228 ANNUAL REPORT 



«very portion of the state. The fruit is of a sprightly flavor, 

 pleasant and palatable, and is well adapted for culinary pur- 

 poses. There is a large and growing list of these varieties. 

 They have their earnest friends who claim the fruit is useful, and 

 that it serves the purpose of a substitute for standard frait. The 

 trees are usually very vigorous of growth but badly predisposed 

 to blight. 



RUSSIAN APPLES. 



Much has been said and written upon the subject of growing 

 new Eussian fruits. The question has been argued pro and con 

 at length. We think their merits as a rule have not been 

 over-estimated, especially in Minnesota, or in localities that have 

 a very trying climate. We find that those who have experimented 

 with them largely are most outspoken in their favor, with some 

 exceptions to this rule. It has been claimed in fact there are some 

 kinds among the Eussian apples much hardier than Duchess or 

 even than the native oak. The trees in orchard are vigorous and 

 thrifty, and in some instances at least yield handsome crops of 

 fruit from year to year. 



• Mr. Charles Gibb, of Abbotsford, who is regarded as perhaps 

 one of our best authorities on this subject, in a paper on Eussian 

 apples, read before the annual meeting of the Montreal Horticul- 

 tural Society about one year ago, says: "The uncertainty of these 

 fruits of Western Europe in the colder parts of this continent, both 

 in the Eastern states and on the Western prairies, directed atten- 

 tion to thecolderdistrictsof Eastern Europe." Speaking of a per- 

 sonal visit made to Eussia, in company with Prof. J. L. Budd, of 

 Iowa, he continues: "We found St. Petersburg and Moscow not 

 specially favorable to orcharding, but four hundred and thirty 

 miles to the east of Moscow, in latitude 54°, six hundred miles 

 nearer the north pole than Quebec, we found apple growing the 

 great commercial industry of the people. Here the winter temper- 

 ature for the winter months is 9° above zero, which is the mean 

 for the winter quarter for a period of no less than fifty- nine 

 years. That is nearly 7° colder than at the city of Quebec." He 

 further states that the climate there is milder than at Kazan, 

 in Eussia, by 3°. 



Continuing, he says: "Let me comfort you then with the fact 

 that in no part of the Province of Quebec where we are likely to 

 grow apples, is it colder than in the extensive orchard regions of 

 Kazan. You have great diversity of site in this province. Choose 

 your hillsides, not your bottom lands, unless near large bodies of 



