268 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



anything I might say for it, having fruited in four states now, 

 I will say that tree was more perfect than any other tree I had 

 on my grounds, without any exception — that is of the old bear- 

 ing trees. 



Mr. Wedge. Allow me to say that Mr. Patten's grounds are 

 very trying in many respects. 



Mr. Patten. I was about to say that the Greening bore a 

 heavier crop this year — the old tree is now twenty-three years 

 old — than any Duchess of Oldenburg on my grounds of any- 

 where near the same age, and carried its crop to maturity in 

 perfection. There is another feature about the Greening that 

 will interest all horticulturists, and that is, that even when it 

 bears a heavy crop of fruit it has the vigor to make at the same 

 time a large growth. 



Professor Green: I would not like to see Mr. Keel's paper 

 passed by without more discussion. I visited his place last 

 summer. It was in September, at the time of the state fair, 

 and he then was picking his Duchess, and it was a very encour- 

 aging sight. I never saw trees so heavily laden with apples as 

 his trees were there. He had the Duchess, the Wealthy, the 

 Longfield and the Gilbert, and they were very heavily laden. 

 His orchard of Duchess apples is planted in rows twelve feet 

 apart each way, and the trees have now grown close together, so 

 that they form a complete canopy over the ground, bearing an 

 immense crop of apples. His Wealthys were in perfect shape. 

 I thought the best ones were those that were top grafted on the 

 Beacher's Sweet crab and other crabs. The apples on the Long- 

 field hung in great profusion on the branches all through the 

 rows, and the trees themselves had also made a good growth 

 of wood. They also were top grafted on the Beacher's Sweets. 

 The location of his orchard is high, and the land is somewhat 

 clayey, but it is no better than thousands of acres of land, I 

 think, in that immediate vicinity. 



President Underwood: We would be very glad to hear from 

 Mr. Mitchell of Cresco, Iowa, who is with us' to- day as a visitor 

 from the Iowa society, and have him participate in our discus- 

 sions. We hope that all of our visitors from outside the state, 

 as well as in it, will consider themselves perfectly at home 

 with us. 



Mr. J. B. Mitchell, Cresco, Iowa: I was with you at the meet- 

 ing held at Owatonna, and I made a few remarks in relation to 

 seedlings there. I did not say what I intended to, nor what I 

 wanted to say. I am not much of a speaker, and at that time I 



