ee ea! 
26 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
In 1853 or 1854 he came to this state, bringing seeds and fruit trees; of 
this first planting there is not one tree left. The question will be asked, why 
did he lose those trees? To my mind the answer is, southern seed and 
stock. It was too far a removal north and the conditions uncongenial here. 
Yet with all his-losses he was not discouraged. Discouragement was not in 
his make up—he was not made of that kind of stuff. He was always hope- 
ful of overcoming the adverse elements he had to contend with in his chosen 
work; once putting his hand to the plow he never turned back, but toiled 
on valiantly to the last. 
In 1861 he procured common apple and cherry crab seed from Maine; 
these he planted, and he always thought the Wealthy apple tree came from 
the crab seed. At any rate, the thrifty growing seedling thus grown and des- 
tinued to become renowned with a world wide reputation developed spurs 
similar to the crab apple trees. 
The first mention that is made in any reports of this new candidate for 
favor with orchardists was in a speech delivered by Col. J. H. Stevens be- 
fore the legislature at the time of our annual winter meeting in 1870. 
Mr. Gideon was an untiring, indefatigable worker in his chosen occupa- 
tion, and there has never been a horticulturist in any state that has given 
more years of self-sacrificing, energetic, persistent effort for the production 
of an apple combining all the qualities worthy of propagation in this cli- 
mate than our departed friend, Peter M. Gideon. His whole soul was en- 
thused with the idea of being able to produce a long keeping, productive, 
hardy apple tree. It was his constant thought by day and in his dreams by 
night (sometimes interpreted as spirit manifestations by those of that man- 
ner of belief). 
His hospitality towards existing horticulturists was always very cordial. 
We all shall miss his genial, smiling countenance and his brilliant expression 
of thought pertaining to his one great hobby, the growing of a 
long keeping hardy apple. He was always a close and warm 
friend, a very bitter and sarcastic enemy. Honest to the last degree 
of honor in all his dealings in business, there were few characters with more 
pronounced conscientious convictions. He was a man of extraordinary in- 
dividuality, a persistent worker, undergoing any amount of work and self- 
sacrifice to accomplish the great ambition of his life. No man in this state 
can show a better record or has given longer continuous service in this one 
direction than he, and the state should erect a monument to his name, for 
the great service he has rendered in producing the Wealthy apple, thereby 
giving a great impulse to the fruit industry of our state. 
We are constantly discovering new seedling apples that have had their 
origin through his efforts in planting seed; that have been crossed and re- 
crossed by the best method (or what is at the present time considered so 
by our most scientific horticulturists) of natural or insect fertilization. And 
the end is not yet, for there are a great many seedling trees scattered all over 
this andadjoining states that have been distributed from his grounds that have 
not yet come into bearing, or become known to the members of our society. 
And today there may be on the Gideon farm the tree that will produce the 
very apple we all have been so long looking for. Some arrangement should 
be made with the heirs of his estate that the work he has inaugurated should 
be continued under the direction of some competent person or the direction 
of the state experiment station. 
