156 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



shown any blight, never had a bud killed. I have seven trees of 

 them. They bear finely, and if there is any fault to be found with 

 the Patten Greening it is with the skin of the apple. For the past 

 two years black spots have made their appearance on the skin during 

 the growing season. It commenced the middle of the season. The 

 skin would turn black and begin to rot, and quite a few rotted on 

 my trees this year and also last year before the apple was ripe. All 

 those that did not rot were nice apples, but rather an inferior eating 

 apple. As compared with the Haas — I have Haas that were set in 

 1881 and were killed in 1884-5 somewhat worse than my Wealthy, 

 Init they grew up again, and they arc large bearing trees now. They 

 killed very badly two years ago. I cut ofif the limbs that did not 

 grow, and they bore a good crop of apples this year, but I do not con- 

 sider the Haas as hardy a tree as the Patten Greening. 



Mr. J. S. Parks : I have a few Haas trees, three or four of 

 them, that I think were set in 1874 or '75, and I do not know of their 

 ever losing a bud by being killed by blight or by being 

 winter-killed. I consider them among the hardiest trees growing. 

 In regard to going slow on those trees that are out for trial, I think 

 that is a good idea. I have a tree that is evidently a crab of some 

 kind, although it is a long keeper — I have bragged about that tree as 

 being as hardy as anything there was in Minnesota. The trunk of 

 the tree is upwards of ten inches in diameter, and the top is perhaps 

 twenty feet in diameter and has borne from twenty-five to thirty 

 bushels of apples yearly for a number of years. It was a good 

 bearer, and I supposed it would stand anything. This year it is 

 dead all but one limb on one side of the tree. So I think we should 

 go slow so far as recommending new varieties is concerned. I wish 

 some older member would tell us what a test winter is. I think a 

 test winter is one that kills every tree. 



Mr. C. G. Patten (Iowa) : I just want to reply for a half 

 minute to what Mr. Brand has said. I presume Mr. Brand would 

 not question a comparison between any other tree and the Duchess 

 of Oldenburg. The Greening sprang up in the spring of 1870, and 

 I had it when those test winters came, and trees of the Duchess of 

 Oldenburg, number^ of them, and I had scores of Haas on my 

 grounds about the same age as the Greening that would be a fair 

 comparison with them. In the winter of 1884-5 in a row of Duchess 

 of Oldenburg twelve to fourteen rods long, three or four of them 

 were killed entirely, and some of the best trees lost a portion of their 

 limbs in those trees. The very best Duchess of Oldenburg I had had 

 spurs killed on them from twelve to eighteen inches long, numbers 

 of them, and I had injured and lost six to one of the Patten Green- 

 ing. The Haas on my grounds stand on better soil than the Patten 

 Greening. The Greening stand on very severe soil, but the Haas 

 on my grounds have been a perfect wreck ever since that winter. 

 There is no more comparison between the hardiness of the Haas and 

 the Patten Greening than there is between the Jonathan and the 

 Duchess of Oldenburg. I state this most positively. I know that 

 my ground is such that I can test trees fully as well as you can in- 

 the latitude of Minneapolis. The Patten Greening, the original 

 tree, is as vigorous as it ever was and nearly as perfect. 



