78 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



liance is placed upon pure selection. For crossing, plants are ob- 

 tained in some cases from drier and colder regions, to give, so to 

 speak, an excess of hardiness. In all cases the plan is to grow as 

 many generations as possible under cultivation in the shortest pos- 

 sible time. My visits to many of the great seed farms of Europe 

 lead me to think that there is much truth in the theory of the cumu- 

 lative efifect of cultivation in causing variation. 



Several other native fruits will be given a trial the coming year, 

 and a considerablte quantity of seed has been gathered together 

 from various parts of the northwest. 



Of work with cultivated fruits, the apple is made a leading 

 feature. The main efifort is to combine the hardiness of the Rus- 

 sian with the long keeping capacity of the American varieties. Manv 

 sorts have been grown the past three seasons in boxes and pots, 

 and cellared over winter. The trees are on Paradise stocks. I 

 hope for an "orchard house" as soon as legislative appropriations 

 permit. 



The minimum temperature at this station in the memorable 

 winter of 1898-99 was forty degrees below zero, with the ground 

 dry and bare of snow. It is plain that eastern and southern varieties 

 are out of place in this region, and yet native fruits are plentiful. 

 We must take the hint given us by nature and develop a pomology 

 of our own. No work is more worthy of the attention of the station 

 horticulturist in regions where similar extreme climatic conditions 

 obtain. The field is great, and the workers should be many. Pa- 

 tience and perseverance must be the watch words. 



Prof. Hansen : When a florist takes hold of a new plant he 

 gives it that exhaustive breeding that will enable him in a year to 

 produce a dozen varieties of it. We can do the same thing with wild 

 fruits by this exhaustive breeding. The way I go at it, the general 

 way, is to start the seeds in flats, and as soon as they are big enough 

 to handle I set the plants in pots. I do not always put them in pots, 

 sometimes I put them in frames and get them as big as possible. 

 They surprised me very much by their size. First sow your seed in 

 flats, then transplant them into frames and carefully tend them the 

 first year and then put them out in the fall. Mine made a very good 

 growth this year. During the dry weather they did not wilt in the 

 least. It is the same with the sand cherry. Sow the seed in flats, 

 transplant into pots and put them right out in the fall where you 

 want them to stay, and you will get four years growth in two, and 

 you will cause that variation to appear. If you get a variation that 

 is satisfactory you can propagate by layering, cutting, grafting and 

 in many other ways. 



Mr. J. S. Harris : I would like to ask Prof. Hansen whether by 

 this method of propagating to get a better quality of fruit it is not 

 done at the expense of hardiness. 



