58 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



Those apples which the first settlers grew were delicious and 

 were held as a luxury by them. Often times when they went into 

 the woods in search of their cows they were accustomed to take an 

 apple or two with them to eat on the way, and when throwing down 

 the cores they were little aware that nature would make use of them. 

 On roadsides and highways also the cores were thrown by passers- 

 by. The birds also had a share in scattering the seeds. The re- 

 sult of all this was that apple trees sprung up all over the whole 

 country in vast numbers. But then came the trial winters and killed 

 all the tender ones. 



Not only did they kill the tender ones, but they also showed us 

 which of the eastern varieties were not hardy enough to endure our 

 cold winters, and in this way "killed two flies with one hit." From 

 some of these so killed trees sprung up some root sprouts which 

 proved hardy enough. Those seedlings which survived these 

 winters bore good, bad or indifferent fruit. 



Nature has shown us which trees are hardy, and now it lies with 

 us to select those varieties which bear the best fruit. If this is done 

 judiciously each locality will have fruit adapted to its locality. 



Here I will show you some apples of different kinds of seedlings, 

 some of which are grown in the woods, and others from root sprouts, 

 and which keep from October to May and even longer. If all these 

 seedlings were collected we would have a larger and better fruit 

 list than we have now. But this is easier said than done. It would 

 not be a paying business for one person to undertake this, because 

 it takes lots of time and labor to hunt up and graft these seedlings, 

 and after they are grown it takes lots of room to plant them in a 

 trial orchard. To sell unknown and untested trees is not advisable 

 except for trial. How many could be found who are willing to 

 pay a price for such trees ? 



One obstacle which is in the way of obtaining a successful collec- 

 tion of apple trees is that there are many valuable seedlings on the 

 roadside from which we never can obtain ripe fruit to prove their 

 value, for the passers-by will pick the fruit before it is ripe. This 

 same thing is also true of the trees in the woods. Another obstacle 

 is that there are some people who have a good seedling apple but 

 do not know that it is of any more value than to pick and enjoy the 

 fruit. There is another class, however, who know that they have 

 a good thing but do not know themselves how to make anything 

 out of it, and don't want any one else to make anything out of it. 



I would like to make a suggestion how to collect and test these 

 seedlings. Every member should collect as many of the good seed- 



