PRESIDENT LYOX'S REPORT 



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KUSSIA.N AND OTHER FRUITS 



AND THEIR 



ADAPTATION TO COLD REGIONS IN THE NORTHERN UNITED STATES. 



A report ou Russian fruits and their adaptability to those portions of the 

 United States subject to great extremes of Ci)ld was made by President T. T. 

 Lyon, of this society, during 1888, he having been detailed to the work by 

 Prof. H. E. Van Deman, cliief of the division of pomology in the U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. It was made after personal inspection of many of 

 the orchards of Iowa, Wisconsin, Minnes:)ta and more eastern states, where 

 Russian fruits have been growing for many years. 



The region considered is that of the northern border of the United States 

 eastward from the Rocky mountains to the Atlantic ocean, but more espe- 

 cially those states and territories commonly spoken of as the Norihwest. 

 Says Mr. Lyon: "Of the fruits more or less perfectly adapted to successful 

 cultivation in the region under consideration it will only be necessary to 

 consi<]er those which are, or promise to be, of value either commercially or 

 for domestic or culinary purposes. Among these, named as nearly as practi- 

 cable in the order of their maturity, will be found the strawberry, raspberry, 

 dwarf juneberry (serviceberry), cherry, currant, gooseberry, blueberry (in- 

 cluding the huckleberry), blackberry (including the dewbirry), mulberry, 

 cranberry, apricot, plum, peach, apple, quince, and several nuts." 



As the strawberry is said to be indigenous as far north as Behring straits, 

 nothing more is desirable in the way of hardiness, and bene 3 the varieties of 

 this fruit common elsewhere in this country are not only sufficient on this 

 score but are in general cultivation. The same is true of both the red and 

 the black ra3pberries, except that their range northward is not S3 great and 

 in some parts winter protection is necessary to both, the black especially. 

 These, with casual reference to our native dwarf juneberry (serviceberry), 

 takes the writer on in his list to the cherry, of which he speaks thus: 



THE CHERRY. 



Our improved varieties of the cherry are reputed to have sprung from a 

 'wild species, botanically known as Frunus avium, which is supposed to have 



