654 



TESTED RUSSIAN FRUITS AT THE WEST. 



to coin new names. With the exception of the cherry, 

 plum and other rooted plants, the varieties introduced 

 since 1882 were propagated and sent out for trial to trial 

 stations — now about 800 in number. The setting of a 

 new orchard was deferred on account of the difficulty of 

 keeping specimens on public grounds ransacked by hun- 

 dreds of students, residents and outside visitors and 

 prowlers. 



Yet in the spring of 1888 we set in Experimental 

 Orchard ' ' No. 2 " all the most promising varieties of the 

 oi'chard fruits not included in orchard set in 1878 and 

 1879. 



Except in a small way these trees are not yet in bear- 

 ing, but they will have great interest and value in the 

 near future. In the meantime we have received reports 

 and specimen fruits from nearly all varieties on trial, 

 and the older orchard has produced several hundred 

 bushels of fruit. 



SYNOPSIS OF RESULTS. 



Apples. — The summers and winters during the past six 

 years have been the most trying known to the history of 

 the west on orchard fruits. So far as I know the wreck 

 of western orchards has known no parallel in the world's 

 history. On the college grounds the old orchard of 

 1,200 trees, planted prior to our experimental work with 

 the Russian fruits, was totally wrecked and is now a 

 clover field. Of the 118 varieties — the hardiest of the 

 old list — the Duchess, Whitney's No. 20 and Tetofsky 

 were the only really sound trees left when the orchard 

 was grubbed out. In like manner our pear, European 

 plum and cherry orchards of the old lists have been de- 

 stroyed and the stubs dug out. Over a large part of the 

 state, east of the Missouri divide, this orchard wrecking 

 has been as complete as with us, yet on certain ridge 

 soil, where the wood has ripened better in autumn, many 

 varieties of the grade of hardiness of Cole's Quince, Fa- 

 meuse. Wealthy, Gros Pomier, Plumb's Cider, Willow 

 and Talman Sweet have stood fairly well. 



In the experimental orchard the seedlings, and stand- 

 ard varieties on Gros Pomier, have mainly been grubbed 

 out, and a number of varieties of the Russians have been 

 njured by blight or sunscald. 



Yet the fact remains that, taken as a whole, it is now 

 the thriftiest and healthiest orchard east of the Missouri 

 divide in Iowa, and has borne very heavy crops of fine 

 fruit for all seasons from July to March. Last year and 

 this we were able to show at our State Fair fully one 

 hundred varieties of handsome and good fall and winter 

 apples for either desert or culinary use. In estimating 

 the quality of Russian fruits, two main facts must be 

 taken into consideration : 



(i.) The Russians grow many varieties of fine even- 

 sized apples which are alone used for cooking. 



The descriptive list of the varieties we imported from 

 Moscow found in the report of the Montreal Horticul- 

 tural Society for 1886 will illustrate this. The varieties 

 recommended for cooking as a rule have some astring- 

 ency when eaten raw, such as is found in the Silken 



Leaf, Hibernal and Recumbent, yet they contain more 

 grape sugar than our common apples, and are not ex- 

 celled for culinary use. (2.) The varieties Dr. Shroeder 

 recommends for table use and cooking, or exclusively 

 for table use, are always mildly acid, sub-acid or sweet, 

 and with a tenderness and sprightliness not found in our 

 apples classed by Downing as ' ' good " or ' ' very good." 

 While there are no varieties as high in quality as Early 

 Joe, Dyer, Grimes' Golden and Jonathan, we have many 

 for all seasons that will rank with Early Harvest, Porter, 

 Fameuse, Wealthy, Domine and Baldwin. This is es- 

 pecially true of the apples from Oral, Voronesh and the 

 Bogdanofi^ estates, but they are not infrequent in the 

 collections made by Dr. Regel and Dr. Shroeder. As 

 with our common apples, the highest quality is not found 

 with those that keep longest with common care. 



The story of quality, season, relative value, etc., of 

 the varieties longest tested is told in our Bulletin of 1890 

 as accurately as it can be done until they are handled 

 by the barrel and binfull. 



Pears. — In all parts of the world the pear seems to do 

 best on high and dry ground with plenty of air movement 

 and air drainage. 



The college grounds are not naturally pear soil, and 

 a large portion of the iowa drift soil is not well suited 

 to the pear. But on the prairie ridges, and the bluffs 

 adjacent to our streams, the Russian pears are proving 

 true ironclads, and coming early into bearing. Some of 

 the varieties are fair in size and quality for dessert, -but 

 most of the eastern ironclads are best for culinary use. 



Cherries. — The Russian cherries seemed to do well in 

 nearly all soils from the western coast east to the Volga- 

 In like manner they appear to do well here on ex- 

 tremely varied soils u<lien on suitable stocks or on their 

 own roots. On the college grounds not a sprout of the 

 old varieties can now be found. Yet the Russian varie- 

 ties, cut severely for scions and bud sticks since the 

 plants were set, are models of health and fruitfulness. 

 Some varieties have not failed to give full crops in three 

 years. This season we have had from about thirty va- 

 rieties of cherries in regular succession for fully eight 

 weeks, picking the last September 15th, being the second 

 crop borne on Brusseler Braune trees which yielded a 

 heavy crop on the 6th of August. This variety and two 

 others are peculiar in producing two sets of blossoms 

 nearly two weeks apart. If frost does not prevent one 

 crop from setting, the trees always bear two distinct 

 crops two or three weeks apart. 



As stated by Mr. Gibb, some of the most valuable 

 eastern cherries for both canning and dessert are slow 

 in ripening after they turn red. Hence, they are ex- 

 posed to the birds for a long time. Where grown in 

 quantity those taken by the birds will hardly be missed, 

 while the few trees can be covered. Many of these 

 cherries, however, ripen early and evenly. So far as 

 tested, all of them are higher in quality than Early Rich- 

 mond or English Morello, and some of them are sweet 

 or very mildly sub-acid. They will prove acquisitions 

 over a very large part of our country. 



