82 ANNUAL REPORT. 
But this was impracticable since no account has been kept with suf- 
ficient care to render the showing satisfactory. The facts as 
stand, however, are of much interest as bearing upon the general 
question of fruit raising in this State, about which there me = 
fore been so much skepticism. i 
? i 
FRUIT GROWING AT EXCELSIOR. 
BY PETER M. GIDEON. 
We came here twenty-one years ago last November, the next spring 
set out 350 apple trees, about 50 pear, plum and cherry trees, and 
planted a bushel of apple seeds, and out of all there now remains a 
few branches of one apple tree, the centre having been cut out, killed 
some eight or ten years ago by leaf lice, at which time and by which 
cause we lost a great many fine trees. Three years thereafter we 
set about a thousand trees in one orchard, the most of which were 
killed by the grasshoppers at the time our settlers around the lake 
were so cleaned out; and not only the orchard trees, but several 
thousands of seedlings and root grafts, but few of either left that the 
winters had spared. 
For the first twelve years we planted southern or eastern apple 
seeds, in quest of something hardy, and never less than to have 
brought a thousand young trees, and to-day only eight remain out 
of the twelve years planting of seed. The greater part were so ten- 
der they died in the nursery row; but of seedling and grafted trees 
over 10,000 died after being set in orchard. Up to the time of our 
getting seeds and cions from Bangor, Maine, we had set in orchard 
some four or five thousand trees—all dead save one tree and a part of 
one other, referred to above. 
With the introduction of seeds and cions from Maine, our pros- 
pects brightened, the Duchess, Blue Pearmain and Red Astrachan 
being of the lot of cions, and soon into bearing—the Duchess first, 
and best ever since, and the fact being told, the Duchess tree was in 
demand, and set by thousands to good profit. 
And from the seed got at the same time, and at same place cions 
were had, we grew the Wealthy apple, in tree as hardy as a crab. 
And indeed grown from seed obtained as crab seed, and from later 
experiments have no doubt but it came from a genuine crab seed, as 
I have since grown perfect crab trees from apple seeds, and perfect 
apple trees from crab seed—the majority of the seedlings from the 
Wealthy apple are perfect crabs, in tree and fruit. And the sameis 
applicable to Duchess seedlings, though the Duchess, Wealthy and a 
crab tree stand in close proximity, which might account for the cross- 
ing without either of the originals being hybrids. Ovr crabs are all 
hybrids to a greater or less extent, and their seedlings are more or 
less apple in tree and fruit, and the nearer the proximity to other va- 
rieties the greater the variations in the seedlings. 
