REPORT OF DELEGATE MINN. HORT. SOC, 195 



tion of doing something to better the conditions of one's fellow men. It 

 is interesting to note that the apple is receiving more attention than all 

 other fruits and flowers together. The main interest centers in the pro- 

 duction of an apple of good quality and long keeping ability. Early apples 

 of sufficient hardiness have already been secured. The problem now is, 

 the production of late winter apples of the same degree of hardiness as the 

 best summer kinds. 



The seedling apples offered for premiums at the winter fruit display 

 are not passed upon finally at the time of the meeting but are kept by the 

 committee under ordinary cellar conditions and their keeping quality 

 noted. Last year the Horticultural society bought a barrel or two of 

 "Malinda" apples, took the seeds from them and distributed the seeds to 

 members who promised to plant them and care for the seedlings. Professor 

 Green of the Experiment Station, reported that he had grown at the 

 Station 6,260 of these seedlings. In order to carry out this work a move- 

 ment has been started to buy a fruit breeding farm of eighty acres for 

 the Horticultural Department of the Experiment Station. The present 

 legislature of Minnesota is being asked to provide $15,000 for the purchase 

 of the farm and $2,000 annually for its maintenance. The interest taken 

 by the Minnesota horticulturists in the production of new fruits and the 

 work they are doing along that line can scarcely fail to produce results 

 of the utmost importance to northwestern pomology. 



I cannot leave this topic without calling your attention to the impor- 

 tance of doing the same sort of work in Nebraska. We of Nebraska have 

 not felt the need of this kind of work as it has been felt in Minnesota 

 because in the southeastern part of the state we already have a large list 

 of varieties that succeed well, and in the northwestern part of the state 

 the people have been all too ready to believe that nothing in the fruit 

 line can succeed, and that therefore there is no use trying. We know, 

 however, that some fruits can be grown in northwestern Nebraska, and 

 we know further that the list of things that succeed there is small. As 

 northwestern Nebraska develops, the need for more varieties that are 

 hardy is going to be just as great as it has ever been in any part of Min- 

 nesota. The production of hardier and more drouth-resistant varieties of 

 fruits would be of greatest importance to a considerable part of Nebraska. 

 There is a chance for a lot of this work done in southeastern Nebraska 

 also. All of us know that many of the peaches grown there are seedlings 

 and some of us might admit, if cornered, that those seedlings sometimes 

 fruit when the budded varieties do not. Of course the budded varieties 

 have a longer season of fruiting, some coming early and some late, 

 and they are usually of better quality. The fact, however, that we 

 sometimes have seedling fruit in seasons when many budded trees are not 

 in fruiting indicates simply that many of our budded varieties are not 

 hardy enough for our conditions. All of our varieties were seedlings once, 

 seedlings that were selected out from the great mass of their kind because 

 of some valuable characteristics like size, flavor, earliness, etc. A special 



