STATE POMOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 41 



Mr. Litchfield of Winthrop. I am glad that the Presi- 

 dent sat in front of the phice where those apples are exhibited 

 so long as he did. I invested in five varieties of crab-apples 

 sometime ago and have them growing now. I do not con- 

 demn them all. I have one variety which is valuable, and 

 one that is good for nothing ; it cannot be cooked or eaten, or 

 given to any creature. So I have a large lot of them. I 

 hope nobody else will be taken in as I have been with this 

 kind of tree. I have another variety which is valuable for 

 preserving. 



Question. What kind of an apple is the General Grant? 



Answer. I have not got it and I do not want it. 



John ]May, Esq. My opinion is that the crab-apples are 

 in general an immense humbug. 



Mr. Wheeler. I have only a word to say. I have had 

 a little experience. I have one cral)-apple tree. I got the 

 scions from friend Smith. I Avas considerably taken up with 

 them at that time, but I have found them since to be worth- 

 less. Soon a yellow variety came around and I had the 

 curiosity to try that. I grafted the tree over and put in the 

 yellow variety. The tree boi-e well. These were pretty 

 good to can up for sauce. By and by another variety came 

 around — a Siberian crab. It was quite a large apple, was 

 red and handsome. I grafted it again to that variety, and 

 last fall it bore largely and produced a fine lot of sauce 

 apples. J think it would be a good thing for every fruit- 

 grower to keep one or two trees just for sauce and for home 

 use. 



The President. The point has been well made, What is 

 the use of crab-apples where we can grow good fruit? And 

 that is a question every one should ask himself before he 

 gives an order for crab-apple trees at extreme prices. Allow 

 me to ask who would not prefer a bushel of Roxbury Russets 

 to a bushel of crab-apples ? Who is there that cannot make 

 a better use of Winthrop Greenings than of crab-apples ? Is 

 not the Gravenstein or the Red Astrachan better ? Again, 

 who is there among these fruit growers who would not prefer 



