CAN WINTER-KILLING BE PREVENTED? 407 



summer while I was at Buffalo a man came to our exhibit and look- 

 ing over our apples said, "Those are the finest apples I have ever 

 seen; we cannot raise such apples where I come from." I asked, 

 "Where do you live?" "In Alinneapolis," he replied. "Do you 

 raise apples up there?" "No, we don't raise any apples." "Do you 

 know the Wealthy apple?" "No, I never heard of it." "Did you 

 ever hear of Peter Gideon?" "No, I never heard of the man." 

 "Don't you know that this apple, the Wealthy, originated in Min- 

 nesota?" "No, I don't know anything about it. I never saw an 

 apple growing in IMinnesota." This is not lying, this is an actual 

 occurrence. I said to him, "You had better go home and look up 

 that matter of Peter Gideon and the Wealthy apples, which originated 

 within twenty miles of ]\Iinneapolis." There are other people who 

 are just as innocent, and there have been a great many hard things 

 said on one side and the other in many sections of the country. It 

 has all been laid to the tree agent, but perhaps it w'as not all his 

 fault ; perhaps we ourselves were as much to blame as the tree agent. 



Mr. Emil Sahler : Had it not been for some of the tree agents 

 there w^ould not have been half as many apples raised in Minnesota 

 as are raised today, and I would advise the farmers to do as I did. 

 Thirteen or fourteen years ago I went to Faribault to get some apple 

 trees. I looked them over. I found to mv surprise thev raised fine 

 apples, the}- had very fine trees — and sometimes when 1 go to other 

 farms and see apple trees with apples on them I take some home with 

 me to find out how long they will keep as a wanter apple. That is 

 the way I have done. If any one of the farmers has a tree agent 

 come up to him and say he has got a good thing, let him go and see 

 it in the nursery. I found by going to the nursery I learned more 

 than I learned in fifteen years' experience by not going to the nursery. 

 This is the first time I have ever met with this horticultural society. 

 I joined the society three months ago at the state fair, and I am sorry 

 I missed thirty years of experience by not being a member. Had 

 I been a member of this society twenty-five years ago I would today 

 be classed with all these gray haired men. W^hen I look upon this 

 sample of fruit here shown by neighbor Yahnke I want to thank 

 him for bringing such a sample of fruit here which he has raised 

 himself. He will probably not reap the harvest of his seedlings, but 

 w^e, the younger men, will probably reap the harvest. 



(N. B. — The presentation of the above article in our publication 

 must not be taken in any sense as an indorsement by the horticultural 

 society of any method the writer suggests as the probable cause of 

 the results he has secured ; and this statement applies with equal 

 force to everything published in this journal and the society's re- 

 ports except where the society may have taken action thereon and 

 specifically endorsed it by vote at some regular session. In this 

 article Mr. Wilfert recites his experience with a certain electrical 

 contrivance. Whether or not this is the cause of the results he 

 speaks of, judging by the accompanying view^s taken on his place 

 he is a successful fruit grower and much can be learned from his 

 experience of practical value to the learner in his art. There is 

 much to be learned of his methods bv studving these pictures alone. 

 — Sec'y.) 



