338 ANNUAL REPORT 



of the preacher who delivered the same sermon repeatedly — tocoutinue 

 preaching the same sermon until he got the people to "act." The 

 planting of seedlings had been advocated for thirty years, and when 

 the advice was heeded they would then have fruit. 



Mr Sias said as Mr. Fuller was a Bible student, he wished to call 

 attention to the fact that a tree is known by its fruit. The tree 

 alluded to was Hart No, 1. On the occasion referred to the ground 

 was almost completely covered with large, fine fruit, larger than the 

 Baldwin or Ben Davis, and resembling the latter, and the tree was 

 very well loaded. It was closely environed with willows and wild 

 plums, and showed injury from blight, but was living to the very tip 

 buds. If such fruit could be raised only on " dead trees," he favored 

 planting that kind. This tree had been very productive and began to 

 bear when seven years old. 



Mr. Fuller said Mr. Brand had fallen into the error of judging the 

 good or bad character of a tree not from its hardiness but its fruit. 



Mr. Harris said he had seen the Hart seedling before the last hard 

 winter and found it injured on one side from rabbits, a plow, or some 

 other cause, which was sufficient to destroy the Duchess or anything 

 else. He did not consider it as hardy as some other seedlings, but had 

 found sound wood upon it ou examination after the recent hard win- 

 ter, and it was somewhat hardier than Wealthy. 



He could not agree with Mr. Brand that Duchess was the only Rus- 

 sian variety that was hardy; from the great number of varieties dis- 

 covered by Prof. Budd and Mr. Gibb several could be named that were 

 hardier. Hibernal, with Mr. Tuttle of Baraboo, was the finest of all 

 in his orchard; the tops come out and make a beautiful tree, and he 

 has two trees without a blemish; it is bearing well and the season is 

 December. It is hardier and may be better to propagate from than 

 Duchess. By growing seedlings we may hope to develop a pomology 

 that will produce the finest fruits on the continent. The time is 

 coming when Minnesota will have an abundance of fruit of her own, 

 and some to supply Eastern markets. Let us test these Russians, for 

 there may be many valuable varieties among them. He had tried 

 over three hundred v'arieties to ascertain if there were any of the old 

 varieties that were hardy. He made more money from Talman Sweet 

 than any other one variety, but many never paid first cost of the 

 trees. 



We have had something unusual in our winters the past three or 

 four years. The first injury to trees the season of 1884-5 was about 

 the sixteenth of November. Mr. Lord, of Minnesota City, called at- 



