318 THE SURVIVAL OF THE TXLIKE. [XVIII. 



reasons for the premature failure of apple orchards 

 in the prairie states, and I satisfied myself that much 

 of this failure is due to the transplanting of New 

 England and New York varieties to those regions. 

 Every fruit grower must have been impressed with 

 the facts that the apples of these prairie states are 

 rapidly assuming a different character from those of 

 the east, and that the leading varieties in the two sec- 

 tions are even now distinct. The dissimilarity between 

 these great regions in climatic conditions is also well 

 illustrated in the floras, for there is a marked tend- 

 ency for the specific types of the east to stop at the 

 borders of the prairies. In other words, we have 

 floras characteristic of the prairies and plains. Even 

 the wild crab {Pyrus coronaria) of the eastern states 

 does not occur freely in the prairie regions, so far as 

 I know, being there represented by its congener, P. 

 loensis, a well-marked species. More than all this, 

 we know that it is absolutely impossible to grow our 

 common eastern fruits in the cold northwest. Our 

 interior regions must, therefore, be considcvod apart 

 from the older states, and when we oiicf understand 

 this fact thoroughly much of the prejudice against. 

 Russian fruits must disappear. The situation is 

 simply this : The northwest must have an unusually 

 hardy class of fruits, and any type of fruit which will 

 grow there should be encouraged. The Russian is 

 simply one of these types, the Siberian and native 

 crabs being others. But, inasmuch as the Russian 

 type is the most highly developed of them, it follows 

 that quick results are to be expected from it. If the 

 Russian apples and the crabs are more or less 

 adapted to the northwest, I feel sure that American 



