114 ANNUAL REPORT. 



reliable. We certainly have already enough that may be con- 

 sidered a good deal of an experiment which we don't know very 

 much about. I could talk to you for perhaps half a day about 

 the things that I don't know anything about but that is not the 

 information you are seeking. We have a good many of these 

 new seedlings, top-worked and root-grafted, also Russian varie- 

 ties, and just as fast as we can develop them and bring them 

 before the society we shall be very glad to do so. 



Mr. Pearce. I am a member of that committee. I have no 

 written report to make; but I would state that I procured cions 

 from different parts of the State. I received a good many from 

 our secretary, Mr. Gibbs, that he sent me. I grafted those. I 

 also received a number of varieties from northern Nebraska, that 

 originated there. There is one large, sweet apple — I think it is 

 called the Longnecker; from the growth made last season, and 

 the condition of the wood early in the fall, so perfectly ripened 

 up, I am rather inclined to think it is going to prove hardy. 

 Also received another, a winter variety and a Western apple, re- 

 sembling the Ben Davis — full as large — known as the Eureka 

 Imperial. At the Kansas exhibition it was the finest apple there, 

 probably, out of two or three hundred varieties. I was so much 

 pleased with the apple that I procured cions enough to graft two 

 or three hundred roots. They have made a beautiful growth. 

 They don't ripen so well as the other. I didn't put the cions out 

 until late, and I cannot say about that. I also received an apple 

 from northern Ohio; one that is cracked up there. I have not 

 the name with me. It also ripened splendidly. I got a lot of 

 those and grafted them. I have also received different Russian 

 varieties; some ten or a dozen; supposed to be the very best. I 

 top- worked and root-grafted them, and they have also done well. 

 Also have a number of other varieties, that I really don't know 

 what their names are. They were sent me from different parts 

 of the State, promiscuously. Half of them came without names. 

 They are doing well. We cannot tell anything about them un- 

 til another year. There is a seedling that is growing on my 

 grounds that I think is going to be a good early apple. It was 

 supposed to be a Duchess. It looked like the Duchess; but last 

 season it fruited, and it was quite a different thing altogether. 

 It is a nice apple; red, medium-sized and exceedingly early — at 

 least two weeks earlier than the Duchess. I brought a few of 

 them here to the fair, and they were such a nice tasting apple 

 they were soon "gobbled up," and I saw no more of them. But 



