162 ANNUAL REPORT. 



forward to the bright future which is certainly before the people, I 

 believe that the time will come when our apples will be sought for 

 beyond the great ocean, and when we shall have the merited reputation 

 of producing the choicest apples that can be grown. 



Col. StevenSk) Mr. President, I would like to amend that report so 

 as not to have' it appear as the report of the whole State, it is confined 

 to southern Minnesota. I know very well that Mr. Gideon has over 

 forty varieties that are hardier than the Wealthy. I know very well 

 that Mr. Pearce has a seedling that has proved hardier than the 

 Duchess; last spring there was not a bud injured. 



Mr. Harris. This report of the seedling committee is a report of 

 what has come under my observation, and although I believe there is 

 no necessity for it, I am perfectly willing to have it appear as Col. 

 Stevens suggested. 



Col. Stevens. I wis^h to sav, as far as I understand the history of 

 the Duchess of Oldenburg, and the Tetofsky, that they are acclimated 

 the moment they are brought to the United States; they become ac- 

 climated at once. If I understand Mr. Harris' idea it would take two 

 or three generations before the Russians would be acclimated. I may 

 have misunderstood him. 



Mr. Harris. I think you did not understand me. I believe the 

 Russians, a great many of them, are as hardy as the Duchess, and that 

 seedlings from them will improve on the old variety. Apples acquire 

 an excellence of flavor in one locality which they do not in others, 

 just as the Baldwin raised in a certain place is a better fruit than it is 

 anywhere else. 



Mr. Fuller. I was working for several years at Cedar Mills, where 

 a number of seedlings were tested. The seeds were planted some four- 

 teen years ago, seeds of the Transcendent, and the Gen. Grant. I was 

 there last summer and saw the fruit. It was very much like the 

 Duchess and about the size of the Gen. Grant. The trees are perfectly 

 hardy, commenced bearing when three years old, and have borne every 

 year since. The tree is a slow grower, it is neither blighted nor 

 winter-killed. I have taken cions to graft and shall watch it with 

 some interest; and another year, if of any value, I can have cions for 

 others. 



Mr. Busse. The president of the State Alliance, who resides at 

 Fillmore, told me that he had a seedling apple tree that had borne 

 crops for about twenty years. It came through the winter last year 

 in perfectly sound condition. He said he would send Prof. Porter a 

 few cions of that tree. 



