464 MINNEAPOLIS STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



"After last winter's experience, we need a root for the apple as 

 hardy as the crab root, and, while I fully believe in using- crab seed 

 for stock, the trials made thirty years ag-o on such stock tended to 

 dwarf the trees and bring them into earlier bearing-, owing to lack 

 of vigor and push. Such stocks are certainly more hardy in the 

 root, and if we can secure Virginia crab seed I think they will make 

 the best stocks we can get . . . ." • 



At Brookings we find Virginia crab, standing next to Transcend- 

 ent in the old station orchard, planted in 1888, blighting badly the 

 past two years; the foliage, also, is subject to scab. This variety 

 has not blighted in the young station orchard, planted in 1896, with 

 no Transcendent near, and these young trees proved hardy the past 

 winter. 



THE PROBLEM BEFORE US. 



It now remains to be settled by experiment which is the best 

 form, if any, of the Siberian crab to use for stocks. Judging from 

 the foregoing notes and from numerous enquiries made while in 

 Russia, the writer is inclined to consider Pyrus haccata as the best 

 for our use. It is the hardiest known species of the apple, and the 

 influence of hybridity will not come in as a disturbing factor in 

 ascertaining results. Seed from Siberia is not yet obtainable in 

 commercial quantities, but with the opening of the new Siberian 

 railway this difficulty will soon be obviated. Just east of Lake 

 Baikal, Pyrus baccata is said to occur in such abundance that a 

 certain range of mountains is called "Apple Mountains." The 

 writer is endeavoring at present to obtain more seed from this 

 region. 



The Transcendent and Hyslop crabs blight so badly at Brookings 

 as to be worthless. The old Yellow or Red Siberian, with fruit the 

 size of a cherry, or less, may prove very useful, also the old Cherry 

 crab. Old trees, forty years old or more, are found scattered through 

 the older parts of the west, and at present are neglected because of 

 small size of fruit. The seed of all crabs with deciduous calyx, such 

 as the old Yellow Siberian, should be saved. Mr. Gideon's plan 

 should also be carefully tested of saving seed from hardy hybrid 

 Siberian crabs. 



As a matter of fact, it appears that the question of hardier stocks 

 has not forced itself upon public notice save after unusually severe 

 winters, where much loss was experienced from root-killing. In 

 ordinary seasons it was foun4 that the common apple seedlings 

 were more readily obtainable in commercial quantities, and the 

 losses from root-killing passed gradually from memory. Had the 

 "test winters" occurred every winter, it is probable that the crab 

 stock question would have received more general attention. For the 

 northern part of South Dakota the liability to root-killing is greater 

 than in regions in the same latitude with greater snowfall further 

 east, and the need of a hardy stock becomes more manifest. It is the 

 purpose of this bulletin to call attention to the matter, and to stimu- 

 late exact experimentation along this line, rather than to make posi- 

 tive recommendations. 



