have been sorry all the time that I was investigating this question that I have seemed to be opposing a man who has done so much. Now, I have had no fight with R. M. Kellogg when he was alive, and I have not not after he is dead. He was a friend of mine; he has been days at my house, a man that I liked very much, but I do not believe in his theory, but I want to say that I think R. M. Kellogg did more for strawberry culture than any other man that ever lived in this country or any other country.

Mr. Moyle: I am glad that these last remarks have been made. You know I am a nurseryman, and I got my dose this afternoon with the rest of the crowd, but I look at it like this: You know we nurserymen have to deal with the subdued tenth of humanity, from the nurseryman's point of view, and the result is we have to bring up before them some vivid picture whereby we can get their attention attracted so that they will plant and grow nursery stock, and Mr. Kellogg struck the happy thought in introducing strawberries under this system as pedigreed plants, and I am satisfied to-day that people thought they got something better than the ordinary and took better care of them and consequently they got good strawberries, and in the long run it was a good deal all around.

Mr. Periam: That does not touch the question of pedigree at all; it is the fixing of an impossible word upon the propagation of plants. You will concede there is no such thing as a pedigree in plants from seeds or bulbs, you have got to have the two individuals to start with. It is the same as the word "thoroughbred," as applied properly to the racing horses in England and America, and the word "thoroughbred" as applied fallaciously to the Short-horn cattle of America and England. There is only one thoroughbred animal in the world, that is the English racing horse. The same proposition holds good here and the use of the word "pedigree" is very unfortunate, as it is a word that is an impossibility in horticulture.

THE PEWAUKEE APPLE.

A. J. PHILIPS.

It was first discovered by George P. Peffer growing in the village of Pewaukee. From its surroundings and the appearance of the tree Mr. Peffer came to the conclusion that it was a seedling of the Duchess, fertilized by some winter variety perhaps the Jonathan or Northern Spy. It was first exhibited at a Wisconsin Winter Meeting in 1872, and by the vote of the society in 1873 it was placed on the commercial list of apples, where it remained until it was well tested all over our state, when it was dropped by the same voters, largely who placed it where it was. It has had a varied career. We older horticulturists had great faith in it for two reasons. First, its good quality and fine appearance of both tree and fruit; second, the environment that first brought it to our notice, having its first introduction at the hands of that noble man, George P. Peffer, a man I can truly say was as unselfish as any I ever knew. The writer had spent much time with him at his home, at many meetings in our state, also at meetings in Minnesota, in Iowa, in the city of Washington and I never heard him say a harmful word against any man engaged in the same business he was or do a selfish act in the way of refusing scions to anyone; he was broad, a fitting example for all of us. My first visit to him was to see the Pewaukee apple in his own cellar and see the tree in 1873. I had seen the fruit in Madison and fell in love with it. I bought and set fifty trees. I was not alone, others were captivated by it. Such men in our society as our tried and true friends, J. S. Stickney and A. G. Tuttle. Each bought and set one hundred trees of it. The latter in recommending it said during one of our sessions in the seventies that he believed it was our coming winter apple for it was as hardy as the Duchess and good in quality as the Rhode Island Greening. I have heretofore said. that is was dropped from our lists after being tried but it never received its thorough Black Eye and it made Uncle Peffer almost cry. After one of our trying winters Tuttle found his trees all dead and after Mr. Stickney found that on his soil it. would not hang to the tree long enough to mature, he discarded it. I showed the largest specimens of it at the old Cold Spring state fair that I ever saw, three of them weighed over a pound each and I am safe in saying that if Uncle Peffer

brought one of his Milwaukee German friends to my table to see those apples he brought over one hundred. It is still reported. as doing well in a few places, in both Canada and the United States. When we decided in the early nineties to set a trial orchard in Marathon county for the benefit of planters all over Wisconsin, and more especially for the small farmers on the cut over lands in the northern part of the state, we appointed a committee of three of the men of the largest experience in apple growing in our state to select suitable varieties. I yet have their report and not one of the three named the Pewaukee. So I planted none there, though I planted some that have proved no better.

Gentlemen of the convention as circumstances prevent my being with you the first time in 22 years, I now leave the Pewaukee tree to your tender care and ask what will you do with it. I have introduced this subject as briefly as I could.

DISCUSSION.

