STATE HOKTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 149 



our humble opinion, better constructed to withstand a long, se- 

 vere drought than even our native wild crab. 



The best representative of this hirsute family we believe to be 

 the Autumn Streaked, of which Dr. T. H. Hoskins, Sidney Corp 

 and others speak in highest terms. This we will class as No. 1. 

 The second in this family group, and with leaves almost pre- 

 cisely like No. 1, we place White Russet, of which H. H. How- 

 lett, of Baraboo, writes under date of Nov. 2, 1886: 



•' In regard to the White Eusset I will state I have nine trees 

 of the ten planted in 1875. They were three years old when I 

 set them in the orchard, and I could not ask for a better tree, or 

 fruit; perfectly hardy, early bearer; every year a good crop. 

 Some years a good keeper and others not so good; this year not 

 any of my varieties kept, everything gone November 1st. Some 

 years the White Russet will be in fine condition through March; 

 with me much hardier than Duchess. My best variety in tree 

 and fruit, also in nursery, is White Russet. See Prof. Budd's 

 bulletin for January, 1886, page 21." 



Plikanofif Small we class as No. 3. This, like many other 

 Russian names, means nothing, as it is not a small apple, and 

 bears a family resemblance to the Autumn Streaked. We will 

 add no more to this list at present, although there may be 

 others just as good — but we prefer to test them further. In this 

 Silver-leaved family of trees, of which we propose to make a 

 specialty hereafter, we are only copying from nature, as we 

 find it everywhere in the Northwest. More than nine-tenths of 

 our forest trees have thick, silvery, pubescent leaves. We 

 want no more thin, smooth leaves " in ours." 



The Autumn Streaked is the most interesting botanical '' ob- 

 ject lesson" we have yet seen in the shape of an apple tree. 

 The leaves are very large, thick and completely covered with 

 little whitish hairs, which also extend over the current year's 

 growth of wood, completely clothing and shading the newly 

 made cells from the direct rays of the sun, preventing them 

 from drying out too rapidly, and also protecting them from the 

 cold in winter. Another important peculiarity about this 

 variety is, its leaves are of an upright habit, hence the guard 

 cells and breathing pores are more evenly distributed on both 

 sides than in ordinary leaves. The tree is more hardy than the 

 Duchess, but the leaves hang on much later. They fell on our 

 two-year-old trees in November and December, and after they 

 had Mien, the new wood looked as though the leaves had been 



