t they may be able to support large loads of fruit. Yet too many
trees have been neglected and now look like brush heaps instead of fruit
trees.

Neglected trees should have all dead and interlocking branches removed
this year. Next year a few more needless branches should be taken out
and some of the others shortened. After this a little attention each
year will keep the tree in good form.

Each year the Agricultural Extension Division of the University of
Minnesota arranges for pruning and spraying demonstrations in different
orchards of the state. Communities wishing this kind of help, should at
once send in petitions signed by fifteen or more persons interested in
fruit growing. Send applications to Director, Agricultural Extension
Division, University Farm, St. Paul.

Pruning is a good subject for farmers' clubs to take up in March and
April.

Look out for rabbit injury this spring. Apple trees cost too much

GARDEN HELPS

Conducted by Minnesota Garden Flower Society

Edited by MRS. E. W. GOULD, 2644 Humboldt Avenue So.
Minneapolis.

_Cypripedia_, by Miss Clara Leavitt.

The showy lady's slipper (C. hirsutum) is found in swamps and rich
meadows. Old settlers tell of gathering the pink and white "moccasin
flower" by the bushel, to decorate for some special occasion. Today we
are trying to shield a few in their last hiding places. The draining of
swamps and cutting of meadows has had much to do with their
disappearance. The picking of the leafy stem by the ruthless "flower
lover" cripples the plant for a season or more and frequently kills it
outright. Attempts to transfer it to the home garden have succeeded for
a year or so but rarely longer, perhaps because its native habitat is
very difficult to duplicate.

The small yellow lady's slipper (C. parviflorum), found in bogs, and the
large yellow (C. parviflorum var. pubescens), growing on hillsides and
in rich woods, as well as in swamps, are the most widely distributed and
best known of this genus. They have often been transferred from the wild
to the home garden. Where they have been given their native soil and
environment the stock has increased and seedlings have developed. They
have even been brought into conservatory or window garden and forced to
flower in February.

The crimson stemless lady's slipper (C. acaule) is found in drier woods
and on the stump knolls of swamps in certain locations. It has with
difficulty been established in a