RUSSIAN APPLES. 107 



receiveu some ten years since from Prof. Budd, and the only 

 Russet that passed through last' winter unharmed. From South- 

 ern Minnesota, Giant Swaar and Rollin's Pippin (received from 

 A. W. Sise, of Rochester, Minn.) seem uninjured. The Giant 

 Swaar is a very valuable apple as good, I think, in every way 

 among the yellow apples as Wealthy is among the reds. I am 

 much pleased with it. The Wealthy was not in every case un- 

 harmed, though only a few were hurt, and these were trees which 

 had previously been hurt in the trunk by "sun bark blight," i. e., 

 injury from the strong action of the sun on the southwestern 

 side. The large majority of my Wealthys are uninjured and 

 bearing a good crop for the off year. Wolf River, from Wis- 

 consin, shows itself, much to my surprise, to be vulnerable, though 

 not seriously harmed. 



And now for the Russians, which must, I am sure, be the best, 

 if not the only reliance for the severest spots. We ought never 

 to have placed the Red Astrachaii among these. Its hardiness is 

 below that of Fameuse, and about equal to that of Tolman's 

 Sweet, Blue Pearmain and Westfield Seek-no-Further. None of 

 these die, but all are practically worthless here. Astrachan is 

 only politically a part of Russia, with a climate like that of 

 Southern New "York. There is no other among the more than 

 fifty Russian apples I have tested that shows any defect in hardi- 

 ness except Alexander, which is much hardier than Astrachan, 

 though not ranking with Fameuse. Nevertheless, I have no 

 doubt that degrees of hardiness under extreme exposure will be 

 found among the Russians, perhaps even here, but certainly in 

 Dakota, Minnesota, Northern Wisconsin and Michigan, Manitoba 

 and Canada. But for my location, the question of hardiness is 

 eliminated from the consideration, and we are left merely to se- 

 lect our sorts among the Russians on other considerations! The 

 best so far in my orchard, in order of season, are Yellow Trans- 

 parent, Tetot'sky, Duchess of Oldenburg, St. Peter, Prolific 

 Sweeting and Golden White. These are all summer and fall 

 kinds. It is not yet time to determine in regard to winter kinds, 

 as we have not had them long enough to judge them certainly. 

 Those I have in bearing, Borsdorf and Little Seedling, though 

 good keepers, are too small. 



The later importations, Antonovka, Titovka (suppose we call 

 them Antony and Titus), Arabka, Bogdanoff, the Winter Aports 

 and Anises, and the Longfield, are all apples of good size and 

 quality, and from them and others of the same season, there is 

 no doubt that good selections can be made, which will succeed in 

 all parts of America likely to be inhabited by white men. 



As regards other tree fruits, last winter wiped out all pears ex- 

 cept the small Russians from Budd and Gibb ; all cherries except 

 Lieb, Large Montmoreiicy and Minnesota Ostheim Seedling of 

 Mr. Myers; all plums except Arctic (injured), and the blue and 

 yellow Orleans of Canada, and the Eastern and Western natives, 



