350 ANNUAL REPORT 



exact place I cannot tell. These apples are grown at Grundy- 

 Centre, in the central part of Iowa in the third or fourth tier of 

 counties. 



Mr. Snaith. It is the highest point of land to be found in the 

 central part of that state. 



Mr. Cutler. I would ask if there are not other orchards grow- 

 ing in that part of the state? 



Mr. Underwood. Yes; but they have met with the same fa- 

 tality as other orchards in this state. I think there is nothing 

 there that compares with them in point of hardiness and vigor 

 at the present day. They were grown from seedling trees, or so 

 reported to me. 



Mr. Poor understood they were grown from choice apples. 

 This was an important subject. He believed it the best plan to 

 rely upon seedling trees so as to get a good tap root which 

 would penetrate the ground as far as possible. But it was im- 

 portant to depend upon grafted and budded trees for our or- 

 chards. Seedlings as a rule could not be depended upon whether 

 of the apple, plum or peach. 



Mr. Brand thought the paper contained an important lesson 

 as it explained why trees were killed so much throughout the 

 Northwest. This orchard of Thompson's was on damp soil and 

 the roots of the trees were probably standing in water. The 

 great destruction of trees in 1884 was caused by a warm fall and 

 late flow of sap. He cited a case where trees stood near the St. Joe 

 river, some of which were over a hundred years old. Some of 

 the trees stood only four feet above the level of the river at low 

 water. 



Mr. Sias thought it was a mistake to suppose the cause of 

 mortality of trees was due to root grafting. He had been ex- 

 perimenting for twenty -five years and had as high as 20,000 

 seedlings at one time that were destroyed, although the tap roots 

 of the trees were in perfect condition. It was the tops that 

 were killed. He did not find one of the lot not hardy enough 

 among the seedlings so far as the roots were concerned. He had 

 many hardy Russian varieties grafted in the same manner, but 

 they didn't have the long tap root; trees would die anyhow if toa 

 tender, whether seedlings or not. They must have the right va- 

 riety and then it would stand the test. Every tree had a pecu- 

 liar habit of growth. Haas, for instance, had an upright, rapid 

 growth; if the top was cut off it would sprout up again, and the 

 root corresponded largely with the top. If the habit of a tree 



