Evergreens for South Dakota

The numerous letters received by this department concerning the cultivation and management of evergreens, indicate that considerable interest is being taken by planters in the subject. This bulletin is a summary of the experiments with evergreens at this Station the past nineteen years, together with the experience of planters in other parts of the state. The object of this is to enable beginners to profit by the experience of others who have made an effort to beautify their home surroundings by planting evergreens on the lawn for ornament, or to .secure protection from surface winds weep by plan ting wind breaks. The word evergreen is somewhat misleading as some members of the evergreen family drop their leaves in winter, while some plants that retain their leaves during the winter are not members of the great evergreen family. The word conifer, which means cone-bearer, is a better term. The conifer or cone-bearers are by far the most important family of forest trees. For example, what would our lumbermen in the west have done· without the White Pine? The lumbermen of Europe have done without the Scotch. Pine? The great majority of conifers are native of the temperate zone, only a few being tropical or sub-tropical. The conifers number about three hundred species divided into nearly forty genera. The North American flora contain not less than one hundred species and sub-species, the largest variety being found on the Pacific coast. In addition there are at least four hundred nurserymen\u27s varieties selected mainly for their ornamental value

Plant Introductions

The breeding of hardy fruits has been the leading work of the Department of Horticulture of South Dakota State College ever since the fall of 1895. Many requests have been received for bulletins containing the record of this work. Many of these are out of print and are no longer available. This bulletin contains a complete record or plant introductions from the beginning of the work up to 1927

Breeding Hardy Fruits

Over a large area of the prairie northwest, many of the fruits grown in the eastern and southern states are deficient in hardiness. This has been demonstrated by thousands of planters. The climatic extremes of the northwestern prairies do not make fruit culture impossible; but care must be taken in the selection of varieties. The fruit lists adopted by the various state horticultural societies give the general experience with varieties. The beginner should confine his first main planting to the sorts which have stood the test, but often the list is so short that the varieties recommended for trial are needed to fill out the list. There is need of extending the present short list of fruits. Successful fruit culture is essential to true homemaking upon the open prairies, hence the work of originating hardy fruits is of the highest possible importance. It is only in recent years that the immense importance of plant-breeding has become generally recognized. Plant-breeding means the originating of improved varieties by selection, crossing and hybridizing. These are often termed new creations, and the work corresponds to that of invention in the domain of the mechanical industries. A strictly hardy winter apple, a hardy cherry, or a hardy grape of large size and good quality, would be worth millions of dollars to the prairie northwest

Experiments in Plant Heredity

The fruit-breeding experiments at this station since 1895 have yielded the many new hardy fruits described in Bulletin No. 224. Some of them have become popular and are now widely grown in many western states and north into Canada. These thirty-three years of work in producing several hundred thousand fruit seedlings have enabled the writer to make some deductions which have been presented in addresses prepared for International Science meetings and published in the reports of these associations. It appears best at this time to publish three of the papers in order to make them available to a larger audience. In recent years the land in this department was all planted to fruit seedlings and there was no more land available. Since there was no money available for the purchase of land, the only way was to secure the use of state land and of land furnished free by local people interested in the development of horticulture. In past year as soon as one generation of fruit seedlings was fruited, the selections for propagation were made and the remainder dug up, and burned. This gave room for the next generation. In recent years it became necessary to establish orchards else· where. It was a much better test of hardiness than to plant them all at one place, since there is a wide diversity in climate in so large a state as South Dakota. This wide diversity is evident in the recommended Fruit List of the South Dakota State Horticultural Society, in which the State is divided into six fruit districts

