266 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



they could all have been hand-picked they would have brought me nearly 

 $300; but we had a quite heavy wind storm just when we were piclring 

 them and when they were quite rips: consequently, a great many of them 

 dropped, but I sold none of them for less than $3.75 per barrel. With such 

 a crop and prices, an acre of land would turn out about $1000.00. This 

 statement, big as it may seem, Is true, and can be proved by my pickers; 

 and the orchard was seen by several members of this society, namely, 

 Prof. Green, Sec. A. W. Latham and Mr. Somerville. 



We have a few new varieties of apples which I think are worthy of 

 notice, for instance, the Gilbert. I like this variety better, the more I get 

 acquainted with it. It is only a fall apple, but keeps quite a long time and 

 is not ripe till after the Duchess are gone. It Is an annual and heavy 

 bearer, good size and of excellent quality. The trees seem hardy and 

 make a good growth although they bear so heavily. The seedling that Mr. 

 Somerville has on exhibition is also ;)ne of great promise as a winter 

 apple. The tree Mr. Somerville sold me is about 10 or 12 years old and 

 hardy. Last summer it bore a heavy crop of fine apples: do not know as 

 it ever bore before. 



These are about the only new varieties that I know of in our county 

 that are of any value; we still stick to the older varieties, such as Olden- 

 burg, Wealthy, Longfleld, Malinda and a number of Russians which 

 seem to be doing well. 



DISCUSSION. 



Mr. Harris. This apple which Mr. Keel calls the Gilbert and 

 another apple a good deal like it, that he called the Ostrekoff, 

 he sent for to the Department at Washington. He sent most of 

 the specimens to Professor Budd, and he said that either of 

 them were splendid fruits to come in and succeed the Duchess. 

 You know there are a great many mistakes made in sending 

 out those Russian apples by the Superintendent of Agriculture, 

 and, probably, nine out of ten of them are improperly named to- 

 day, hindering us greatly when we get a good variety by mak 

 ing it almost impossible for us to find out the name, so that we 

 can order more of the same kind. 



Mr. Clarence Wedge. We are fortunate to-day in having 

 with us a representative from our sister state, one who is able 

 to instruct us on the subject of orcharding and apples, a gen- 

 tleman whom it has been my pleasure to know for a number of 

 years and whose friendship I especially value. He has been 

 many years engaged in very careful painstaking experiments, 

 and I want him while he is here to tell us something of those 

 experiments. He is the originator of an apple which I think 

 is going to prove a blessing to Minnesota. In northern Iowa 

 there is nothing in the apple line more thoroughly endorsed 

 than Patten's Greening, and I hope Mr. Patten, its originator, 

 will step forward and favor us with a little talk on it and on the 

 subject in general. 



