154 ANNUAL REPORT. 
everywhere, I find myself again in Minnesota, and among plain and sober 
realities. 
Yes, plain and sober realities. Here in Minnesota, with a climate so rigid 
that every kind of fruit, except that which is really iron-clad, must succumb 
to its frigid embrace, some of us are endeavoring to make fruit-growing an 
occupation. This, of course, includes not only the apples, but all other 
varieties of fruit, one of the most important being the strawberry. We 
have no reason to doubt but that all of the small fruits, with that care that 
the enterprising husbandman will always bestow, may be as profitably 
raised here as farther south. It does require more work, but the return 
will be commensurate with the labor. Better prices can always be obtained 
for such fruits here than where less labor is required for their successful 
growth. With regard to the strawberry, our native varieties are as fine as 
are the wild strawberries of any other latitude, while in our Hart’s Seedling 
we have one that has already found a place among the very best of the cul- 
tivated kinds. That the strawberry can be raised with more certain and 
greater profits than any other fruit has yet been in Minnesota, requires no 
further experimenting to prove. It is a fact, now well established. And it 
is only necessary to see who are the principal consumers of that delicious 
fruit to determine what is its province in the role of civilization. But, as 
with the intellectual and moral faculties in man, its cultivation must 
not be neglected. Otherwise it will soon degenerate, and finally be more 
worthless than its wild cousin. But, as I have stated, it is with the apple 
that this paper has most to do. 
Already has Minnesota succeeded in furnishing to the whole country 
apples not only valuable for their hardihood, but for their excellent eating 
qualities. 
Necessity has been with us, as it is everywhere, the parent of exertion. 
Where every want is supplied by nature the energies become dormant. On 
the other hand, where nature is more tardy in her gifts, the energies are 
more sharpened. No fears, then, that our energies will become dormant. 
What we now most need, is a fruit desirable for the table, and that will 
possess such keeping qualities as will cause it to last all the season through, 
and also hardy enough to withstand the greatest rigor of our northern win- 
ters. Which, the present winter assures us, will appear just often enough 
to wipe out everything not absolutely iron-clad. It is possible that among 
the many varieties of Minnesota’s growth, that have already fruited, but 
that have not yet been fully tested, we may have that fruit. Many who are 
laboring for that purpose, are very sanguine that they have it. It is certain 
that we have got trees that are really iron-clad, and that we have fruit excel- 
lent in quality and long keeping. Whether the hardiest trees are the ones that 
produce the best apples, and also the longest keepers, is not yet satisfac- 
torily settled. But if that union has not yet been secured, it assuredly will 
be. It may not be until after we have been forgotten. But, as assuredly as 
Eddison in the field of electricity has succeeded in making the electric light 
a success, so shall we, ere long, astonish the world with the fact that Mrn- 
NESOTA has succeeded in producing, not only the hardiest tree, but the best 
keeper, and also the most beautiful as well as the most delicious apple in 
the world. And this apple shall not be for us alone, but for all countries 
and for all people; and, where the apple will not grow, as in far-off India, 
