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80 ANNUAL REPORT. 
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of report. Unless this is done the Department of Agriculture cannot intel— 
ligently perform the duties imposed by law upon it. 
It is well known to you al] that you can only find out the quality of fruit 
in your respective localities by growing the trees and fruiting them. Trees 
that may bear good fruit in Washington may and probabl. would change 
materially inthe character of fruit in Minnesota. Hence, the importance of 
growing whateve~ fruit tree you may find hardy enough to endure the rigor 
of our northern climate. And if among all the cions distributed by the 
Department in this State you obtain but one fruit tree of superior merit, it 
will repay a thousand times all expenditure made by the government to 
secure this end. 
Of the 290 varieties we find in the latitude of Washington no large number 
of these that we think would be worthy of cultivation there, but there are 
some few exceedingly pleasant, among them one remarkably early and 
pleasant to eat. All that tre Department of Agriculture can do for you in 
this matter is to procure and distribute the cions of those trees that may 
be hardy and good. It is for you,to try them and make report upon them; 
ana if I can find out from this discuss‘on, or through correspondence with 
the members of your society, the varieties that do the best with you, I shall 
certainly take pleasure in sending them to you. 
In answer to the question of a member, he said: 
You know that in the climate of Washington, which is damp and very 
different from the dry air of Minnesota, apples, in common with most other 
green fruits, decay rapidly. No tests have been made during my connec- 
tion with the Department of the keeping qualities of the different Russian 
varieties; at least none that will warrant us in recommending any of them, 
especially for their long keeping. 
Dr. Humphrey. (In answer to question.) Suppose I have 40 
varieties already fruited. 
Mr. Harris, The reports are not so far very promising. I 
have five varieties now doing very well. Think it would be well 
to continue the committee on this subject. 
Motion was made and carried to continue the committee with 
the same members. 
Mr. Fuller. Two years ago I received 15 to 20 Russian varie- 
ties which I put in as root grafts. These look well. Last year 
40 to 50 more came very late for grafting. These I top-worked on 
the Hyslop, but only a few have survived. 
Gen. Le Duc stated to the members of the association that if 
there was any of them who desired to try the grafting cions 
of the Russian stock, he would take pleasure in sending all that 
might be wanted. 
Mr. Pearce. I have faith in Russian apples, but the cions 
should come from the same latitude as ours. St. Petersburg is. 
16° north of this. 
