382 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



And now the boy has grown to manhood, and casting in my lot 

 with the tillers of the soil one of the first improvements put up on 

 the farm where I beg'an life for myself was a small orchard. For- 

 tune favored in the selection of one Duchess, the only tree of that 

 planting- alive today, but so perfectly healthy and productive that 

 it has paid good interest on the cost of all the trees that died. Then 

 followed a planting of Wealthy to fill the many vacant places. 



About this time I well remember receiving the most substantial 

 encouragement in orchard planting by a visit to the state fair. The 

 show of fruit surprised me, and the thought came strong and force- 

 ful, "if others can grow apples in Minnesota, I ceriainly can and 

 will." And best of all, our g-ood horticultural angel, Mr. Harris, 

 was there to minister to my necessities and point me to congenial 

 fellowship in this society. With increased confidence and know- 

 ledge there gained, I also became interested in the Russian varie- 

 ties and added to my orchard selections from Mr. Tuttle's and Prof. 

 Budd's iinportations, and with the health and abundant fruitful- 

 ness of these trees and the advent of appreciative young hearts and 

 hands and appetites into our household, begins the "solid comfort'' 

 of which I write. 



Our home orchard which contains about eighty trees is situated* 

 as all such orchards should be, near the house. Our large sitting-- 

 rootn window looks out upon a group of Wealthy, planted sixteen 

 years ago, that are producing a barrel or more each of that queen of 

 Minnesota fruits. They are not as perfect trees as inany in our 

 orchard, but had we understood some years ago the need of protect- 

 ing their tender trunks from our clear, hot sunlight, we might have 

 saved them to us in far better health. Close by them stand that 

 grand old Duchess, the patriarch of the orchard, turning a quarter 

 of a century. It has braved all the vicissitudes of cold and drouth, 

 of storm and heat, that are included in our climate, and shows it 

 not b}'- any sign of weakness or decay. Many the generous bushel 

 it has filled from its burdened branches, many the pie and dump- 

 ling that has drawn its juicy inspiration from the rich current that 

 flows through its rough and shaggy trunk. Next we pass the 

 3'ounger Duchess, emulating in sturdy health and generous habit 

 their older sister. Here we see the Yellow Sweet, the prime favorite 

 of the orchard, S3'^mmetrical in tree, perfect in every way of health, 

 one of the first to show ripe fruit, and bearing the most tender, rich 

 and juicy apple that could be desired. Its only fault, and that age 

 may correct, is scanty fruitage. Next stand in row five trees of 

 Summer Lowland, a bread and butter apple, one that suits all tastes 

 and leaves a vacancy when it is gone. 



And now we pass some trees of uncouth form that show in every 

 outline the stern and rugged nature of an orchard pioneer, the 

 Hibernal, fitted by nature and descent, by form and habit, to carry 

 the good gospel of the comfortable home orchard from Iowa to 

 Manitoba and from Wisconsin to the Dakotas. Not a choice apple 

 as eaten from the tree, not as handsome to the eye as the rich, red 

 Wealthj', but bountiful in fruitage, large and regular in size, and 

 almost without a peer for every form of household use. The Repka 



