APPLES. 283 



•Somerville of Viola has one of them supposed to be 33 or 34 years old, that 

 has borne fruit for 27 years, a plate of the first crop being exhibited at 

 the state fair held in Kochester in 1866. The tree stands perpendicular, 

 and the trunk is about 4i feet to lowest branches; has never shown 

 sun-scald, and looks to be in excellent condition. In some seasons as 

 high as 20 bushels of fruit have been picked from it, nor has it ever ap- 

 peared to be injuriously affected from the protection of dense windbreaks, 

 with which the orchards of Mr. Somerville are very closely surrounded. 



The impression has gone out that Steele county, and especially that 

 portion of it adjacent to Owatonna, is not well adapted to orcharding. 

 G. W. Buffum, who resides some two miles west of the city, has an orch- 

 ard chiefly of Oldenburg and Transcendent crab trees, that has been 

 planted 27 years and, thus, has passed through the severest tests known to 

 this climate. The trees are generally looking well, and last fall the Olden- 

 burg were carrying all the fruit they could stand under and looking much 

 more vigorous and healthy than the Transcendants, which were bearing 

 nothing. The orchard is planted upon elevated ground and has shelter 

 belts of deciduous trees on the south and west sides. He reports that 

 he has lost but few trees of these varieties, while the American vari- 

 eties, including the "Wealthy, have suffered severely. At D. K. Michenor's 

 in Fillmore county are a considerable number of the Oldenburg trees 

 set out about the same time, that have survived through all trying 

 ordeals incident to this climate, except cattle browsing and horn pruning, 

 and have proved a profitable investment. They are still vigorous and pro- 

 ductive, and have prompted Mr. M. to plant freely of that and a few other 

 varieties, until he now has some ten acres of bearing orchard, fully one- 

 half of this one variety, that brings him an income each alternate year of 

 from one to two thousand dollars; and his success has encouraged others 

 to plant orchards, so that Filliiiore county is gaining an enviable notoriety 

 for her apple products. In Houston, Winona, Rice, Wabasha and other 

 counties are found other like instances, which serve to prove that the 

 Oldenburg is hardy enough to be reasonably safe to plant, and as some of 

 its seedlings are apparently equally hardy and produce fruit of better 

 quality, the inference is that we should look to the Russians and their 

 seedling descendents for our future supply of apples. There are other 

 varieties of Russians equally hardy, that if freely planted will prolong 

 the season of apples until winter or spring. 



It is very generally believed that apple trees, as a rule, will not be 

 long-lived in this country. If that should prove to be the case, it will not 

 prove any serious disadvantage, providing varieties are planted .that 

 commence bearing at an early age and bear liberal crops, for the reason 

 that the trees may be planted more closely together, and also that the 

 fruit of young orchards is of much better quality. More barrels of apples 

 can be gathered from an orchard of Wealthys, Hibernals, Longflelds and 

 Oood Peasants in the first ten years after planting than from Fameuse, 

 St. Lawrence, Northern Spy and some others in the first twenty years. 

 Some of our most successful orchardists practice keeping up the orchard 

 by setting a few trees every spring. Some of the best and most fruitful 

 orchards we found in our explorations have been managed on this plan. 

 E. H. S. Dartt of Owatonna has a two and one-half acre orchard set with 

 four-year-old Oldenburg trees in the spring 1885, that had been dug and 



