STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 359 



as hardy as the Duchess, fruit of medium size, a good keeper, but 

 No. 2 in quality. The tree of Philip Everhard, of Mound Prairie, 

 Houston county, which produced thirty bushels of apples in 1882, 

 stood the test of last winter and bore some fruit in 1883. The 

 fruit is not No. 1 in quality, but as good as most of the Russians ; 

 is about the size of the Fameuse, and keeps well. J. C. Kramer 

 has several varieties, the trees of which appear to be hardy. They 

 bore but little last season, and he informs me that the fruit was 

 not as fair as usual. Some four varieties of them are upon exhibi- 

 tion at this meeting. I found several seedlings still remaining in 

 apperently good condition in the orchard formerly owned by Mrs. 

 Campbell, Minnesota City. One variety of sweeting strikes me as 

 being of superior quality and worth looking after. James Wright, 

 of Minnesota City, has one tree thirty-one 3'ears old and over one 

 foot in diameter that has never been injured by winter killing or 

 blight, and is a regular bearer of a fruit that in size, shape and 

 color somewhat resembles the Bellflower. Some of the specimens 

 are perfect pear shape. The fruit is a fair keeper and valuable for 

 cooking purposes. Mr. S. Bates, of Stockton, has one or two 

 promising varieties which he has agreed to show at this meeting 

 and report upon. I have located other trees in various parts of the 

 state, and should the coming season be favorable for a crop of fruit, 

 I hope to find something worthy among them. Of the Rhodes 

 Seedling, of Trempealeau county, Wisconsin, Mr. Wilcox writes : 

 "The seed from which this variety originated was planted by Mrs. 

 Rhodes while a maiden, some twenty-eight years ago. The tree is 

 standing in a burr oak soil, land level, and other apple trees, not 

 only on Mr. Rhodes' place but for miles around, except crabs and 

 Duchess, are not a success. It is not subject to blight, has borne 

 twenty bushels a year, as is claimed, for sev^eral years." He says: 

 " I helped to measure it last July and found the trunk near the 

 ground five feet in circumference and the spread of the top 37 feet 

 in diameter. It is also well adapted as a stock for top-working 

 Fameuse, Utter, etc." He further says : " We are trj-ing in or- 

 chard many seedlings, among them two from De Soto, one from 

 Dodge county, Minnesota, and some from this county. I found 

 one promising looking tree at Mr. Dartt's, and several in Olmsted 

 county which I expect Mr. Sias will report upon." From the re- 

 sult of observations made I am led to believe that we are on the 

 right track, aud that we shall yet find or originate varieties that 

 will fill the bill. JOHN S. HARRIS. 



La Crescent, Jan. 16, 1881, 



