428 ANNUAL KEPORT. 



a short time. What an acquisition would we have in the Russian 

 four-pounder, grown at Kirvsk, which is a winter apple, a great 

 keeper and of superior quality. Its introduction would be worth 

 millions to our Russian north. 



Thomas Jefferson said that the person who introduced the Ca- 

 tawba grape conferred a greater benefit upon the country than if 

 he had paid off the then national debt, which was considered vast. 



How shall we estimate the value of the benefaction bestowed 

 upon our people by the enterprising pioneers who shall succeed in 

 introducing into general cultivation in Minnesota, varieties of val- 

 uable standard fruits, such as apples, pears, cherries and plums, 

 which may be profitably grown for exportation as well as for home 

 consumption. This is surely an object of great public importance. 

 I believe that, however improbable it may appear, its accomplish- 

 ment is possible, in our day and generation. 



Is there not to be fouud somewhere in the North, at least one 

 lover of horticulture, who has the necessary knowledge and the 

 will to go and collect from the countries referred to, varieties of 

 fruit trees for adoption here, and who has also what is essential — 

 money enough to pay his way? Such a man who will thus devote 

 himself to the public good, will confer incalculable benefits on our 

 state, and entitle himself to the rank of a public benefactor. 



[Editorial comments on the foregoing essay from the St. Paul Press, of January 11th, 18G7.] 



In our report of the proceedings of the Fruit Growers' meeting held last even- 

 ing at the Court House, will be found an admirable paper, prepared by Col. D. 

 A. Robertson, embracing in brief some of the results of the laborious researches 

 of I hat gentleman, in what may be called the climatology of fruit culture, as 

 applicable to the naturalization of apples, pears, cherries, and other staple fruits 

 of the temperate zone in this climate. As a matter of fact it has been ascer- 

 tained by costly experiment, that most varieties of fruit trees will not survive 

 the winter climate of Minnesota, while some few of northern origin, such as the 

 Duchess of Oldenberg, successfully resist the rigors of our winters. It is also 

 a matter of fact, that in climates whose winters are as cold as ours, apples, etc. 

 thrive well, but the expei'iment of introducing these hardy varieties from Lower 

 Canada, northern Vermont or Mame, has also generally proved a failure. 



But these failures have not disheartened Col. Robertson, who has an abiding 

 faith that the apple may, in time, be educated to our climate, and that, in the 

 meantime, there are many existing varieties, besides those already introduced, 

 which are entirely adapted to our climate. 



He assumes that these varieties may be found in analagous climates. This 

 principle has been generally recognized by intelligent horticulturists, their only 

 error being in regarding those climates as analagous where the winter tempera- 

 tures, or, still more loosely, where lines of latitude correspond. But atmospheric 

 moisture is almost as important an element of climate as temperature, and this 

 principle of climatology has been very generally overlooked by our fruit growers. 



