364 ANNUAL REPORT 



line of work. One at least is cross-fertilizing with Roman Stem, 

 and other winter sorts, and the others are planting preparatory to 

 it. Our Agricultural College experimentor has done work of this 

 sort, and I have also planted a good many seeds that I have hand 

 fertilized, and otherwise as you are aware. But owing to two un- 

 favorable seasons for germination, and as I believe our ignorance 

 also, we have had very poor success in getting the seeds to germi- 

 nate- -making nearly quite a failure of it, but we have a few plants, 

 and we have a few persevering plucky men, who are after more. 

 They realize that if one cross has been obtained, more can be, and 

 we incline to the opinion that they may be developed by "garden 

 culture," even when no cross is made. The species of our cultivated 

 apple and our native crab, are so entirely distinct, that there is al- 

 most a bar to reproduction, being almost analagous to the horse 

 and the ass, in the animal creation. But as I said, we have ob- 

 tained a cross, and we know it can be done again. 



My hybrid is badly crowded by other and larger seedlings, and 

 the apples were unusually small this year. But friend Sias, while 

 you are giving thought to this line of work, don't neglect to hold 

 fast to what we have already achieved. Some of our seedlings and 

 Russians,are worthy of being planted fully up to the 45th parallel, I 

 am advising my neighbors to plant them. My Duchess No. 3, I 

 consider a great acquisition to our Northern list; and the Russian 

 Charlamoff, Striped Anis, Hibernal, Leibey, Vargul, Bergamot, 

 Anisovka, and others that you and I know of are worthy of the at- 

 tention of our Northern planters. They are good cooking, and 

 some of them good dessert apples, and if they are not equal to the 

 Grimes Golden, or Jonathan in quality, they beat no apples, or 

 little crab apples away out of sight. 



LETTER FROM DEWAIN COOK. 



Windom, Minn., January 4th, 1890. 

 Mr. S. D. Hillman, Sec.'y Minnesota State Horticultural Society. 



Dear Sir: — Yours, requesting a few horticultural notes from 

 this section, is at hand. Very few apples or crabs are grown here. 

 The great bulk of fruit trees sold to the farmers have been des- 

 troyed by snow banks, jack rabbits, blight, stock and cold ; the 

 impression prevails that it is cheaper to buy apples than to grow 

 them, even at §1.00 to $1.25 per bushel. 



Strawberries do well here; I have been unable to name the vari- 

 ety usually grown; they are small, very soft, hardy and productive. 

 The Crescents and Downings grown by the undersigned, attract 

 considerable attention by their large size and fine appearance. 



Raspberries are found in many gardens; Turners are the oftenest 

 found; they bear without any winter protection. I have but little 



