156 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



tionsthan those taken from them. Had any of these original seed- 

 lings been started in almost any place else than where they have 

 been found, they too would have gone up long years ago and now 

 been without a friend to recall their memories. Such is the power of 

 location that lam confident I can select a location in various places 

 over the northwest where with proper care can be grown nearly 

 every variety ever attempted to be grown here. Then is it anything 

 strange, that in this vast territory and among the millions of new 

 seedings there should be here and there ove seedling, that to the 

 coinmoa observer would appear to be worthy of the propagation. 

 These occasional successes prove nothing unless we know their 

 real conditions and surroundings. To illustrate, let me add one 

 more suggestion. Take two trees, one hardy, one half-hardy; set 

 the hardy one on the south side of a high board fence and the half- 

 hardy on the north side. The hardy tree will perish in nine cases 

 out of ten, while the half-hardy one will live on and flourish. In 

 this you see the great difference caused simply by one inch of space, 

 or a board fence. Give these noted seedlings the same show, sur- 

 round them with the same environments that a great majority of 

 orchards have, and they will be just as liable to fail as are our 

 Wealthy or Plumb Cider trees. ' These and similar facts have been 

 thoroughly proved not only on my own grounds but in a multitude 

 of cases all over the northwest. 



Now what of the Russians? The time was when we needed them, 

 and those who do not intend top-working in the north of Iowa and 

 in Minnesota will need at least half a dozen varieties of the best 

 Russians; those who do intend top-working need none but Hibernal 

 and Duchess. These two varieties will be largely in demand, both 

 on their own stems and for top-working. Time will sift out and 

 consign to oblivion not only the greater share of the Russians but 

 nearly, if not all, our present seedlings, except such as may be re- 

 tained by top-working. This is just as sure as that electricity will 

 take the place of kerosene. Lest any should think we have made 

 more assertions than the facts will warrant, I will state a few 

 demonstrated facts which I hold myself pledged to show to the full 

 satisfaction of any fair minded person who will call on me and in- 

 vestigate the accumulated evidences now to be seen in our neigh- 

 borhood. Seeing is believing. If interested, come and see and 

 know every tree and every variety to which I have or njaj^ refer. 

 We have nearly two hundred varieties, all choice top-worked kinds, 

 but the great majority of these are in much the same conditions in 

 which are nearly all our applauded seedlings; they have come to us 

 since '85; if older, they have been grown under unusually favorable 

 conditions. So far as I have been able to learn there is not the first 

 seedling man that can show more than the one single original tree 

 that had ever borne an apple before '86. If there are such trees in 

 southern Minnesota and northern Iowa, I challenge my seedling 

 friends to show them to be now in good condition. It is a wide and 

 well-known fact that one tree coining through a severe winter 

 proves nothing. Then I again ask, where are our seedlings that 

 are worthy of propagation? Echo answers where. We would not 

 trust the first one, except they were top-worked on extremely hardy 

 stock. 