Mr. Moyle: A gentleman just told me that the original Pewaukee tree is still alive and about ten inches in diameter, a very large tree, you see. It is down in Pewaukee where Mr. Peffer lived. I have been told that Mr. Peffer sowed the seed of the Duchess of Oldenberg, and from those seeds he grew the Pewaukee apple. Mr. Peffer was one of the forefathers of horticulture in our state; I never knew him, he passed away before my day. Now, there are none of us infallible, and our good old forefathers were enthusiastic seedling growers, and the result was that often apples were brought to the society and introduced and put upon the market as something remarkably hardy and the quality the best and they were going to make it possible for us to grow apples all over our state, and the Pewaukee was one of those apples that have been propagated extensively and planted and grown not only in our state, but in other states, and at the present time it seems a reaction has taken place and the horticultural press have taken up the matter and tell us the Pewaukee apple is no good and our good horticultural fathers had poor judgment; could not tell a good apple when they saw it, and in their enthusiasm they forced his apple upon us, and to-day it should be discarded, planted no more; that we have other varieties that are much

better and we are here this morning to discuss this matter and determine whether this judgment passed upon it is correct.

Now, I want to say this inorning, that the Pewaukee apple in quality and the tree in productiveness is as good as any Wisconsin seedling we have, with one or two exceptions. Compared with the Northwestern Greening or the Wolf River, I give the Pewaukee the preference, remember, as to quality, productiveness and from a dollar and cents standpoint the Pewaukee apple will produce more market apples, bring more in the market for a certain number of years than either of these other two great Wisconsin seedlings, Northwestern, Greening or Wolf River. The Pewaukee is one of the most productive apples we have. I have seen barrels and barrels hanging on trees that were twelve, fourteen to fifteen years of age, in fact, it bears itself to death, that is the great fault of the Pewaukee apple, it is so productive. As to the hardiness of the tree, it cannot be called a hardy apple. It was introduced in this society as a hardy apple, they thought it was so because it was a seedling of the Duchess of Oldenberg, but in this state it has not proved so hardy as the Golden Russet in Racine county, so it cannot be recommended in Wisconsin from the standpoint of hardiness, but if you are growing for dollars and cents and have a soil that will color up the Pewaukee, the Pewaukee will color up and keep nice enough so it will be a profitable market apple. I do not grow it extensively in our locality, because we have better apples, but if I were going to plant out a large commercial orchard, I would not hesitate at all to plant largely of the Pewaukee apple. As to its keeping qualities, I should say that if the Pewaukee is picked when it is still somewhat green, it will keep as well as any apple, but if allowed to ripen on the tree and become mellow, it will not keep. So I would say that we should not discard the Pewaukee apple in localities where it succeeds.

Mr. Periam: I want to testify in relation to one point. I had the pleasure and the satisfaction of being very well acquainted with Mr. Peffer for a long series of years and if Mr. Peffer testified that that was a seedling, he was a man so thoroughly honest, so careful in his work, that if he said that that is a seedling of the Northwestern Greening or whatever it may be, it is a fact, and it must be accepted.

Mr. Sperbeck: As regards the Pewaukee apple, my experience with that has been this the trees are too tender in our locality. In Southern Wisconsin and Northern Illinois I think they can grow nice apples. When I was at the meeting in Illinois they had some fine specimens, but with me the trees are not hardy enough, and as far as the keeping quality is concerned, I think it is fairly good. We believe that in Northern Wisconsin that it is not the apple that we should put out, and they stand no comparison with us with the Northwestern Greening for a commercial apple.

Mr. Foley: I cannot agree with my friend, Mr. Moyle. I cannot compare the Pewaukee at all with the Northwestern Greening. I think the Northwestern Greening is one of the finest apples we are propagating to-day in the Northwest. Now, I have grown the Pewaukee and several other varieties in the nursery row, and they are not hardy with me. I have a large orchard about six years old, and the Pewaukee is not hardy in the orchard, and I think in our locality the Northwestern Greening is far superior in both quality and hardi

ness.

Mr. Menn: I am speaking strictly for the western part of ur state. I set my first Pewaukee trees in the spring of 1884 and 1885. The trees grew very nicely until they came into bearing; after bearing one or two crops they showed signs of failure, with the best care, and it was but a few years later that the trees were dead. Now, from that time on I never set another Pewaukee tree. They were productive at the time and the keeping qualities were very good, but, as Mr. Moyle has stated, making comparison with the Pewaukee and the Northwestern Greening, I cannot agree with Mr. Moyle; the Northwestern is far ahead in our section of the country of the Pewaukee. Now, I want to say that those trees that I set were set on very good apple soil, up on high ridges that we find in the western part of our state with the clay, gravel subsoil underlaid with limestone, so there is no lack in fertility. I have also seen these trees grown on light soil near Sparta, In fact, two years ago while we were gathering fruit for St. Louis I came to an orchard on this light soil, where I found a Pewaukee tree that was loaded with as fine fruit as I had ever seen. I climbed into that tree and selected what I wanted. The tree appeared to be perfectly healthy at the