26 HI.STOUY OF HOP.TICULTURK IN MINNESOTA. 



acciuired under widely dittereiit cireunistaiiccs of soil and methods of culti- 

 vation, we can look for an authoritative solution of this (luestion. If there is 

 any interest in our State which peculiarly requires the advantages arising 

 from mutual co-operation and the most thorough interchange of the results 

 of experience and observation, it is the interest of the nurseryman and fruit 

 grower. 



One of the most important of controverted points at the present time, and 

 one which, I trust, may receive some elucidation from your deliberations to- 

 day, is with regard to the feasibility of the attempts to produce hardy and 

 desirable varieties of seedlings. There are some whose unfavorable expe- 

 rience in attempts to raise hardy trees from nursery stock or the seed, have 

 led them to assume that the only prospect of making an apple producing State 

 .of Minnesota exists in the project of sending to northern Europe or the Asiatic 

 interior, for selections from the hardy varieties which, it is alleged, are suc- 

 cessfully growu there. The fact that the climate of Minnesota is exceptional 

 adds considerable force to this suggestion. We are situated on the most 

 elevated table land of the North American Continent, without the advantage 

 of the proximity of the great bodies of water which temper the air of most 

 of our sister States. The range of the thermometer is great, the extreme var- 

 iation at one post of observation in the State during the past year having been 

 139 deg., and the variation between the Winter and Summer mean having been 

 54 deg. Another peculiarity of our atmosphere arising from the same cause, 

 is its extreme dryness, which experience has shown to be an unfavorable 

 element as respects the growth of fruit. Yet that these facts do not contro- 

 vert the position that apples can be raised in Minnesota, is demonstrated by 

 the truth that in Central Russia, which presents a parallel in point of climate 

 peculiarities, apples are successfully raised, and of excellent quality. It is 

 probable that they have succeeded there only by reason of a series of trials 

 extending through successive generations, during Avhich out of the hosts of 

 varieties which have proved failures, a few^ hardy kind have survived. From 

 the experience of some of our nurserymen and amateurs there is reason to 

 infer that success in this direction will reward our efforts here ; yet consider- 

 ing the length of time that is required to test not only the thorough hardiness 

 but the quality of the fruit of a seeding apple tree, — time we can ill afibrd to 

 spare from the brief span of our years — it may well be question whether it 

 would not be expedient, while relaxing no exertion in the raising of seedlings 

 here, to secure from Xorthern Europe the introduction of the varieties which 

 are the most approved there. 



And in this connection, a few words may l)e appropriate with reference to 

 the value of the fruit raising interest in this State as a matter of political 

 economy. I have not the statistics to show what is the aggregate amount of 

 fruit and nursery products now imported into our State ; but a few facts under 

 this head will serve to furnish an approximate idea of the annual drain upon 

 the resources of our State, growing out of our failure to produce fruit. 



There were received at the single station of Faribault last fall, 1727 barrels 

 of green apples, and about 400 barrels of dried fruit, the aggregate value of 



