STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 281 



REPORT FROM FIRST DISTRICT. 

 By A. W. Sias, Rochester. 



Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: 



We will report on the apple first — the king of all fruits. 

 Will say to begin with, that if you ever expect to make a 

 croaker of your committee, you must stop sending him about 

 the State looking up fruits, etc., for the more he wanders over 

 this commonwealth, the more good fruit he finds and the more 

 fully convinced is he that Minnesota is destined to astonish 

 everybody in the amount of fine fruit she will at no very distant 

 day be able to export. 



Mrs. E. B. Jordon reports seven hundred bushels of apples for 

 the past season, among which were some two hundred and fifty 

 bushels of splendid Wealthy, many fine Duchess, Tetofsky, Rus- 

 sian Green, Peach apple, and other fine new Russians. 



We estimate that J. Farrier, of Elmira, had some two hundrep 

 bushels of beautiful Wealthy apples, besides many other kinds 

 in smaller quantities. 



Wm. Somerville, of Viola, about 150 bushels, including some 

 of the finest new sorts ever grown in this section. R. L. Cot- 

 terell 150 bushels; Page Bros. 100 bushels, largely Wealthy; 

 many others in ciur district had full bearing orchards, but our 

 time has been too much taken up with other duties to enable us 

 to collect the statistics. 



We have been most agreeably surprised; after the Wealthy 

 was subjected to the low temperature of 50° below zero two 

 years ago, and then last summer to the most severe drought 

 ever experienced here since the first settler erected his log 

 cabin, to find these trees in many places, as we have the past sea- 

 son on sunny southern slopes, completely loaded down with per- 

 fect fruit, was to us a most delightful surprise. 



The leaf of an apple tree appears to be a safe index to its abil- 

 ity to withstand severe droughts, in windy, exposed situations, 

 and also something of a criterion by which to judge of the hardi- 

 ness of a tree — hence we are led to observ^e while the Wealthy 

 has not as good a leaf for the climate of Minnesota as the 

 Autumn Streaked, it has really a large, fine leaf. Leaves like 

 those upon the Century plant and Live-forever are becoming a 

 necessity. Having traveled considerably over the State the past 

 season, and having noted the fact that the majority of the trees 

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