54 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



THE $1,000 APPLE SEEDLING. 



(an informal report.) 



Prof. Green : In regard to applications for the thousand dollar 

 premium, I have the applications at the office and not here. There 

 have not been many applications filed during the past year, not over 

 three. I reported on this matter a year ago. I have top-grafted 

 them all on the Virginia and Hibernal, on good thrifty stocks, and 

 we have a different number for each one of them. We do not put 

 the name on them, but we give them a number, so no one knows 

 what they are. We put a metal label on them, top-work and plant 

 out in our seedling orchard. It is astonishing how much people 

 think of their seedling apples. (Laughter.) That is, as a rule. It 

 is just like it is with a child, you can see the rherits of that child 

 when no one else can. It is like the lady who brought her little 

 boy to school and said to the superintendent, "You know he is a 



very peculiar child." "Why, Mrs. H ," he replied, "all children 



are peculiar." It is the same with those seedlings. We give them 

 all a trial to see what is in them. As a rule, they do not meet ex- 

 pectations. For instance, I had an apple sent in the other day that 

 I am sure is the Malinda. The lady said her husband had intro- 

 duced it, and she had named it the "Blushing Belle," and she thought 

 it was sure to take the prize. • It does not stand any more chance 

 than the Duchess. There are few apples that have been entered 

 that might be considered ; perhaps four or five. Generally they are 

 not long keepers. We have had the Walbridge sent in, we have had 

 the Haas and other varieties. To make this thing brief, I will say 

 we are keeping the records as carefully as we can. I do not think 

 we have had anything that is especially promising. 



Mr. Geo. J. Kellogg : How many competitors have you now ? 



Prof. Green : About seventeen or eighteen. 



The President: It is open to the whole country and I believe 

 to the world. The whole country and Wisconsin besides. (Laugh- 

 ter.) 



