VARIETIES OF APPLES FOR CENTRAL MINNESOTA. 153 



the year if possible. I will give the varieties in bearing on my 

 grounds in the order of their ripening, viz. : Tetofsky, Duchess, 

 Borovinka, Whitney No. 20, Transcendent, Red Astrachan, Minne- 

 sota, Haas, Hebron, Wealthy, Peerless, Virginia, Plumb's Cider, 

 Lieby and Briar Sweet. I have fruited many other varieties, but 

 these named have proved the most hardy. 



A few words about setting the tree. Have your trees dug with 

 the tap root entire, if possible ; have the holes dug roomy enough to 

 take the roots all in without bending ; set one or two of the lower 

 roots straight down ; set the tree a foot at least deeper than it grew 

 in the nursery and the same side to the south, and having it marked 

 before digging ; fill the hole with dirt above the roots of the tree ; 

 then put in water enough to make this new dirt a soft mass, or like 

 mortar ; lean the body of the tree to the southwest about ten degrees 

 out of perpendicular ; then put on a little dry dirt, say two inches, 

 and tread it enough to work the mortar all solid among the roots ; 

 then fill up the hole with dry dirt and pack it again ; then mulch with- 

 in twenty-four hours but not within three or four inches of the body 

 of the tree. This tree will live if properly cared for before setting. 

 Protect the body of the tree from sun scald, mice, rabbits and borers, 

 with screen wire from earth to limb. Kill all pocket gophers with 

 a little strychnine on a piece of an apple, and you have a show for 

 success. 



Mr. C. G. Patten (Iowa) : I was interested in the gentleman's 

 paper in that he seemed to reconmiend the Haas and the Plumb 

 Cider. As I understand it, the latitude in which Mr. Akin lives must 

 be about forty-four and one-half degrees. I live in Iowa below youf 

 state line, and on the common prairie soil of northern Iowa the Haas 

 and the Plumb's Cider are not worthy to be recommended. The 

 Plumb's Cider on yellow clay soil underlaid with lime rock or a heavy 

 similar soil is considered a success, and the Haas would be a success 

 on the same soil, but neither one of those varieties is to be depended 

 upon. I make this statement in order to present another idea, and 

 that is, I believe in the discussion of these papers we should consider 

 locality of the orchard that is reported, and if I understand correctly 

 Mr. Akin is located upon an elevated site and probably has an 

 especially good soil for the apple. So it would not be safe to recom- 

 mend the Haas or Plumb's Cider for general planting even on quite 

 favorable soils in central Minnesota ; it would not be safe to recom- 

 mend it in northern Iowa for those kinds of soils. 



I will just state an experience along the line of artificial experi- 

 ments that I have been making with the apple. It was the first large 

 experiment I undertook in cross-fertilizing, and our present pomolo- 

 gist. Major Brackett, was the man who did the work. We secured 

 pollen of the old Talman Sweet and crossed it with the Briar Sweet. 

 I knew the origin of the Briar Sweet, as I happened to live when a 



