192 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



floating their dark green foliage, and nodding their rosy cheeked 

 apples as we pass by, inviting us, as it were, to aid, foster and 

 care for them. Surely we should all take encouragement and do our 

 part, and who can tell their benefits? 



Mr. J. S. Parks : I think most of those seedlings came from 

 later plantings. The first came from seeds Mr. Springer and 

 I brought from the east. I think that is the origin of most of the 

 northern grown apples ; they^ were brought in at that time. They 

 certainly have a good record to turn back to, because I was down 

 there within two years, and I visited the same locality where 

 Mr. Springer secured his seed in northern New York, and I 

 found the trees were growing still from which he had secured the 

 seeds in 1852. The trees are hardy and are still bearing good 

 crops. I reiterate that those trees were propagated from the 

 seeds obtained from that orchard. I think that accounts a good 

 deal for the good quality of fruit that originated in Waupaca 

 county, Wisconsin. 



Mr. Philips : Do you claim the Wolf River grew from the 

 seed you obtained in Michigan? 



Mr. Parks: I am not sure. 



Mr. Barnes : Were you in the county at the time you pro- 

 cured those seeds from Michigan? 



Mr. Parks : Yes, I was. 



Mr. Barnes : I think that justifies the claim. 



Mr. Philips : I have been asked to give a history of the Wolf 

 River and to state positively about the origin of the seed. What 

 I want to know is whether Mr. Parks is sure that the Wolf River 

 seed came from Michigan or whether it came from New York. 



Mr. Parks : Mr. Springer always maintained it came from 

 the seed he gathered at White Pigeon, Michigan, the next day 

 after Franklin Pierce was elected president. We were coming 

 west with wagons, and I had a pair of horses in the same wagon 

 with Mr. Springer's. We came west together, and we have al- 

 ways been like brothers ever since. As we came to White 

 Pigeon I saw some monstrous big apples in a store window, and 

 I ran back and bought ten apples for ten cents. They were so 

 big I could not carry them in my arms. I could only take half 

 of them, so I took them back and only kept half a dozen. I 

 claim that was the origin of the Wolf River apple. 



A Wisconsin Orchard. — Mr. A. D. Barnes, of Waupaca, Wis., in a letter 

 under date of March|3d, states that "spring seems to be on the way" and fur- 

 ther informs us that "the hardy sorts of apples, cherries, and plums are all 

 O. K. and will yield abundantly this summer, but peach, pear, sweet cherries 

 and some Japanese plums are decidedly dead as to last year's growth, and in 

 some cases, at least, two year's growth is gone." 



