STATE HORTICULTUKAL SOCIETY. 71 



Oibbs, Jr., the following named persons were elected honorary life 

 members of the Minnesota State Horticultural Society : 



Prof. J. L. Budd, of Iowa ; Dr. John A. Warder, of Ohio; Geo. P. 

 Peffer, of Wisconsin; Marshall P. Wilder, of Massachusetts; E. Wil- 

 cox, of Wisconsin ; for long and distinguished services in Horticulture 

 and Pomology. Mr. Peffer's paper on apple blossoms was read by the 

 Secretary, as follows : 



Mr. President and Horticulturists of the State of Minnesota : 



I see by your transactions for the year 1881, that I am to write a paper on the 

 following questions : 



APPLE TREE BLOSSOMS. 



1. Their date of opening. 



2. What varieties mature simultaneously ? 



3. What varieties are perfect and what imperfect bloomers ? 



4. What varieties should be planted together for mutual perfection in fertiliz- 

 ing processes ? 



5. What varieties have the greatest power to resist spring frosts and winds ? 

 To answer the first question would saj' that the first blossoms appeared this 



■spring on the following varieties : Fourth of July, Tolman Sweet, Lyman's Yel- 

 low, Transcendent, Whitnej^ No. 20, and Bellflower crabs, on the 4th of June ; it 

 being very late with us on account of the large amount of snow that had to melt, 

 which kept the ground cold. On the 5th, Lyman's Early Red, Haas and Early 

 Strawberry, (on a gravelly knoll.) On 6th, one Duchess (on the same knoll,) 

 Plumb's Cider, Golden Russet, Tetofsky, Fall Stripe, St Lawrence. 7th, Hyslop, 

 and mostl}' all of the other crabs, Limber Twig, Fall Orange, Sour Bough, Summer 

 Queen, Summer Pennock, etc. Eighth, Duchess, Red Astrachan, Pewaukee, my 

 Golden No. 4, also No. 1, 17 and 35, Nellis White, Pomme Grise, Cranberry Pip- 

 pin, and a Wealthy, on level land. Ninth, Westfield Seek-No-Further, Northern 

 Spy, Fameuse, Utter, Alexander, Baltimore, Englfsh Russet, also a seedling of Yel- 

 low Bellflower. Tenth, Jonathan, Rawle's Janet, and seedling Gilliflower, and a 

 few others under northeast side of a knoll that runs north and south through the 

 orchard. 



By this time the first bloomers had all their blossoms open, and some flowers had 

 already dropped their petals, but as I had to examine very closely, to answer the 

 other questions, I found that some petals had only wilted and were adhering to the 

 cah'x, and the pistils were turning grayish yellow, and were quite limber. On closer 

 inspection most all those varieties, (apple as well as crab,) that commenced to blos- 

 som the 5th and 6th were affected, and had begun to wilt or droop' but those that 

 blossomed later seemed to be opening quite even, and all had about finished on the 

 If'th. 



Second, we could not determine the varieties that would have blossomed at the 

 same time, as some parts of our orchard are high and others low, and some were 

 covered with snow two feet deep, while others were bare. Where the ground was 

 bare, the trees commenced to bud several days in advance of others in the orchard. 

 Although the varieties named were put down as the first ones that blossomed, we 



