TWENTY-SIXTH SESSION. 
97 
resembling both the common apple and the Siberian crab with an expression 
somewhat unlike either; the fruit gives evidence of being of good size, dark 
green in color, with that peculiar rounded form at the top of the fruit that 
is so characteristic of the Soulard crab, and has a slight trace of its acerbity 
left in it. It is yet too immature to be fully described. The appearance of 
this tree is so like the apple that is has suggested doubts about its being 
a hybrid; and it was with no little satisfaction that I discovered its true char- 
acter in the apple, and in the indented markings of a few of its leaves that 
are so distinct a feature of our native crabs. I would not for a moment, 
think of discussing the carefully prepared digest of Prof. Bailey’s on our 
“Native Apples.” But I am well aware that skillful botanists have hereto- 
fore had occasion to revise their conclusions and I shall be greatly surprised 
if on. farther investigation, w’e do not have a revision of this subject. When 
we take into account the processes of evolution for hundreds of years before 
the white man saw these prairies, and consider the natural domestication 
that has been going on by the red men dropping the seeds of the best around 
their camp-fires, and in the richest alluvial spots where these .larger forms 
were likely to spring up and be perpetuated; and developed into different 
forms and varieties as we now see them; that the “saving clause” that was 
in the Professor’s mind will perhaps become more emphatic; and that the 
beautiful fragrant flowered Pyrus coronaria, Pyrus Ioensis and Pyrus Sou- 
lardii and possibly Pyrus angustifolia really represent only one species in 
the great Mississippi Valley; and that latitude and longitude, humidity and 
aridity, widely varying soils and the environments of special locations, has 
created all this variety that we see; and will account for what seems tb be 
two or three kinds of leaves on one species, and for the varying forms and 
sizes, and quality of fruit that is represented in the different kinds that have 
been discovered, and would also account for so many things that appear to 
be common to all these species. 
Possibly it will be thought that it is quite as reasonable, not to accord 
specific rank to these large sized wild apples. What value is there in any of 
these apples? is the question of practical horticulture. Of one thing I am 
certain; if any valuable advance is made in them for the northern area of 
this valley, it must be by selecting the most hardy varieties. None other 
will give of their hardiness sufficient strength in a cross with our cultivated 
sorts to meet the extremes of this climate. No apple, that had its constitution 
fixed by the changing evolutions in the latitude and climate of St. Louis, can 
ever impart enough hardiness to endure successfully the rigors of our winters. 
And development along pure lines wrnuld also lack this necessary element 
of strength. The nativity of this species, the size of the largest varieties, 
their aroma, their long keeping character, and the tenacity with which they 
cling to the tree, are all qualities that recommend them to the experimented. 
Their long keeping habit, and their endurance on the tree, commend them in 
a special manner to the scientific horticulturists of the prairie regions. 
THE EXPANSIVE TREE PROTECTOR. 
Mr. Willis H. Coon, of the Expansive Tree Protector Co., of Rochester, 
N. Y., was allotted five minutes in which to address the Society on the above 
mentioned subject. He exhibited and explained a device to protect trees and 
foliage from insects that come from the earth. He said it consisted of a felt 
band saturated with a chemical substance repellent to insects; the band being 
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