STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 367 



I have felt that this Horticultural Society is the best organization 

 of farmers in the State, and that you were at my back to second my 

 efforts, and I may add that I have been trying to do the best I could 

 for the interests of horticulture in Minnesota. Our first work in this 

 line has been, the tests of Russian apples. At the present time we 

 have 302 varieties of these apples under cultivation. The most of 

 these of course are from the experimental lists of Russians, and as to 

 their behavior you will find a detailed report in our Bulletin, No. 1. 



A woi'd in regard to these Russian lists and for the benefit of per- 

 sons unfamiliar with their nomenclature; the numbers, standing 

 alone, are those of the government importation of 1868. When the 

 letters "M" or Orel, or Yor, or Riga follow the numbers, they indi- 

 cate later importations from Moscow, Orel, Yoronesh, or Riga, in 

 Russia. 



We have selected for trial only such varieties as are thought best 

 adapted to the soil and climate of Minnesota, and the experience of 

 the last three winters will compel us to reject many of them. We 

 have, however, found a few varieties that have proved to be perfectly 

 hardy, passing through the severe tests of our climate without a bud 

 injured, and if we can secure but a single one out of the three hun- 

 dred on trial — hardy, of good quality and a long keeper — we shall 

 feel amply repaid for our expenditure of time and labor, as this will 

 constitute a foundation for future work. 



REPORT ON CONDITION" OF EXPERIMENTAL ORCHARD OF RUSSIAN APPLES. 



The winter of 1886-7, like its predecessor, was one of unusual sever- 

 ity, differing from the previous winter in the greater snowfall, which 

 covered the ground to a depth of from one to two feet from the middle 

 of November well iuto the month of April. The snow drifted some- 

 what in the Russian orchard, but probably the severest time for the 

 trees was the short seasou of thawing days and freezing nights which 

 occurred in the latter part of March and the first two weeks of April. 

 The melting snow formed sheets of ice by freezing solid at night, re- 

 maining thus, in some cases, two or three days at a time, and then 

 thawing, only to be again frozen. 



As was said of the Russian orchard in the report of this department 

 for 1886, it had been planted in the spring of 1885 in the most exposed 

 situation the farm afforded. It may be claimed that such a situation 

 does not give the trees a fair chance, since any intelligent farmer 

 would choose a protected location for an orchard; but the Russian 