New Hybrid Fruits

A. Hybrids of the Apricot plum of China with our native sand cherry and plum.B. Hybrids of our native sand cherry with the Japanese plum; native plum; Persian purple-leaved plum; European apricot and sweet cherry; cultivated peach. Native plum hybrids.C. SummeryThis Bulletin may be considered as a continuation of Bulletin 87; The Improvement of the Western Sand Cherry; and Bulletin 88, Breeding Hardy Fruits. The improvement of the native Dakota sand cherry by selection from many thousands of seedlings is still in progress the fruiting of the fourth generation is awaited this year. Some of the best of the third generation are an inch in diameter and of good quality. Several of these have been sent out for preliminary trial but only one has been named, the Sioux. These have been budded on native plum, (PRUNUS AMERICANA) stock, as it furnished a convenient means of propagation and obviated the risk of mixture of sprouts from the seedling stock which would be the case were the budding done on sand cherry stock. The press of other ·work has prevented extended experiments in cheaper methods of propagation, but limited trials show that they can be propagated from cuttings; and layer easily where the branches are covered in nursery row. With a view to securing a tree of greater vigor then the sand cherry so as to make it an orchard fruit, rather than a small fruit, extensive experiments have been carried on for several years in hybridization of the sand cherry with choicer fruits. Some of these have fruited the past two years and it appears desirable to present a brief report at this time. Today, May 28, 1908, under appointment from Hon. James Wilson, Secretary of Agriculture, I start on my third trip to Siberia as agricultural explorer for the United States Department of Agriculture. It will be my fourth trip to Russia

Northern Plant Novelties for 1946

This department does not conduct a commercial nursery, but propagates and distributes new varieties, either originated in this department or imported. Improvement in size and quality has been observed each year since 1895 in the many acres of seedling fruits. The work has been honored by extensive propagation and planting of many of the new varieties, all originated or imported by Dr. Niels E. Hansen. Many new seedling fruits, roses, other ornamentals and vegetables are coming on, which will be distributed when ready. Some of the materials in this list is offered primarily for distribution to plant-breeders to help in the work of improving hardy fruits and ornamentals elsewhere. Offered for the First Time 1. The Redflesh Winter Crabapple 2. Ruby: a Redflesh Hansen Bush Cherry 3. N. E. Hansen Monarda: A Redflower Perennial

The Shade, Windbreak and Timber Trees of South Dakota

A general summary of the experience with trees, shrubs, climbing vines and perennials, in all parts of the State and especially at this Station, is now ready for publication. It will be necessary to divide this material into several bulletins, of which this is: the first. Following the reports on evergreen, and ornamental trees, a bulletin on the shrubs of South Dakota is planned as the next in order of publication

Early Garden Peas

In the spring of 1903 a variety test of over 800 varieties of vegetables was undertaken for and in co-operation with the United States Department of Agriculture. W. W. Tracy Sr., of the Divis1on of Seed and Plant Introduction, was sent by the department to several states where this co-operative work is carried on, and visited this station it1 the spring of 1903 to complete the preliminary arrangements. The United States Department of Agriculture furnished the seeds and paid for the labor. The land and superintendence ·were furnished by this station. The spring proved favorable for the germination of seeds in general, and although planted late, the plats presented a pleasing appearance until July 15, when the plants were destroyed by a severe hailstorm, a very unusual event in this locality. Of the 153 varieties of garden peas under trial, only the earlier varieties had given an account of themselves by this time, as indicated by the following table. The late varieties had made a strong growth of vine, but further note-taking was useless after the hailstorm. The seed was planted May 26 in drills, each variety occupying 20 feet in a row. The soil was a rich black, somewhat sandy loam, with boulder clay subsoil. The planting, field cultivation and cooking tests were conducted under the writer\u27s direction by Chas. Haralson, Vincent Fulkerson and Albert Johnson. The following tables do not give all the notes that were taken under the direction of the Department of .Agriculture, but only those points deemed of special interest to the general\u27 public at this stage of the investigation

A Study of Northwestern Apples

Judging from the many specimens of apples sent in for identification, or submitted at the state fairs and horticultural society meetings, there exists much lack of exact information regarding varieties. Every fruit grower knows the need of some publication containing descriptions of varieties to assist in determining the name of varieties unknown to him the nursery catalogues usually being too brief to serve as aids to identification. During the past eleven years the writer has made an effort to make C:.rawings and descriptions of the apples cultivated in the prairie northwest, especially South Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa. The investigation has been carried on in the orchards of the Experiment Stations, first of Iowa, later of South Dakota; at the state fairs and horticultural society meetings of the three states named; and in many private orchards. It was the original intention to include every variety in cultivation and propagation, and to construct a key to the descriptions so that varieties unknown to the reader could be readily found. With the present facilities this would delay publication too long. Hence part of the more or less complete material which has accumulated is submitted herewith, not as a complete work, but as a preliminary report, and a contribution to the history of Pomology in the prairie northwest. The writer hopes that it will blaze a path through the present jungle of northwestern apple nomenclature, and serve as the basis of more complete reports at some future time