124 ANNUAL REPORT 



Mr. Peffer's prize essay on Seedling Fruits was next called for, 

 and was read by the secretary. 



PROPAGATION OF SEEDLING FRUITS. 



By George P. Pepper, op Pewaukee, Wis. 



Mr. President and Members of the Minnesota Horticultural Society: 



Your offer of a prize for an essay on the above subject is pre- 

 sumed to apply only to such fruits as will, withstand the severities 

 of the seasons in the Northwest, and, therefore, I will mention as 

 the first condition the selection of seeds that are grown in this cli- 

 mate, and, for tree fruits, they should be from sorts that are 

 of moderately slow growth; at least, short-jointed and thick-leaved 

 or woolly. The larger the leaf, and, also, the earlier the new wood 

 completes its growth in the fall, the better. To have a hardy 

 variety the leaves must have plenty of time to elaborate the sap, on 

 its downward flow, to harden the new wood and put it in proper 

 condition for the winter. The leaves of late-growing trees drop 

 prematurely, and the sap being in a crude condition, the wood is 

 injured by cold or by sudden changes of heat and cold, in the 

 winter, and the trees are more liable to blight in the ensuing 

 summer. Seeds of such varieties are imperfect, corresponding to 

 the imperfections of the wood. For varieties from which to select 

 the seeds, take either our natural seedlings or the most desirable 

 of the Russian apples. By reproduction, every generation gets 

 more used to our climate, and can be grown further north and 

 west, with success. If the variety should be an early kind, every 

 time it is reproduced it can be grown a degree further north, and 

 be hardy. A summer variety grown a number of degrees that way 

 will get to be a fall variety, and even a winter variety, if so far 

 north as to have only time enough to ripen its wood and fruit. 

 As a rule, the fruit will always be fairer. If any should be grown 

 further south, the fruit is smaller and more subject to rust spots, 

 scales, etc., and to cracking of the skin, especially such varieties 

 as are russety, as witness the Russians. You can multiply any 

 sort by grafting, but it does not make it any hardier. The increas- 

 ing hardiness manifests itself only through the seed, and, through 

 seedlings, the fruits are extended over larger ranges of latitude, 



