260 ANNUAL REPOIIT. 



PROPAGATION OF SEEDLING FRUITS. 



By George P, Pefper. op Pewaukee, Wis. 



Mr. President and Members of the Minnesota Hortkidtiiral Society : 



Your offer of a prize for an essay on the above subject is pre- 

 sumed to apply only to such fruits as will withstand the severties 

 of the seasons of the Northwest, and, therefore, I will mention a& 

 the first condition the selection of seeds that are grown in thi& 

 climate, and, for tree fruits, they should be from sorts that are of 

 moderately slow growth; at least, short-jointed Jand thick-leaved or 

 woolly. The larger the leaf, and also, the earlier the new wood 

 completes its growth in the fall, the better. To have a hardy va- 

 riety, the leaves must have plenty of time to elaborate the sap, on 

 its downward flow, to harden the new wood and put it in proper 

 condition for the winter. The leaves of late-growing trees drop 

 prematurely, and the sap being in a crude condition, the wood is 

 injured by cold or by sudden changes of heat and cold, in the win- 

 ter, and the trees are more liable to blight in the ensuing summer. 

 Seeds of such varieties are imperfect, corresponding to the imper- 

 fections of the wood. For varieties from^,which to select the seeds, 

 take either our natural seedlings or the most desirable of the 

 Russian apples. By reproduction, every generation gets more used 

 to our climate, and can be grown further north and west, with 

 success. If the variety should be an early kind, every time it is 

 reproduced it can be grown a degree further north, and be hardy. 

 A summer variety grown a number of degrees that way will get to 

 be a fall variety, and even a winter variety, if so far north as to 

 have only time enough to ripen its wood and fruit. As a rule, the 

 fruit will always be fairer. If any should be grown further south, 

 the fruit is smaller and more subject to rust spots, scales, etc., and 

 to cracking of the skin, especially such varieties as are russety, as 

 witness the Russians. You can multipl}'' any sort by grafting, but 

 it does not make it any hardier. The increasing [hardiness mani- 

 fests itself only through the seed, and through seedlings the fruits 

 are extended over larger ranges of latitude, or we would not have 

 so many varieties in the world. In the natural ' process ot repro- 



