BIOGRAPHY, PROF. N. E. HANSEN. 3 



the Russians solved the root killing- problem. The entire root sys- 

 tem should be Siberian, and the entire top cultivated apple. The hy- 

 brid Siberian, Pyrus prunifolia, is also available for this work of re- 

 form in apple propagation. Professor Hansen is making a specialty 

 of breeding hardy fruits for the prairie northwest, and with over 

 a quarter million of seedlings the work at Brookings is second in 

 extent only to that of Luther Burbank, of California, and in num- 

 ber of northwestern fruits the number is even larger. The plan is 

 outlined by Prof. Hansen in three words : Exploration, the col- 

 lecting of native species ; Importation, gathering of species of pro^in- 

 ise from many parts of the old world ; Amelioration, their im- 

 provement by crossing and hybridizing. The most progress 

 has been made with strawberries, raspberries, plums, sand cherries 

 and sand cherry hybrids, hybrids of native plums with Chinese 

 apricots and Japanese plums, and with hardy roses. No plant is 

 saved that does not endure unharmed 40° below zero F. without 

 winter protection or mulch of any kind. The past season a planta- 

 tion of over 25,000 western sandcherries of the third generation was 

 gone over, and seedlings measuring 7-8 to i inch in diameter and of 

 good quality were secured. Mildew resistance is also aimed at 

 in this work. In apple seedlings he insists that at least one of the 

 parents be strictly hardy. 



Prof. Hansen no longer saves the original seedling, claiming 

 that the only true test of hardiness is propagation. He is ruthless in 

 destroying half-hardy and tender plants. In the hybridizing and 

 crossing work he has the distinction of securing from the leg- 

 islature of 1891 the first fruit-breeding greenhouse ever construct- 

 ed. The pollinating work is done mainly under glass, and over 

 three thousand trees are grown on dwarf stocks in pots, tubs and 

 boxes for use in the work. With inexhaustible patience. Prof. 

 Hansen goes at the solving of commercial fruit growing problems 

 for the prairie northwest, and displays originality and ingenuity 

 in his methods. In his own words : "From the ashes of millions 

 of seedlings will arise, phoenix-like, the new creations which are to 

 dominate our future prairie pomology." 



On Nov. 16, 1898, at the home of the bride's parents at La 

 Crosse, Wis., Prof. N. E. Hansen was united in marriage to Miss 

 Emma E. Pammel. Mrs. Hansen graduated in 1894 at the head of a 

 class of over seventy members from the Iowa Agricultural College, 

 later receiving the degree of Master of Science. Some of her 

 original scientific investigations were published in the proceedings 



