340 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SEEDLING FRUITS, 1895. 



J. S. HARRIS, LA CRESCENT. 



I [had hoped that this year (1895) would have been favorable for 

 apples, so that I might have been warranted in making" a survey 

 throughout the state in search of new seedlings and to take farther 

 observation such as have been heretofore noted; but learning that 

 the fruit crop only escaped great injurj^ from the May frosts and 

 other causes in localities of limited extent and that many of the 

 most promising seedlings were either not bearing or bearing very 

 little fruit, the project was given up for a later date, and onlj'- a few 

 trees have been personally inspected, located in Houston and Wi- 

 nona counties, confining our work chiefly to specimens that 

 might be sent bj' mail or express or found at the state and other 

 fairs. 



At John Carson's, Dakota, Winona county, I found a few seedling 

 trees. One of them I designate as Carson's No. 1. The tree is about 

 sixteen years old and looks to be entirely hardy. It is a free bearer 

 of large fruit of good appearance; qualitj' similar to the Oldenburg, 

 but the season about a month later. Another, Carson's No. 2, is a 

 better keeper and better fruit, but the tree stands in sod, leans 

 strongly to the north-north-east and has been considerably injured 

 by sun-scald. In Houston countj'^, Jacob Klein's seedlings, Catharine 

 and others, were not fruiting, but all survived last winter without 

 injury and are looking well. 



The T. Johnson's seedlings, in the town of Sheldon, were all bear- 

 ing to their utmost capacity. I have strong hopes that three of 

 them will yet prove valuable additions to our pomology. The T. 

 Johnson's No. 6 originated from seed brought from Norway. The 

 tree is now thirty-one years old, and I am iuformed that the owner 

 gathered and sold from it this season twenty-eight bushels of fruit 

 besides some that was used by his family. The tree of No. 4 is about 

 eighteen j'ears old, and I should estimate the season's crop at six- 

 teen bushels; quality good — Prof. Van Deman writes, better than any 

 Russian he has seen; season, November or later. No. 3, sweet apple 

 much like Talmon, as good a keeper, and the tree appears to be 

 better. 



I found some other seedlings or unknown varieties in the same 

 neighborhood that appear to be worthy of looking after. These 

 trees are in a Norwegian settlement, where the original orchards 

 were chiefl3^ planted with seedlings. At the La Crosse Inter-State 

 Fair and at the Houston County Fair, nothing new was shown that 

 I have not previously reported to you. At our Minnesota State 

 Fair, there were a number of fine exhibits of seedlings, comprising 

 full}' one hundred varieties of Minnesota origin, and as a consider- 

 able number of them came from seed of the most hardy varieties 

 produced at home, there can hardly be a doubt that some of them 

 will become standards in our pomology. One of the largest and 

 best collections in competition was shown by George Miller, of Rice 

 county; they were produced on the same farm where the Peerless 

 was originated, and some of them were said to be seedlings of the 

 Peerless. We did not succeed in taking full notes of them. The 



