time there are over 8,000 bearing apple trees within a tract of land two miles square about Howard Lake.
Horticulture, in its true sense, brings out the beauties and comforts of enlightened homes, and in this regard the progress made in Wright eounty is worthy of admiration.
In the past fifteen years a wonderful change has been wrought. Fruit is now one of the staple products of the county, and there is searcely a farmer who does not own a few trees with which to supply his family. In fact, an ample supply of fruit is now at the command of every tiller of the soil in the county.
Looking backward over the progress of fifteen years, the hor- ticulturists of the county predict that the possibilities of the next fifteen years are almost boundless.
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CHAPTER XV.
AGRICULTURAL DEVELOPMENT.
Early Difficulties-Present Advantages-A Farming Community Dawn of Prosperity-Farm Names-Statistics-Assessment Rolls-Wealth of the Farmers-Crops and Live Stock.
Wright county is situated in the south central part of the state, about forty miles west of Minneapolis and St. Paul, being connected therewith by the Great Northern and "Soo" railroads. The soil is a black and sandy loam with a elay subsoil. The surface is gently rolling, interspersed with numerous lakes. The county is well drained by the Mississippi, Clearwater and Crow rivers, with their tributaries. The area of the county is 713.97 square miles, or 456,939.32 aeres, of which 424,383.82 aeres are land and 32,585.5 aeres are water. The land surface is divided into 3,814 farms at an average value per aere of $44.89. Nearly every farm home in the county is supplied with United States rural free delivery and local and long distance telephones. The population of the county is about 30,000.
Wright county is located in what was at one time known as the "Big Woods" country. Nearly all the timber has been ent off and the land cleared up, until today it has the appearance of a prairie county, though forests still abound. The soil is of rich fertility and abundant erops of wheat, oats, rye, barley, ete., are harvested. Of late years corn has taken the lead and thou- sands of acres are successfully grown each year. Wright county is blessed with good roads, its population is of a thrifty, pros- perous class, and land values are advancing rapidly in this eounty.
Wright county was generously endowed by nature with the elements most essential to the growth, development and pros- perity of a state, or any of its subdivisions. It has a rich soil- a warm loam which responds readily to the stimulating aetion of air and moisture, underlaid by elay which maintains the soil's durability. It has both groves and open land fairly distributed, by which the farmer is enabled to supply himself with timber for fuel and building uses and with open land for cultivation. It is well watered by rivers and ereeks-the Mississippi river, the Clearwater river and the Crow river passing along its border or meandering tortuously through township after township, as though purposeful to do the greatest good to the greatest number. Within its boundaries are more than two hundred beautiful lakes, most of which are fringed by woods, adding to the scenie attrae- tions of the neighborhood as well as affording food for the settler and rare sport for the angler, as all are abundantly stoeked with fish-bass, pike, eroppies, pickerel and other varieties. There
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are also a number of trout streams, which in the season attract those best skilled in the use of the rod and line. It is the policy of the state to furnish free of cost "fry" of the most desirable kinds of fish, so that the lakes and streams may always be kept well stocked.
The surface of the country is gently rolling, there being few high hills and very little waste land that cannot be made valu- able by drainage. There are thousands of aeres of meadows from which nutritious hay is made, although most farmers are raising the tame grasses, both for hay and for the enriching of their land. The natural roads are fairly good, but an intelligent poliey of road building has been adopted by the state which will be of great advantage. A liberal state fund, to be supplemented by local taxes, will provide means by which in a very few years these county roads ean be made equal to the best.
The rural telephone reaches practically every farm house, which, with rural mail delivery, places the farmer in elose touch with the great markets and with the current of affairs of the outside world. There is no longer any isolation such as existed in the early days when pioneering meant privation; no longer any need for the denial of many of the luxuries as well as the comforts of life. The farmer can have his daily newspaper and his daily market reports; he can have the advantage of the cir- eulating library, and his table can be supplied with whatever the village or city market may have to offer. The changes of the half century have been more marked in seareely any direction than in the conditions which surround life on the farm. The plodding ox which did the field and farm work has disappeared; the gang plow, the mower, the seeder, the harvester and the steam thresher are doing the work so laboriously and imperfectly done by the seythe, the eradle, the hand-sower, the flail and the horse- power thresher. The buggy, the carriage and now the automo- bile are almost universal among the conveniences of the farm, while the sewing machine, the organ and the piano are familiar objeets in the inner life of the farm home. The future doubtless holds still more in the way of convenienees and comforts, but it ean give nothing beyond what the great service the farmer has rendered and is rendering the country in the way of its develop- ment merits. There eannot but be deep regret, however mueh it is in the nature of things, that so few of those who bore the heat and burden of the day in the years of beginnings, have survived to enjoy the fruits which their labors produeed. "Their epitaphs are writ in furrows
"Deep and wide The wheels of progress have passed on : The silent pioneer is gone.
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Ilis ghost is moving down the trees, And now we push the memories Of bluff, bold men who dared and died In foremost battle, quite aside."
Wright county is acknowledged as being among the best and most prosperous stock-raising and agricultural counties in Min- nesota. Its people are wide awake and keep step with the pro- gressive march of the times in all that pertains to a civilization of happiness, industry and culture. The first permanent settlers of the county were farmers, and their object in coming was to till the soil.
All had many lessons to learn. Many of the pioneers were from foreign countries, and all the conditions were new. Some were farmers from the eastern states, and they too found cir- cumstances absolutely changed. Some were men who had pre- viously been engaged in other occupations, but who saw in the opening of Minnesota an opportunity to secure a farm, together with the health and longevity that come from outdoor life. All of them, regardless of their previous circumstances, were able and willing to work ; they had industry and courage and they were determined to win.
In the face of obstacles of which they had previously no knowl- edge they started to carve their fortunes in the wilderness. The country was new, there was no alternative but that success must be won from the soil, which was their only wealth and their only help. There were among the early comers a few money- lenders, a few speculators and a few traders, but everyone else, even the lawyers, the doctors and the ministers, must wrest their living from the earth. And in spite of all the obstaeles and in- conveniences, although the whole aim of the farming community has changed, and notwithstanding the fact that in the face of many disasters thousands of the pioneers left the county, those who stayed, and those who have come in since, have met with unbounded success. Nor is the end yet reached, for the county has in its agricultural and dairying resources a mine of wealth yet undeveloped, which when the years roll on, will grow more and more valuable as the people become, through scientific meth- ods, more and more able to utilize it.
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