106 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



continued cold has seemed to make it impossible to grow any kinds 

 of tree fruits. The intense and persistent frost destroys the vitality 

 of even such tough and enduring sorts as the Tolman Sweet and Red 

 Asti'achan apples. No cultivated stone fruits except the old- 

 fashioned red pie cherr}' and the red Canada plum have as yet 

 succeeded, and none, even of the hardiest pears, have been brought 

 to bearing. 



Notwithstanding this ver}- unpromising outlook, I could not 

 abandon the idea of producing my own fruits. Born among the 

 abounding orchards of Kennebec county, I would not give up the 

 hope of sitting under my own apple trees in the countrv where my 

 lot was cast. There were few grounds for encouragement, yet there 

 were a few. A single " English apple," as it was called, (though it 

 proved to be a French one,) had been found hardy enough to re- 

 sist the winters' cold. This, known as the '' Peach Apple," but 

 unlike any recorded variety of that name, had been brought from 

 Montreal, and was a decided success. I could not but hope that as . 

 there was one such, there might be others found, when a partial 

 search was made. To begin with, I ordered one hundred and eighty 

 trees of some thirty varieties of the hardiest sorts known in Maine. 

 These included Sops of Wine, Red Astrachan, Williams' Favorite, 

 Porter, ]\Ioses Wood, Gravenstein, Fairbanks, Northern Sweet, 

 Duchess of Oldenburgh, Winthrop Greening, Morgan Sweet, Frank- 

 lin Sweet, Canada Reinette, Fameuse, Rockwood, Jewett's Red, 

 Black Oxfoid, Cathead, Blue Pearmain, Tolman Sweet, Yellow Bell- 

 flower, Cole's Quince, Westfield Seek no Further, Ribstone Pippin, 

 and several less known sorts. Though a few of these still survive 

 and produce fruit, onlj^ one of them proved to be entirely hard}' 

 and safe to set as an orchard apple. This was the Duchess of 

 Oldenburgh, of the same season (early September) as my Montreal 

 Peach apple. The next entirely hard}' apple which I obtained was 

 the Tetofsk}', a Russian variety', imported at the same time as the 

 Duchess of Oldenburgh, b}- Manning of Massachusetts. It is an 

 August fruit. Thus I had supplied myself with apples for summer 

 and early fall. 



Meantime, I had been searching in my rides about the country' for 

 native seedlings that might prove to be of value. I had also reached 

 out to the great North- West, toAVisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota for 

 hol[), and also to the adjoining Province of Quebec. INIany varieties 

 from these localities were tested, and some progress made. Plumb's 



