98 MINNESOTA STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
ground. After the third year a crop cannot be grown in the 
orchard without serious injury being done to the trees. 
A voice: Do you think it is necessary in this part of the 
country to drain land for an orchard? 
Mr. Pearce: A fruit tree will never live on wet land. The 
soil must be dry. If the soil is dry, it requires no drainage; if 
it is inclined to be wet, you will never grow apples on it. i 
A voice: Would you mulch the trees in the fall? 
Mr. Pearce: I never mulched a tree in my life. I have set 
trees so shallow that some of the roots were exposed five or 
six inches. I never mulch and I have never lost a single tree 
by root-killing. 
Mr. Ferris: You claim a hardy variety will not do on a ten- 
der root. 
Mr. Pearce: I do. 
Mr. Ferris: I have plum trees bearing on peach roots, 
Mr. Pearce: I have taken seeds grown in Nebraska, in 
northern Illinois, Ohio, Indiana and Michigan, and in every 
instance I got an apple root that grew perfectly hardy. I 
never lost a root inmy life. Wherever I got a hybrid, I met 
with misfortune. 
Mr. Phillips (Wisconsin): Where do you get your apple 
roots? 
Mr. Pearce: I get the apple and take the seeds out. If you 
want to grow a winter apple get seeds from a winter apple. 
Hybridizing has been the hardest thing I have had to contend 
with, and I have urged this society time and time again to es- 
tablish an experimental farm to grow seeds way beyond the 
reach of insects to keep them pure. It ought to be established 
on an island to grow pure seeds. 
Mr. Brackett: What would you do about bees? 
Mr. Pearce: Well, you cannot get away from bees and 
mosquitoes. 
FRUIT TREES. 
NILS ANDERSON, LAKE CITY, MINN. 
The first thought of was apples for man to eat, and if they were as 
good and beautiful as now, I do not wonder that Eve took thereof 
and ate. Every man, woman and child should have a good supply 
for at least five months of the year; and no home is complete with- 
out an orchard near the house. The few days that the trees are in 
bloom is a beautiful sight and is well worth the cost of the orchard. 
Very great care should be taken in selecting the trees. Do not set 
any blighting varieties. The Tetofsky,White Astrachan, and Ukrain- 
