APPLES. 189 



grown in Minnesota and I began to fear there never would be. I never 

 made another attempt until after the close of the war. While I was a 

 soldier in Tennessee I resolved that if I lived to get home I would raise 

 an orchard if it was in my power to do so. Soon after I arrived home in 

 July, 1865, I heard of a man that was selling out to leave the country and 

 had an orchard for sale. I bought the trees, dug them up and hauled 

 them to my present home, on section 32, town 118, range 23, and planted 

 them in orchard that fall. They were a fine looking lot of trees. All 

 lived and grew very fast and bore a few apples the summer of '72. After 

 the severe cold winter of '72 and '73 not a living tree was left to mark the 

 spot where they stood. What prevented me from surrendering to the 

 hard winters I cannot tell, unless it was the endless amount of energy 

 and perseverance it takes to make a fruit crank of a man. I had some 

 young trees of Duchess, and crabs that I had raised from the seed and 

 grafted. I planted them in orchard and soon had bearing trees. From 

 that time to the present I have never failed to raise apples. Have had 

 but very few partial failures except with some varieties too tender for 

 our climate. Since my orchard commenced bearing I have marketed 

 nearly three thousand bushels of apples, principally Duchess, Wealthy and 

 crabs. I have grown a few bushels of Fall Stripe, Fameuse, Tetofsky and 

 Talman Sweet and have fruited Golden and Perry Russet, Sops of Wine, 

 Haas. Ben Davis and Pewaukee in a small way. Planted largely at one 

 time of Wine Sap, Yellow Bellflower,'Northern Spy and others, that never 

 produced an apple. I have Fall Stripe in bearing now. It is my inten- 

 tion to try the Fameuse and Talman Sweet again. At the time I was 

 testing those varieties I did not realize the importance of short bodied 

 apple trees as I now do. I am thoroughly convinced that the best trees 

 I have on my grounds are those that start their branches at or very near 

 the ground. My plan now is to train them in the nursery to branch out 

 ten or twelve inches from the ground, transplant in orchard three or four 

 inches deeper than they grew in the nursery, plow between the rows 

 throwing the soil towards the trees, and cross plow in the same way. 

 The cultivation of crops will level it down to some extent but following 

 it up year after year we will raise the soil to the limbs of the trees and 

 form a gradual slope back to the center between the rows. Such training 

 and cultivation is of benefit to trees in all extremes of weather, whether 

 it is wet, dry, cold, hot or windy. A great many hardy roots will start 

 above the graft which increases the strength and endurance of the tree. 

 You may think me away off to advocate the raising of bushes in the 

 place of trees, but I was forced to this conclusion by long experience. I 

 have fruited a few seedlings but nothing of special value and have a few 

 others that will probably fruit in the near future. I have great faith in 

 the hardy seedlings and Russian apples. My experience with Russians is 

 quite limited as my oldest trees are only seven years old. They all seem 

 to be good apples. The Longfleld and Lieby are among the best. My 

 orchard is on a high ridge of land extending east and west, it covers the 

 top and both north and south sides. I have watched very closely for the 

 great advantages of northern slope so often spoken of, but have failed to 

 see much difference. I believe that high land with a good clay subsoil 

 that comes near the surface is the most important of anything in select- 

 ing a site for an orchard. I have on hand over thirty choice varieties of 



