APPLES. 295 



that will stand against anything anywhere in the United States. I am 

 confident that the Wealthy apple was produced in that way. I have pur- 

 sued this matter until I have produced an apple as large as the Wealthy, 

 from the cherry Crab fertilized by the Duchess. I also produced the Tonka, 

 the one of which Mr. Harris spoke. My trees do not winter kill nor 

 blight. They are perfectly hardy and grow the farthest north of any. 

 When ycu come to quality, they are splendid. You can get any quality 

 you want by fertilizing with a certain apple. 



The next thing I found out was that the Wealthy was a hybrid beyond 

 all question, and I went to work to fetch it back to where it was when 

 it started. You know our sta,te adopted it for universal planting because 

 it was pronounced perfectly hardy in 1874, and did not kill a bit. Well, 

 by and by, our friend Harris could not rest day or night until he had it 

 retired, and it was recommended to be planted in favorable localities. 

 That made me all the more energetic, and I went to work and topworked 

 it on the Tonka. The Tonka being a hybrid, and that being a hybrid, 

 they united perfectly and grew perfectly. I got double the growth that I 

 ever got from any other root. I got three and a half and four feet the 

 first year, right up. When all the Wealthy trees in the country were 

 blighted, there was not a blight on those trees. ISow, I think I checked 

 the blight. 1 believe those trees are so perfect and so strong that they 

 cannot blight. 



Well, I was not satisfied with that, but! went still further. I thought 

 I would topwork it three times, and that seemed to help it again. I have 

 quit selling the Wealthy apple except when it is topworked on the Tonka. 

 I believe I have got che Wealthy back to where it was when it started. 

 In the course of time we will have a test winter that will prove it. Well, 

 I studied the matter all over, and then I struck out in another direction. 

 My next attempt was to grow winter apples, pure winter apples. For a 

 number of years I had been sending to Michigan and other cold coun- 

 tries, and I got seed and planted it. When it was one year old I top- 

 worked, that is, I took scions from tliem and put a dozen on the tree. I 

 expect to develop a genuine winter apple in that way, if I live. I will not 

 condemn your planting Minnesota seedlings, but somehow or other they 

 do not succeed with me as well. If I am going into the hybrid business, 

 I am going to have the first cross or no cross at all. When you get be- 

 yond the first cross, you are going to have blighting and root killing and 

 an abnormal growth. They will be short-lived. As long as you cross di- 

 rect, you may take any variety and grow any variety you want. 



There is a subject that I want to bring before you, the necessity of grow- 

 ing trees that will be perfectly hardy in Minnesota. We have some Rus- 

 sian apples here that are A No. 1. You may take the Lieby; wherever 

 that tree does not flourish, there is no use of setting out any other stand- 

 ard apple. It will stand further north than any apple I know of. It is 

 one of the trees we run on. The secret of my success in big growth of 

 apple trees is whole roots. Double-working is the sentiment that I goon. 

 Now, I think double-working has a wonderful effect. For instance, you 

 graft one variety— now 1 use the Tonka altog-^.ther for the Wealthy. If 

 it is possible to produce an apple that will stand anywhere in Minnesota, 

 I think that will stand there. I am very careful to make a close distinc- 

 tion, to know whether I am working with the apple or crab. If it is a 



