Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-10-13
GOPHER FRUIT BY
BURBANK METHOD
SPECIALIST ADAPTING FRUITS TO
SOIL AND CLIMATIC CON-
DITloNs.
MYRIADs OF VARIETIEs-HARDI.
NESS THE MOST IMPORT
TANT ESSENTIAL

Minneapolis, Oct. What Luther
Burbank is doing for the world,
Charles HARRISON Is attempting to &C
complish for the STAGE of Minnesota.
On the little farm which the state has
provided for him in Carver county,
just south of Lake Minnetonka, be is
calling into action the magic of nature
to aid his genius in evolving new vari-
cites.
This new wizard Of the orchard
promises to put Minnesota in the pear
and peach belt, by developing trees
that viii be commercially profitable In
this state. He promises to produce
apple trees that will be hardy and pro-
life, and to evolve new varieties of
plums, grapcs, strawberries, rasp-
berries and roses.
Today he has under his care 5000
varieties of apples, $4,000 varieties of
plums, 10000 varieties of grapes, 3d.
600 kinds of strawberries, AID 49,
900 different raspberries, all the re-
suit of his own work. Next year he
will have thousands of varieties of
currants, gooseberries, blackberries
and cherries, numerous new kinds of
fruit, and many more thousands of
apples, llUms, grapes, and strawber-
ries.
Advantage 20 State.
Out of this vast collection of trees,
shrubs and vines, he is confident that
some day there will be found varieties
that will bring fruit wealth to the
state and the northwest.
Haralson's laboratory is an eighty
acre farm located in Carver county,
two miles of Zumbra Heights, and a
half mile from the little station of
zumbra on the Minneapolis & st.
Louis railway. 1t was purchased two
years ago by the regents of the Uni
versity of Minnesota upon the recon-
mendation of the executive committee
of the Minnesota state horticultural
society, and the faculty of the college
of agriculture.
In casting about for a practical or
chard man to supervise the expert
ments at the new fruit farm, the
choice went to Charles HARRISON, of
the South Dakota experimental sta.
ton, at Bookings, S. D. Mr.. Haral.
son, who is practical gardner and
nurseryman, was associated for nine
years with Professor n. E. Hansen,
the wonderworker of South Dakota.
Several reasons led the horticult-
ural experts to locate the experiment.
al fruit fair at Lake Minnetonka. The
country is particularly well adapted
Tor fruit, and all things considered, it
is the best fruit land in the state.
Home of Wealthy Apple.
1t was here that old Peter Gideon,
more than generation ago, developed
the Wealthy apple, the most famous
apple ever produced in this state. In
this same section at Christmas lake,
Chris Johnson has accomplished won
ders in developing grapes and plums,
and all about the lake are hundreds
of orchards and berry patches that
yield tidy sums annually to their own
els.
There is not enough land in the
state experimental farm in st. An.
thony Park to conduct the fruit ex.
periments on a scale commensurate
with the Importance of horticulture
to the state of Minnesota Moreover,
the farm is surrounded by homes con-
tanning small boys who would hook"
Seeding apple in sublime indiffer.
ence to the fact that its core con
cealed untold wealth to the state. Out
in Carver county every farmstead has
its own orchard, and to the small boy
the old-fashioned apples there is no
temptation to raid the neighboring
trees.
Every foot of the Fink farm is sus-
ceptible of cultivation. The land is
slightly rolling. but not enough to
create my waste, The soil consists OF
black loan, all vegetable mold, hay
ing depth of from one to two feet.
with clay subsoil of various depths.
1t is hardly the best soil for grapes.
but for all other fruits it is favor
able.
Climate Is Equable.
One great advantage in the Lake
Minnetonka fruit belt is the compare
tive immunity from frosts and the
equability of climate as compared
with other sections of the state. Both
are attributed to the lake itself, the
large body OF water seeking to temper
the changes in climate. 1t is a known