Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1904-03-09

garden fruit that we use for sauce
and dessert. 1 will not try to discuss
the fruits that are termed ANNALS
such as ground cherries, melons. etc.,
but will confine myself to tree, bush
and herbaceous plant fruits.
The first in season is the rhubarb,
or pieplant, which comes on so early
In the spring. We may in fact grow
it in our cellar during the winter.
The strawberry is next and will pro-
duce more fruit than any of the fruits
that we can grow, that is take it one
year with another.
There are great many varieties Of
which there are some that will do
we'll only in certain localities, while
other varities will do we'll nearly
everywhere. There is one reason why
strawberry growing may have been a
failure with a great many, and that
is, that their plants were all of one
variety, and that variety pistilate
one. and consequently there could be
no fertilization of the blossoms and
therefore no fruit would set. The pis-
tilate varieties when properly pol
lenized are among the most satisfac-
tory of any. l will name four
varieties that have proven very salts
factory with me, and are quite
generally successful everywhere, they
are the Bederwood and Lovett, both
staminate or pollenizers, the Warfield
and Crescent, pistilate, requiring to
be fertilized.
Before the strawberry season is
ended there are a number of other
varieties of fruits that are ready for
use. The early varieties of cherries,
Dyehouse, Early Richmond. and
Montmorency; the later varieties
Ostheim, Eng. Morello and Wragg,
which are all good and do we'll
Oh good soil and location. About
the same time gooseberries get fit
for use in green state, and that is
the way they are generally used.
Best varieties. Downing, Pearl. and
Red Jacket, all of which are quite free
from mildew.
Currants follow closely. Among the
new varieties that are good, are the
Red Cross and Pomona, old stand-bys
are Red Dutch and White Grape.
Both gooseberries and currants are
troubled by the currant worm. but by
spraying the bushes with White Helle-
bore every time the worm puts in it's
appearance YOU can soon get rid of
them. At about the same time the
cu-rants get ripe the raspberries begin
to get ripe also. There are several
classes of raspberies; black cap. red
and purple. Among the best blacks
are the Gregg, Older and Kansas
The Older is the hardest of the three,
the Kansas next. OF the reds London,
Cuthbert, Miller. Red and Royal
Church are good. Columbian is a
pretty good purple. Blackberries
come in after raspberries, but are not
as sure crop as the other berries
named. The Snyder seem to be the
best of any that have tried.
Our native varieties of cultivated
plums are among the hardest fruit
trees we have, and the fruit begins to
ripen at the end of the black berry
season and continues for mouth or
more. Among the good varieties 1
will name the Anderson. an early
variety. DeSoto. Hawkeye, Wyant and
Miner, a late variety. Grapes if
pruned every fall, laid down and
covered, and left covered until quite
late in the spring are pretty sure
crop. The Champion, GAINESVILLE and
Concord are among the hardest
varieties. OF all the fruits grown the
apple is perhaps the most important,
as it can be kept in fresh state for a
longer period than any of the above
named fruits. For early varieties
that are considered reliable, will
name, Duchess of Oldenbury,
Tetofsky. Yellow Transparent. ana
Charlemoff Autumn, Wealthy, Whit
ney, Patterns Greening, Plumb's
Cider, and Longfeld; Winter. Wal
bridge, Malinda, N. W. Greening.
Now 1 don't pretend to say that the
above list contains all the desirable
varieties, for peoples taste differs so
much but l have tried to name
varieties that have been doing we'll
quite generally, and such as the ordi-
nary farmer would be satisfied with
growing. Now don't understand me
to say that any of the above list will
do we'll without any care, for don't.
You might as well expect to raise a
good crop of corn or oats or have your
stock be profit to you without any
attention at all. No sane man would
expect to raise good crop of corn or
potatoes by planting them on ground
poorly prepared, and then not giving
proper cultivation afterward. Then
why should he expect trees and plants
to flourish and be productive without
some care. There is no excellency
without great labor.
VIM. A. Anderson.