HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 93 



of Ripon, wrote me, saying: "Your hobby will row you up Salt 

 River. Trees propagated in the way you propose will be worth at 

 least one dollar each by the hundred in the nursery." Well, 

 although we offered these trees for 50 cents each, yet the prejudice 

 was so strong against us that we conld not sell them, and I have been 

 exploring the head waters of Salt River ever since, and have found 

 no safe financial anchorage yet, while the tree peddler has found 

 fresher waters and greener pastures with greener victims. 



Now, we were partly right about the matter. Our " hobby " 

 experience has shown that some varieties are failures when worked 

 on Transcendents, and Mr. Kellogg's plan is unsafe to follow in 

 full. The Duchess, Red Astrachan, Tetofsky, Utter's Red and 

 Willow Twig, are failures when budded on Transcendent. Plumb's 

 Cider, Hall's Pewaukee, Wealthy are a tolerable success ; and 

 McMahon White, and a number of seedlings are entirely so. Will 

 send you some of these seedlings for your winter meeting. Many 

 of the trees in our orchard are top worked on Transcendents. 



Now, if I were a young man, with the experience we have had, I 

 would plant the seeds of the hardiest kinds we know of, mostly 

 crab. When these were old enough — say three years — I would 

 bud into the limbs the kinds I wished to propagate, not using 

 limbs more than one-fourth inch in diameter. For instance, take 

 Famuse, note carefully the tree in which the union is perfect, 

 growth good, etc.; then take scions from this tree, graft into the 

 roots of seedlings above described, and I think success will follow. 

 I would pursue the same course with all others. With me, I would 

 not top work the Duchess.Peach apple, or Tetofski — they stand any- 

 way, and here let me say that orchards can be grown as they used 

 to be. if common sense is used. The first orchards were planted 

 here in new land, well prepared. Now a few trees are occasionally 

 set, obtained, perhaps, from the tree peddler at Rochester, N. Y. 

 They are set in a shiftless manner, where trees have failed, in the 

 sod, and where cattle, horses and hogs are pastured, so that noth- 

 ing be lost except the fruit trees, then the old story is told — can't 

 raise apples here. I went tD our State Fair last fall, and I believe 

 there was nothing on exhibition in the fruit line west of Sauk 

 county, cranberries excepted, except the show made by A. J. 

 Phillips and myself. Years ago I have seen some as fine Northern 

 Spy, Bailey Sweet, St. Lawrence, Utter, Fameuse, and many other 

 kinds, as I ever saw, grown in this section of Minnesota and Wis- 

 consin. 



While I would not advise the setting of most of these kinds, we 

 have many kinds which I would advise people to set, and there are 

 hundreds of places, yes, thousands, along the bluffs of the Missis- 

 sippi river just as good as A. J. Phillip's and mine. We have 

 shown the public we can raise apples. Go thou and do likewise. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Harris. Mr. President, the author of that paper is one of 

 the old pioneers in fruit culture in the Northwest. Not only is he 



