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74 ANNUAL REPORT. 
To the President and Members of the Minxesota State Horticultural Society— 
GENTLEMEN: As a member of your committee, appointed to report om 
Russian varieties of apples, I submit the following: 
The past season with us has been very favorable to the growth of trees.. 
Even our most tender varieties have done remarkably well, and but for the 
severe freeze in early May, forming ice % of an inch in thickness, it would 
have been a season of great fruitfulness. 
This mildness of the last two or three winters has prevented us from 
testing more fully the hardiness of the new Russian varieties we have in 
cultivation in our section, and the late freezing in spring has prevented 
fruitfulness, so that no report at the present time can be of great value. 
I notice a remarkable difference in the growth of trees produced from: 
Tetofsky seed. One makes as good a nursery tree. as I ever saw, standing 
7 feet high at 3 years old, and seems free from blight and as hardy as any 
crab, whilst auother, with the same treatment, will not average 2 feet at. 
same age. 
It is evident that the production of new varieties from seeds of the most. 
hardy apples we now have will, at no distant day, enable us to present a. 
list that will not only withstand all the rigors of our climate, but afford us a 
bountiful supply of luscious apples all the year round, thus stopping impor- 
tation and preventing the present rapid flow of our material wealth to more 
favored localities 
Although a severe winter like the present is a ‘‘bitter pill,” yet let us 
remember that just as a fire helps an enterprising town by sweeping away 
worthless rookeries and causing the erection of magnificent fire-proof struc- 
tures, so these hard winters will enable us to build up a pomology for our 
State that shall stand the test of ages. Then hail! ye blizzards, and wel- 
come! to 40° below. Yow shall speed us on to a lasting victory. 
Respectfully submitted, 
E. H. S. DART. 
MR. UNDERWOOD’S REPORT. 
The report of Mr. J. M. Underwood was read by the secretary, 
as follows: 
Lake Ciry, Jan. 19th, 1879. 
Prof. C. ¥. Lacy, Secretary Minnesota State Horticultural Society— 
Dear Sir: As one of the committee on ‘“‘ Russian apples” to report at 
our annual meeting, I will say that while the past summer I had the pleasure 
of fruiting six varieties of ‘ Russians,” I regret that my observations 
could not in some way have embraced a much larger list. Previous to the 
severe winter of ’72 and ’8 we top-worked Russian varieties quite exten- 
sively on our crabs; but that winter proved too much for them; most of 
them were killed outright. A few trees survived, and the favorable seasons 
that followed have brought some into bearing. Nos. 68, 468, 15, 122, 176 
are the ones we fruited. Nos. 15 and 122 are good; but as all were early 
or summer fruit we thought No. 68 the only one we cared much for. It is 
