218 ANNUAL REPORT 



Accompanied by Mr. Dartt, we went some fifteen miles to 

 Dodge City, Rice county, to visit J. G. Miller, the owner of tlie 

 Peerless seedling. As soon as we stated our errand, Mr. Miller, 

 with a good deal of feeling, said: "The tree is in bad condition," 

 and expressed his regret that so much prominence had been given 

 It. He had no idea that the tree was not perfectly sound until a 

 short time before our visit; someone in climbing the tree to cut 

 scions, if we remember rightly, broke off a limb near the centre of 

 the top which revealed the tree as blackhearted, and a close 

 examination revealed the fact that some of the central limbs were 

 already begiuning to die. To say the least the tree was in no 

 better condition than Duchess near by it. The tree is in a very 

 favorable locality, being on high ground, with high willows on 

 the south and west sides. Mr. Miller has one or two seedling 

 hybrids which should be tested and may prove of value. 



There is nothing new in regard to the two seedlings before re- 

 ported in Meeker county. The apple tree of Mr. Mills, in Green- 

 leaf, is dead, having been partly broken down by the wind two 

 years ago. The trees grown from scions from this tree are look- 

 ing well. They are only two years old. Thetreeof the hybrids 

 of Mr. Baldion, in Cedar Mills, is still apparently sound and 

 bore a full crop of apples the past season. But the grafts are 

 not very promising, the trees growing rather short and scrubby. 

 This is not, perhaps, anything against hardiness or value of the 

 the tree as a fruit bearer. The original tree is fifteen years old 

 and rather small of its age; but it has not been cultivated or 

 manured. 



I have thus tried to state the facts in regard to these seed- 

 lings and I think we can from them come to but one conclu- 

 sion, and that is, that we know of no seedling in our state that 

 has shown sufficient evidence of hardiness to warrant a recom- 

 mendation for cultivation outside of experiment stations or of in- 

 dividuals who wish to experiment; or that will warrant any man 

 to sell them as hardy in our state, especially at fancy prices. 



While forced to this conclusion, we still urge experiments to 

 be continued on this same line, for we may unexpectedly find 

 the hardy tree, bearing the long keeping apple we need in Min- 

 nesota. But let us be sure we have it before we say much about 

 it. 



