APPLES. 269 



had been sick, and, in fact, was sick when I was at your meet- 

 ing, and, therefore, probably, did not make my meaning clear. 

 I wish to correct the remarks that are credited to me in last 

 year's report, and I have put that correction in the form of a 

 short paper, but I did not intend to read it at the present time, 

 if I did at all, as I did not expect to be called on to speak here. 

 It is true I have had a good deal of experience in apple culture. 

 I have been cultivating these Russian apples a long while, and 

 if it were not for them I should be out of the business. I have 

 tried all the more hardy varieties of the American apple, and I 

 have had such bad luck with them in killing oif . that I gave it up 

 and fell back on the Russian apples, which I have been trying 

 for some years. They have been a great success with us. Of 

 course, there are many varieties among them that are entirely 

 worthless, but I think one of them, the Lieby, is worth more to 

 our state many times over, as I said a few years ago at our 

 state meeting, than the Duchess, from the fact that the Lieby 

 is a better keeper. I have also considered the tree twenty per 

 cent, hardier than the Duchess, and it has borne as heavily 

 with me as the Duchess, and is free from blight. This year, 

 while the crab apples and the American varieties scabbed very 

 much, the Lieby bore heavy crops of smooth apples, free from 

 blight or scabs, either in leaf or apples. I can see no difference 

 between the Lieby and the Hibernal, either of the trees or fruit. 

 All my trees are grown from root grafts. I have always con- 

 tended that in our part of Iowa we want trees hardy from the 

 ground up. 



Professor Green : What other apples besides the Lieby do 

 you think highly of? Have you the Longfield? 



Mr. Mitchell: I have not the Longfield. I have some- 

 thing over a hundred varieties. The Bergamont is a fine apple, 

 and the 444 is a good market apple. 



Professor Green: I would like to ask Mr. Patten in regard 

 to the Good Peasant, as to its health? 



Mr. Patten: It is a good tree and I think very highly of it. 

 It does not blight at all. The apple will keep, if properly 

 handled, until December. 



Mr. Patten followed with an interesting talk upon a number 

 of imported varieties. 



President Underwood: We have with us to-day Mr. William 

 Somerville who is an authority on tree planting, and we would 

 \i\Le to hear from him. 



