92 
THE NATIONAL NURSERYMAN. 
RUSSIAN FRUITS. 
Editor of Tyle National Nurseryman: 
The address of Hon. C. L. Watrous, published in your 
July issue on test and dissemination as far as relates to 
nurserymen’s work directly with the planting public is 
most excellent advice ; but as a veiled attack before that 
worthy body on Professor J. L. Budd and his work with 
Russian fruits at Ames, Iowa, it is unjust, as is a so his 
characterizing him as a “ blind leader leading the blind,” 
and charging that “ ignorance is only a charitable excuse ” 
for his work, which is not a minor chord in his address, 
and makes it smack loudly of being but a personal thrust 
at our distinguished Iowa worker. 
This makes singular reading, after just having returned 
from a visit to the Ames, Iowa, station, where we walked 
for miles along experimental rows of fruits, counting up 
into hundreds of varieties from nearly every state in the 
Union, as well as from many foreign countries, but most 
largely from Russia. We took extensive notes in the 
Russian orchard, planted early in the ’70s, finding there 
about 200 varieties of apples in bearing. Most of the 
trees were loaded and we judge there are not less than 
1,000 bushels of apples on from seven to ten acres. We 
found no less than thirty sorts of cherries in full bearing, 
of all ages from two years transplanting to seven or eight 
years old. A large number of the citizens in the city had 
yards full of Russian cherry trees, which were loaded with 
fruit, and not a tree of the Richmond or sour sorts was in 
sight. We asked a picker on the elegant residence 
grounds of Professor Curtis, how many he had gotten from 
the tree he was working on. “ Fifty-two quarts,” was the 
reply, “ and I am not done yet.” I think the tree was 
planted six years ago ; it is about 12 feet in height. On 
the residence grounds of Professor Budd, which were 
planted and developed during the past three seasons, two 
being continuous drought, he had trees in full bearing, 
five to nine feet in height. On my home grounds we 
have at this writing, black sweet cherries yellow sweet 
cherries and a lengthened season double over that gotten 
from the Dukes and sour sorts, the only sorts beside these 
Russians it has been possible yet to grow here in Western 
Iowa. 
The Ames station shows most extensive work in plums. 
We took notes on about 200 varieties, largely western 
natives and crosses. We found fruits of this sort here 
from every western state, from Texas, California, Bur¬ 
bank’s hybrids, Germany, Italy, France, Japan, China. 
This is a most wonderful and interesting department of 
experiment and test, and when we consider that a large 
share of the present list of natives found so valuable over 
the West and now widely grown, is largely the result of 
Professor Budd’s work and the work of this station, just 
as valuable results await the public in the future in plums 
from the Ames station. We will mention but one, which 
is the Wyant plum, claims of which the professor has 
urgently pressed lately. 
We found in nursery rows seedlings in number and over 
100 crosses, probably nearer two hundred apple that were 
crosses, made most carefully by himself and students ; 
also hundreds of crosses between French roses and Rosa 
rugosa, and the wild prairie rose; large quantities of 
crosses between Manitoba wild strawberries and Parker 
Earl, Bubach, Warfield, Beder Wood, best varieties for 
western planting. By no means is his work narrowed 
down to introducing fruits from Russia, neither are 
Russian fruits a lamentable failure as has been reiterated 
by our worthy Iowa representative before the American 
Association of Nurserymen, or other bodies in which he 
has of late years lifted his voice. Omitting items of 
interest in ornamentals, shrubs, small fruits and trees, we 
will only add a word as to method of experiment. 
Ames is only the central station. Considerable stock 
is propagated and distributed to substations as well as to 
regularly established stations under the direction of the 
Iowa State Horticultural Society. Of the latter there are 
sixteen, and of substations there are nearly one thousand, 
composed largely of enthusiastic amateur planters and 
farmers, often the best experimenters. Plants are for¬ 
warded with respect to location, adaptability and hardi¬ 
ness, and their behavior is reported to the Ames station. 
This gives data for a sifting process, large numbers of 
varieties being under trial; so it is possible in time to get 
down to varieties of value and the real facts. 
In the ’70s when large interest was taken in the Russian 
experiment by nurseries, some went headlong into propa¬ 
gating trees for sale, and propagated indiscriminately. 
Worthless sorts blighted heavily in nurseries and exten¬ 
sive fraud was practiced by indiscriminate labeling of 
everything Russian where it could be worked to make 
sales, and as a result, widespread disappointment occurred 
and odium attached to all Russian fruits. But under the 
able direction of Professor Budd these stations have con¬ 
tinued their work and they are widely distributed over all 
the western states, very thickly in Iowa, and valuable 
results have been reached. Data is now known of value 
to Northern Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, Northern 
Nebraska, where all common tree fruits are in severe 
straits and rarely a success. In tree fruits Oldenburg and 
Wealthy apples only are principally grown. To this now 
is added a list that is not perfectly free from all faults, 
but gives good satisfaction for family orchards. As to 
blighting, as the age of Russian apple trees increases they 
blight less. On the old orchard at Ames the last week in 
June, the worst season for it, when it was murky and wet 
.and the ground was saturated, we could have carried all 
blighted twigs off the ground in a half-bushel basket. 
On an orchard set five or six years ago there was more 
blight, in college nurseries still more, but not particularly 
damaging. 
Liberal premiums are offered by the Iowa, Minnesota 
and Dakota state fairs, as well as Sioux City and county 
and district fairs in the West, and for a number of years 
very liberal offers brought out large exhibits of Russian 
apples; and wonderful exhibits have been made of 
