STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 29 
to Minnesota in 1855 I found no fruit except the strawberry and 
wild plum, and they were indigenous to the country. Believing thaty a 
high state of civilization could not be maintained in the absence of 
fruits I concluded not to remaim unless I could grow enough for my own use, at 
least. The next spring I procured a lot of currant cuttings from Indiana, and 
also put out a strawberry-bed which did well. I also visited friend Ford’s nurs- 
ery near St. Paul, with the intention of planting out an orchard, but his trees 
looked so badly weather-beaten that I did not purchase, indeed he honestly told 
me that the winter had been unusually severe, and he believed that his trees 
had gone back on him, which I believe was the case. A while after a man 
whom we will call Ferkins, a veritable tree peddler, from Rochester, N. Y.. 
came along loaded down with plate-books and other representation of fine fruits 
that certainly looked delicious enough to tempt the palates of the gods. 1 
thought that my coveted opportunity was at hand, and as I did not know much 
about the fruits that would be suitable for this latitude, the agent in a confiden- 
tial way very kindly assisted in making out a list which he claimed was per- 
fectly hardy in Canada and everywhere else, so | gave my order for $60 worth 
of trees, which was all my limited means would allow. As J was very anxious 
for fruits we put down a large proportion of dwarf apples and pears, which he 
said would come into immediate bearing. We next made out a list of standard 
apples, pears, cherries, quinces and plums. In due time the trees arrived in 
good condition and never were trees handled more tenderly or planted out with 
greater care. I believe they all grew, and | took great pride in cultivating and 
showing them to my neighbors; indeed, I almost idolized them on Sundays. 
But alas! the sum of earthly bliss in those trees was short, for the next spring 
found half of them dead and the balance holding on very feebly to the thread 
of life. It now required a great stretch of faith in fruit growing to go forward 
and fill up the broken ranks. In believed I should not have done it, but I did 
not like to be conquered. Ferkins, however, introduced the transcendant crab 
and also distributed a good many duchess for which we will give him credit. 
The next one that came along was selling Concord and Delaware 
grape-vines and I strucka bargain with him, but the vines ail turned out to be 
Clintons. I learned afterwards that he picked them up at an old nursery and 
really did not know what they were, and so concluded that they might as well 
be Concords and Delawares as anything else. Those vines still live and I give 
him credit for an accidental good thing. Our success with standard apples had 
not been very flattering, and we were beginning to turn our attention to the 
larger varieties of crabs, when another tree-peddler turned up whom we will 
call ‘‘Ole Hicory,’’ not the general (peace be to his memory), for he would have 
sworn by the Eternal that such was treason to all known laws in horticulture. 
But this man was selling crabs. I looked over his list very cautiously, not in- 
tending to be imposed upon again. He claimed to represent a nursery in Wis- 
consin that was making this kind of stock a specialty. We had the transcen- 
dant, hyslop and some varieties of Siberians, but he had others very much su- 
perior, which could not be obtained elsewhere. The soulard, he said, was very 
much like the quince in size, quality and flavor; the Tetofsky was recommended 
as a very fine large dessert crab and an excellent keeper, while the mammoth 
yellow was about twice the size of the transcendant, much better in quality and 
a prolific bearer. Of course he was glad to sell the ordinary Siberians at a low 
price, but the aforesaid varieties were a wonderful acquisition and commanded 
