STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 339 



tention to that fact, and we examined a lot of trees and found two- 

 thirds of them injured before there was any frost in the ground. In 

 February and March there was a number of summer-like days when 

 the sap came up and the thermometer again ran down suddenly to zero 

 point, causing a further injury to trees. 



Mr. Smith. Have you ever known a similar combination of cir- 

 cimstances before? 



Mr. Harris. No. And I wanted to mention the wholesale slaughter 

 of trees in 1872-3, when the cause of injury was root-killing. That 

 winter Duchess and other hardy Russians on their own roots were in- 

 jured more badly than native varieties. 



Mr. Thompson. Mr. President and Fellow Horticulturists: I have 

 come up here to try and learn something, but I find that your Society 

 or the most of its members are different from ours. We should ben- 

 efit by the exchange of ideas and from each other's experience. In 

 the first place, our friend over there and several others, seem to be of 

 the opinion that if they don't see and feel and know, and have it right 

 in their hand, they wont believe anything. The only way to do is as 

 the schoolmaster did with those who didn't believe in the North Pole 

 — pound it into their heads some way or other. I am a seedling man; 

 and here I want to quote a few sentences from the report of the pom- 

 ologist, Mr. Van Deman, and from Dr. Hoskins, of Vermont. 



Speaking of his visit to Arkansas Mr. Van Deman says: "One 

 thing that interested me particularly was the large number of seed- 

 ling apples of high quality; I think fully fifty varieties were shown, 

 that were entirely new. Some of these are worthy of further trial by 

 experimenters, and a very few are described and illustrated in this re- 

 port, as well as some already somewhat known." 



To save time I want to read further and let you know that you have 

 the best apple in the whole catalogue, originated right here by your 

 own door-step. You say prove it; well, I read from what Dr. Hoskins 

 says, along towards the last of this same report. 



" But the future leading winter market apple of the cold North must 

 surpass Scott's Winter in size and in dessert quality, and I am anxious- 

 ly looking to Mr. Gideon's extensive orchards, produced under his sys- 

 tem of crossing, for the desired apple. He has already announced a 

 seedling of the Wealthy almost duplicating its other qualities, with a 

 longer season, which he calls the 'Peter;' and I believe he, or some 

 other Northwestern experimenter, proceeding on the same principle, 

 will soon give us a Northern equal (or superior) to the Baldwin. This 

 is alone needed to give the cold North the lead in orcharding, for it is 



