454 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



fourteen orchard trees, and nine of those are top-grafted trees. I 

 do not know what the stock is, I don't remember. The root'-grafted 

 trees bore just as heavily and just as large apples as the fop-grafted 

 trees, which is not the case with other varieties. I believe we have 

 got to try our varieties to see what will be increased in size by top- 

 grafting. We have the Malinda t'op-worked on the Virginia crab 

 that are apparently hardy, but they scabbed very badly this last sum- 

 mer. The apples were almost worthless. Then we have the North- 

 western Greening worked on the Virginia crab, but the trunks of 

 the trees killed on the Virginia stock. I had a Wisconsin seedling, 

 a very fine winter apple, worked on the Virginia crab ; I was very 

 proud of it, I would not have taken ten dollars for it', but the trunk 

 killed. The top did not kill, but it was the trunk. So I have found 

 that the Virginia crab is not entirely satisfactory as a stock to work 

 on. 



Question : "Does it pa}^ to raise apples in Minnesota, and what 

 variety would be the most profitable to plant ?" 



Mr. Busse: That is a hard question to answer, because it does 

 pay some people, and it does not pay others. As far as my ex- 

 perience goes I would say it does pay, although a few years ago 

 some people were talking to me and suggesting that I was spend- 

 ing a great deal of time and money out of which I would not get 

 any results. I said the orchard I had had done exceedingly well ; 

 in fact, I had been so well satisfied that I was going to plant more 

 trees. I did so, and although we cannot expect to get a great 

 harvest right away, in a year or two or three years, still I feel 

 that the time is coming when they will pay me. It takes some 

 time to develop a good orchard, but if it has the right kind of care 

 it is bound to pay. 



Mr. Philips : What varieties pay best? 



Mr. Busse : Well, one year is not always like another. Last 

 season I had four varieties that all paid well, the Duchess, Okabena, 

 Patten's Greening and Hibernal. Some people thought it would 

 not pay me for all the time and expense I was putting into the 

 trees, but last year a few trees that I had planted nine years pre- 

 viously paid me for all the time I had ever put on them; they 

 paid the interest on the value of the land and for all the work I 

 had done. I had a great many trees that yielded from five to 

 seven bushels of apples each that were only nine years old. 



Mr. Green: How much did you get for them? 



Mr. Busse: I got from seventy-five cents to $1.25 a bushel. 

 Those for which I received seventy-five cents were what I called 

 second class apples. I graded my apples, and some I sold for 

 seventy-five cents, some for $1.00, and what I called first class 

 apples, those that were good and sound apples and of good flavor, 

 I sold for $1.25 a bushel. 



