320 ANNUAL REPORT 



south of Moscow) will be surest to do well in your section. But 

 several grades of the steppe apples should be tried. I speak of 

 grades and families, as at Riga, St. Petersburg or anywhere within 

 300 miles of the coast, they know nothing of the dry interior where 

 winter snows are very uncertain. The pears of the interior are as 

 hardy as the poplars. You ask how the dwarf trees of the Volga 

 grow here. Slowly, and make scrubby, unsalable trees in nursery. 

 Too far south for them. But many of the apples farther south 

 grow as well, or better, than Duchess. I was two months in Rus- 

 sia, and two months in Poland, Hungary, Silesia, Bohemia and 

 Transylvania. J. L. BUDD. 



Ames, Jan. 1, 1883. 



My Dear Sir : Yours at hand. The Anis is the name of a 

 family of apples grown on the upper Volga in immense quantity. 

 They are as hardy, for aught I know, as the Russian Poplars. The 

 Aport is another family grown lower down the Volga, in the an- 

 cestral home of the Duchess. The Alexander is of the Aport type, 

 but is not a true blue north Russian, but an apple found nearer the 

 Caspian. Mr. Tuttle has many of the coast apples but very few of the 

 interior ones. I know his list. But some of his are valuable. Red 

 Queen, Borsdorf, Charlamoflf, Yellow Transparent, Belle de Bos- 

 koop, etc., will not be apt to fully meet your wants. The upper 

 Volga sorts will. If he has the Antonooka it will stand with you, 

 and prove a God-send. 



r enclose a sheet of paper I threw aside, giving my notions of 

 the Antonooka. Yours, J. L. BUDD. 



Antonooka: This variety is well known in the valley of the 

 Moselle France, and is popular in the most trying positions east 

 oi the Swabian Alps and north of the Carpathian range, where it 

 is mainly grown as Passarts Nalivia. In the large orchards of 

 Poland, and over the great plains of Russia, it is one of the best 

 known and most profitable of the winter sorts. As to hardiness, 

 the finest old trees of Central Russia, withstanding the test win- 

 ters of the past fifty years, are of this variety. Beyond doubt it 

 will grow and bear good crops in the most exposed prairie of the 

 State, at least, if it fails, we may give up all hopes of finding a win- 

 ter apple as hardy as the Oldenburg. The fruit is large, yellow 

 oblong, and medium-sized specimens are so nearly like our best 

 specimens of Grimes Golden as to deceive the ordinary handler of 

 fruits. In texture it is some coarser than Grimes, but in acidity 

 and flavor it is much the same, 



