GENERAL FRUITS. 133 



of these endeavors are given. All small fruits can be raised in any 

 quantity that a person has capacitj' for planting and caring for, 

 tame plums and pears are a complete failure, tame cherries the 

 birds take before they are ripe, tame grapes are a grand success 

 if taken care of, apples can be raised by selecting hardy varieties. I 

 will name some applesthathave fruited on mj- grounds: Hebron, Min- 

 nesota seedling, Haas, Duchess, Red and White Astrachan, Wealthy, 

 Fameuse, Alexander. Mother, Price's Sweet, Rock, Gilliflower, 

 Beachers' Sweet, Xalakoff, Queen's Choice, Transcendent, Hyslop, 

 Sweet Winter crab, and man}- seedlings. 



One noteworthy fact about fruit culture is that fruit grown in 

 Minnesota surpasses in flavor and delicacy of taste that produced 

 in anj' other state. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. M. C Bannell: Do you consider the Soulard crab a good 

 variety to plant? 



Mr. D. P. /!|iken: It depends upon what you want to use it 

 for; if you want to eat it from the liand it is no good, but if you 

 want to make quince sauce it is the best you can raise in Min- 

 nesota. 



Col. J. H. Stevens: The Soulard seedling, was propagated 

 near Galena by a man of that name. The apple was raised all 

 over the country for the purpose of taking the place of the 

 quince. It has all the qualities of the quince when preserved — 

 hence, its popularity. It is the pure crab originated from its 

 parent, the wild crab, on the prairies of Illinois. 



Mr. C. G. Patten (Iowa): What size have you obtained from 

 the seedling wild crabs you have produced? 



Mr. Aiken: You will understand that these wild crabs will 

 bear when four or five years old from the seed, so that the third 

 generation only took ten years. These eight trees are now 

 probably from four to six inches through the stem, and the 

 trees have the most beautiful tops imaginable. They bear fruit, 

 and the fruit from seven of them is as crabby as that from the 

 parent stock; but there is one of them that nearly resembles 

 the Hyslop. I do not know whether they were h^^bridized. The 

 apple from one of these trees is far ahead of the Hyslop; it is 

 not quite as good a keeper as the Hyslop. and has not the bloom 

 on it that the Hyslop has; it is streaked red. The rest of the 

 apples are a light red — you may say streaked. 



Mr. C. Wedge: Does this tree show any signs of its parent- 

 age? 



Mr. Aiken: Not in the least. Nobody could say they were 

 from the seed of the wild crab stock. 



Mr. Patten: How large are the apples? 



