128 Appe>-dix. 



thousands upon thousands of hardy and adventurous home-builders, 

 would be found unsuitable for the propagation of our fruits, ordered 

 the importation of apples and other fruits acclimated to the regions of 

 Russia and Siberia and arranged for the establishment of experiment 

 stations to plant and test these trees in the cold, desolate regions north 

 of us. Prof. J. L. Budd, of the Iowa Agricultural College, and Mr. 

 Charles Gibb traveled through Russia and made a very full collection, 

 consisting of hundreds of varieties of wild and cultivated fruits. These 

 were distributed widely over the Northwest and were also tested by 

 Professor Budd on the college grounds. All experiments, practically, 

 have proven failures. To give some idea of the result of these experi- 

 ments, and the present status of "orcharding" in the West and North- 

 west, I quote from an article in the November American Garden, from 

 the pen of Prof. J. L. Budd: . 



The summers and winters during the past six years have been the 

 most trying known to the history of the West on orchard fruits. So 

 far as I know, the wreck of western orchards had known no parallel in 

 the world's history. On the college grounds, the old orchard of 1,200 

 trees, planted prior to our experimental work with Russian fruits, was 

 totally wrecked, and is now a clover field. Of the 118 varieties, the 

 hardiest of the old list, the Duchess, Whitney's No. 20, and Tetofsky 

 were the only really sound trees left when the orchard was grubbed 

 out. In like manner our pear, European plum, and cherry, of the old 

 list have been destroyed and the stubs dug out. Over a large part of 

 the State east of the Missouri divide, this orchard wrecking has been 

 as complete as with us. 



In those snowy and ice-bound regions before referred to will in a 

 few years be found vast aggregations of people. Let the experiments 

 of planting acclimated fruits be ever so successful, all that can be 

 grown either for ornament of their bleak homes, or for the supply of 

 the local markets will be but a fraction, and an insignificant one at 

 that, of the amount required. 



But to follow up the line of thought from the virtual blight and vital 

 paralysis of this industry in our own borders, to illustrate the spirit 

 of the times, California now leading off, had gathered enormous crops 

 from her immensely large orchards. The problems of rapid transit, 

 safe packing for long distances, transportation and reasonable freight 

 rates, had not received the attention they deserved from orchardists 

 and railroad men. Things were in a chaotic state. The facilities for 

 canning were entirely inadequate. The fruit could not be handled, and 

 thousands of tons were left to rot, or taken to an unremunerative 

 market, and dumped into San Francisco Bay. There was a flurry 

 among fruit growers; outspoken, indeed clamorous expressions of alarm 

 were heard on all sides. The timid prophesied wreck, ruin, and dis- 

 aster. Newly planted oi'chards were given over to neglect; large tracts 

 set aside for tree planting were left to native pasturage, or sown to 

 wheat, oats, clover or grass. A vast, important, and promising industry 

 was in great jeopardy. The press of the Golden State, the common 



