358 ANNUAL REPORT. 



produce an apple. But when I look over the statistics of 

 that State and find that in 1880 she i^roduced over 3.700,000 

 bushels of apples, I make up my mind that those men were 

 mistaken and feel like saying something to encourage Dakota 

 farmers to plant fruit as well as forest trees. Hardy varieties 

 can now be obtained so that the selecting of them is not so much 

 of an exjieriment as it once was. The two main points are study- 

 ing the climatic changes and finding the extremes of cold in a 

 given locality. Then finding the resisting powers of different 

 trees to withstand that cold. These are the foundations of suc- 

 cessful fruit and tree planting. Fruit we must have, and the apple 

 is admitted to be the king of fruits, and to have it in any quan- 

 tity, we must grow them to a great extent, or we and our families 

 must go without this health-giving blessing. Exhibiting apples 

 at fairs and winter meetings for the past ten years has convinced 

 me that the farther north apples can be grown, the handsomer 

 they will be, and in firmness and quality, cannot be excelled. 



Now if the statements contained on the pages I have read are 

 true, is it not worth an effort on our part as horticulturists to 

 devise means to encourage tree planting ? How shall we do it ? 

 My main hope is with the young. We must interest and edu- 

 cate the children. An ancient king once said children should be 

 taught that which would be of most value to them when they 

 grew to be men and women. The late Bayard Taylor said the 

 work of the horticulturist was the beatification of nature. The 

 most lasting pleasure of horticulture is the planting of trees. To 

 interest the children, we must make the home attractive. We 

 cannot expect that a desolate prairie lawn, with its many tilled 

 acres, as devoid of beauty as the desert of Arabia, will offer any 

 attractions for our children. They will be staying rather than 

 living; waiting and longing for the time to come when they can 

 desert that place and leave their aged parents by the hearth stone 

 alone to spend the remnant of their days in solitude. 



A farmer told me hist fall that he could not afford to set out 

 trees; said his crops were poor and the hail damaged them and 

 he would be obliged to live close the coming year, but before he 

 left town he paid out three dollars for tobacco, for three month's 

 use, or twelve dollars a year, which expended for trees would 

 have made his home attractive, but he ijreferred to throw his 

 money away. The farmer who allows the home of his wife and 

 children to stand desolate on the prairie instead of buying and 

 planting some forest and fruit trees, which can be cheai^ly done. 



