STORY OF THE ORIGIN OF THE WEALTHY APPLE. 187 



these crabapples and wrote to Mr. Gideon to plant the seeds of 

 those crabapples to see if he could not grow something that 

 would bear fruit in the cold climate of Minnesota. Mr. Gideon 

 saved the seeds from those crabapples himself, kept them until 

 spring and planted them. This cousin of mine helped him with 

 this work, with the planting and care of them, and it was from 

 that planting that he grew the Wealthy apple. 



Mr. Gideon told me this and insisted upon its being the 

 fact, and it looks very plausible to me. I believe it fully. After 

 going home from Hampton I went to my cousin and asked him 

 again to tell me the story of the origin of the Wealthy, and he 

 repeated it. At that time I was perhaps thirty years of age, or 

 near that, and he told me the same story that he had told when I 

 was a small boy without my prompting him or in any way inter- 

 fering with his narrative. 



So, friends, I fully believe that that is the real origin. You 

 take a quantity of the Wealthy apples and compare them with 

 the Rambo apples, as I had a chance to do at a meeting three 

 weeks ago, and you will see a strong resemblance between the 

 Rambo and the Wealthy. If you take some of the Wealthy trees 

 where they are not growing the most vigorous, you will find 

 some apples that have a crispness and the inside coloring like 

 you often get in the Hyslop crabapple. Then also the seedlings 

 from the Wealthy indicate somewhat its origin. Take it alto- 

 gether I believe that that is the real history of the Wealthy. 



Mr. Philips: You claim that the Wealthy is a seedling of 

 the Hyslop fertilized with the Rambo apple? 



Mr. Reeves : That was Mr. Gideon's story. 



Mr. Philips: That does not hurt the Wealthy any. 



Mr. Reeves : It does not hurt the Wealthy a bit — not a bit. 

 The Rambo is a good apple ; it is a mighty good apple. 



Mr. Philips : I used to eat it sometimes when I was a boy. 



Prof. Beach : Did Mr. Gideon say that that was the Hyslop 

 crabapple that the seeds came from? 



Mr. Reeves: He didn't seem to be sure, but he thought it 

 was. As to its being the Hyslop he was not sure, but it was a 

 large red crabapple. 



Prof. Hansen: Is that orchard there yet? What part of 

 Illinois? 



Mr. Reeves : This was a long time ago. I have no knowl- 

 edge of it, but I presume it is not there any more. 



Prof. Hansen : Somewhere in southern Illinois ? 



Mr. Reeves. I could not tell you. (Applause) . 



