138 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



favor of the Peerless, and hereafter I shall plant the Peerless 

 apple. They were positively as handsome an apple as I ever saw. 



Mr. C. F. Gardner (Iowa) : How about the quality? 



Capt. Reed : The quality was splendid ; pretty nearly as good 

 as the Wealthy for eating. 



Mr. Eddy: I will say nothing against any apple at all, but 

 for the sake of the sincerity and the reliability of our society, and 

 for the sake of amateur growers and people who want to plant 

 fruit trees, we want to be very careful as to what we put at the head 

 of the fruit list so far as hardiness is concerned, because this fruit 

 list is a guide for ignorant people, people who are not acquainted 

 with apples, and they understand that our society is strong in this 

 state, and we are supposed to know what varieties are the best, 

 what are the hardiest kinds to grow in this state, and I would be 

 very much in favor of seeing our society extremely careful in 

 selecting just such kinds as we know are of the first degree of 

 hardiness in the Northwest to put into the list of the "first degree 

 of hardiness" in our fruit list. 



Mr. O. F. Brand : The Peerless has been introduced over a 

 wider extent of territory than any apple tree that has been before 

 the public for the same length of time. You will find it from Van- 

 couver to the northeastern part of Maine ; from Arkansas, yes, from 

 way down in Texas and through many of the southern states on 

 to the Pacific coast, and where I do hear from the tree it is mostly 

 good reports. On the Pacific coast one man who had ordered six 

 trees and paid $10 for them a good many years ago, ordered 400 

 more. He thought it was one of the best apples he had. A man 

 in the state of Maine — (I never saw the man) I gave him nine 

 trees — and he said, "It is the hardiest and best tree we have and 

 produces the best apples." I do not know the man ; I do not know 

 whether his judgment is good for anything or not. Up here in 

 our own state in the counties of Todd, Becker, Clay, in the Red 

 River Valley I get nothing but good reports of the hardiness of the 

 Peerless and also of its productiveness. Up here at Starbuck, be- 

 tween Starbuck and Glenwood, there is an orchard where a man 

 had a hundred trees planted for a number of years, and he had an 

 immense crop of apples. That man reported to me that it is a 

 heavy bearer up there. I know there are localities where it does not 

 bear well. Here is Mr. Merritt present; he can probably tell you 

 something about the Peerless. It is immaterial to me where you put 

 it on the list or whether you put it on at all. 



Prof. Green: While the Peerless has succeeded in some 

 places, yet as a whole it has been a disappointment. I could name 

 vou some other varieties of apples that have succeeded wondrously 

 well in some places. I am willing it should remain where it is, in 

 the list of "second degree of hardiness," where it has been for some 

 eighteen vears, and I would like to amend it so that the paragraph 

 be accepted as it is. We could go on and discuss this fruit list till 

 six o'clock. There are at least fifty varieties that ought to be dis- 

 cussed in connection with this fruit list. Now is the time to do so 



