STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 365 



Wealthy being unsurpassed in the number of its good points by 

 any of the famed Eastern varieties, and the Duchess, which is 

 acknowledged among fruit growers as our standard of hardness, 

 being unsurpassed as a cooking apple, and withal being a very 

 good eating apple, though not equal to the peerless Wealthy in 

 that respect. 



It is a singular fact that while Minnesota, with her one hun- 

 dred and forty varieties, carried off the honors and prizes at the 

 American pomological exhibit in 1883, the Duchess and Wealthy 

 are the only ones that are recommended by her horticultural so- 

 ciety for general planting throughout the State. This is because 

 of their universal adaptability to all reasonable conditions and 

 -soils, and not because they are the only desirable sorts that she 

 produces. But there is still another reason. Many kinds of 

 apple trees grow weaker as they grow older, and die in the 

 orchard just as they come into bearing; hence they cannot confi- 

 dently recommend a tree until it has stood the test of many 

 years. All fruit growers confidently believe that the Northwest 

 has some new varieties that will not only equal but excel any 

 that we now have. The passing years are testing them, and it 

 will be a new illustration of the survival of the fittest. That 

 many of them will survive we have every reason to believe, and 

 become pomological blessings to us. But in the meantime, 

 unless you want to try experiments, beware of new varieties of 

 the apple sold at fancy prices. They may be very promising, 

 but usually their promise is vastly better than their j)erform- 

 ance. Do not understand me to say that I should discard all 

 standard apples but the two mentioned, but they should be our 

 main dependence. There are several others, such as the Wal- 

 bridge, St. Lawrence, Plumb Cider, Fameuse, etc., that we 

 should plant in limited quantities. Of these we have planted 

 quite largely of the Walbridge, because of its excellent keeping 

 qualities, planting it on our most elevated ground, sloping to the 

 north, trusting to the kindly embraces of the north wind to pro- 

 tect it from itself, its grave fault being its tendency to grow until 

 late in the season. 



Of the crab and hybrid apples we have a good assortment that 

 are adapted to our wants, many of them of superior excellence. 

 To illustrate what may be done by what has been done, I will 

 mention that in the spring of 1878 we planted in an orchard of 

 hybrids and crabs the Hyslop, Meader's Winter, Chickasaw 

 Crab, Beach's Sweet, Orange Crab and Transcendent. These 



