A friend of mine moving west nearly twenty-five years since, purchased a small place and built a house; but year after year he obstinately refused to set out shade trees, fruit, or flowers, or even to sod his front yard. He said it was of no use, he did not intend to stay there. He wanted to sell out and go elsewhere. Yet he remained there more than twenty years, and had it not been for the efforts of an excellent wife, his place would have been a house, but not a home, for the whole of that time. This class of farmers seem to me to be both unreasonable and selfish. They will do nothing that will benefit those who come after them, and in this respect are like the Irishman who declared that as posterity had never done anything for him he would never do anything for posterity.

Another class includes many of those who succeed upon their farms, and expect to remain on them; but if one of them has a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and is doing reasonably well, instead of improving it, and making home beautiful and pleasant, he begins to wish for another, or perhaps two more quarter-sections that lie near him. After he gets his four hundred or five hundred acres he is no better satisfied than before, but thinks he needs enough to make a thousand-acre farm. Instead of being satisfied with this, his one thousand acres is, as he thinks, only the nucleus around which he is anxious to get a farm upon which he can do business upon a grand scale. Will this man, with his immense farm, and his mania for more land, stop to set out a few fruit trees, or flowers, a strawberry bed, and other small fruits? Will he devote time to making lawns and gravel walks around his home? He has no time for this. His herds of stock, his large and magnificent fields of grain occupy his time to the exclusion of everything like the little plat about his house. Sometimes such work seems to him childlike and foolish. The son of one of this class married a very refined and excellent young lady, and, wishing to please his wife, although he occupied a portion of his father's farm, commenced to set out shrubbery, small fruits and flowers; his father came along while he was doing it, and ordered him to cease and go at something else; he would have no one upon his farm spending his time in such a foolish manner. A few years since I visited a farmer of this class upon business. I consider him one of the best farmers in the northwest. After concluding my business I started toward his garden. He called to me, saying: "You need not

go there, for you cannot get through it, or even into it, on account of the weeds." His words were almost literally true. The weeds were from two to six feet high and as thick as they could possibly grow. He had about seventy-five acres of corn, and I have not a doubt that there were more weeds upon one-half an acre in his garden, or upon the spot where he was supposed to have a garden, than could be found upon the whole of his corn field. In these cases, and there are many of them, not only among our large farmers but among those of more moderate circumstances, it is not only a want of time, but a false idea that a man can be better employed than in spending a portion of his time in such a manner that it will bring no cash return. During the cares and the labors of the days and the weeks, there seems to be no time to spare for anything except the actual care of the farm; and in this way the years roll on, until at length even the taste and the desire for a beautiful home have passed away. Old age comes on, accompanied by a fine farm and plenty of means, and yet that family has never known the comforts and pleasures of a pleasant and happy home, one adorned with such beauties and comforts as every farmer in even moderate circumstances might and ought to have.

There is another class of farmers who always intend to have a fine garden, with plenty of fruits, flowers, shrubbery, shade trees, lawns, etc., but they are not quite ready to do it yet. They cannot even commence such a work this spring, but they fully intend to do it at some future time. If such a one should be induced to plant a garden and take a few steps in this direction, the probabilities are that in the fall following, the garden would be a good place in which to hunt rabbits, except for the fact that it would be nearly or quite impossible to follow them through the mass of weeds and rubbish with which it would be covered. As a general rule, the farming of this class of men will be a little in advance of their gardening, still it will be far from good. They work hard and really intend to do what is in their power to have a pleasant home; and if they had the right kind of neighbors and surroundings, they would often succeed in making a pleasant and a pretty home.

There is still another class of farmers, who not only always fail to have a pretty home, but likewise fail to have good crops or a good farm, or at least to have them for any considerable length of time. If they live near a town or village, you will almost surely find them

in it on rainy days, evenings, and very often in fair weather. If it is cloudy they think it will certainly rain, and will not begin a day's work. If it is hot, they can not endure so much heat. If it is fair weather, they must go to the blacksmith's, or wagonmaker's, to get some tools repaired. They are invariably behind with their work upon the farm; and as to setting out a few rose bushes and ornamental plants for the hard working and discouraged wife at home, or setting out and keeping in order a little plat of strawberries, raspberries and grapes, such things would be utterly beneath their dignity. There are certain empty dry goods boxes at the street corner, in the village, that would never get whittled into shavings, and certain loungers about them who would never hear their latest complaints about hard times, bad luck, poor seasons, etc., if they should fool away their time at such nonsense. I wish to have a due amount of charity for all; but I fear that the mantle is hardly broad enough to shelter this class from utter contempt. I do not know what either you or I can do for them. They are failures upon their farms, failures in their homes, and failures everywhere.

Still, after deducting all these classes, there remains a large body of farmers in our northwest, who are making homes of beauty and happiness. Theirs are homes of intelligence and worth. Homes that are the pride and glory of our country. To them we must look for our principal support, both now and in the future. From them must come the cultured ones to make other homes beautiful and happy. When we can, either individually or as a society, add to the number of such homes, or do somewhat to add to the beauty and happiness of those that already exist, we are conferring a benefit upon our country, and upon common humanity. If by our exertions we could induce any large number of the classes that I have named to change and improve their present home, we should indeed be conferring a boon of great value upon our country. Can we do this? Can we not at least do something toward it? We may at least try to make our own homes such as a poet has so pleasantly described:

"More than building showy mansions,

More than dress and fine array;

More than domes and lofty steeples,
More than station, power and sway.

Make your home both neat and tasteful,

Bright and pleasant, always fair;
Where each heart shall rest contented,
Grateful for each bounty there.

"There each heart will rest contented,
Seldom wishing far to roam;

Or, if roaming, still will ever

Cherish happy thoughts of home.
Such a home makes man the better,

Sure and lasting the control;

Home, with pure and bright surroundings,
Leaves its impress on the soul."

FRUIT PROSPECTS.—At the close of the president's paper, reports of the fruit prospects in the different parts of the state were called for.

Mr. Tuttle, of Baraboo, stated that for the first time in an experience of twenty-five years in fruit raising, had the crop been destroyed by spring frosts; the apple crop is nearly a failure; grapes on low ground are much injured, but are good on elevated sites; in some places plums are little injured; in others they are killed; strawberries, raspberries and currants promise an abundant yield; pears seemed to have suffered less than the apples. The frost was quite peculiar in its effects, doing, in places, much damage to the hardiest varieties, while those much tenderer were almost exempt from injury.

Mr. J. S. Stickney, of Wauwatosa, reported that fruit along the lake shore was apparently in a much better condition than in other parts of the state. The frost had injured the foliage of the trees, even killing it on many of the larger trees and on crabs; generally the foliage was not over half what it ought to be, and its growth seemed to be wholly checked; the trees were full of apples and will give an abundant crop if the foliage develops sufficiently to mature them; pears are better than apples, and better even than last year. There are but few trees, but they are well loaded. The foliage of the Early Richmond Cherry was injured, but the trees are full of fruit, while on the Kentish variety, the leaves are good, but the fruit is injured; currants will be only a half crop; the fruit first set is all right, but the lower half of the stem was nearly killed; at first it was thought that little or no harm was suffered by the strawberries, but the early blossoms were killed.

As the season

has been favorable, a late bloom was developed and there is a good prospect of a respectable crop. There are but few plum trees in that section; of these, the cultivated varieties are well loaded with fruit, while the wild varieties were much injured by the frost. Grapes bid fair to yield a good crop, and the raspberries were never better. The advantage of elevated locations was clearly shown by the effect of the frost on Mr. Greenman's grounds. His land is about fifty feet higher than other places around, and though there was a slight appearance of frost, not the least injury was done, even to tender plants.

Senator Arnold said that in the northwestern part of the state all the fruit except strawberries had been killed, with the exception of a few places along the Mississippi river; there the high elevation and the warm air from the river protected it; even the wild plums and crab-apples were all killed, Transcendents and all. Mr. Clark, of New Lisbon, gave a discouraging account of the effect of the frost in his section. Crab-apples all killed; grapes also, with a very few exceptions; strawberries wintered well, but will yield one-half or one-third of a crop; currants and gooseberries stripped by worms; apples all killed except occasionally a Talman Sweet and a few other trees with a little fruit on.

Mr. Plumb and Mr. Palmer, from the southern part of the state, reported a general destruction of the apple crop, except on the high grounds; cherries are a small crop; plums an entire failure, and the trees nearly ruined by the frosts and the green aphis.

President Smith gave a very encouraging report of the fruit prospects at Green Bay. Grapes were injured somewhat, but apples, pears, crabs, and the small fruits generally, promised a full yield.

Mr. Hirschinger, of Freedom, said some of the orchards in his section were injured in the foliage and in fruit, but there was a prospect of considerable fruit. With him Golden Russet and Rawle's Janet were unharmed, while the other hardy varieties were injured; currants would be only a partial crop, but the other small fruits never promised better.

Hon. A. A. Arnold, of Galesville, read the following paper on