President Tuttle said the trees needed age to bear well; when young, they drop their fruit and yield but little, and the quality of fruit is inferior. On this account some who had tried to grow them had become dissatisfied and dug up their trees. There were trees near him which had been set over ten years, that for the last two or three years had borne well. The fruit had been stung by the curculio, a good deal, but no injury resulted; a small, black spot on the skin was seen, but the quality of the plum was not affected. Age improved the quality as well as the yield of fruit; it was increasing in favor in the market; the past season in Chicago, it found ready sale, and brought as good prices as the Green Gage variety.

Mr. Plumb regarded it as a valuable variety because it was curculio proof; when the trees had age they gained in strength and vigor and bore well. He suggested that it was good stock for topworking.

In reply to inquiries by Mr. Putnam, as to the best method of propagation and whether growing from suckers did not tend to depreciate the quality of the fruit, President Tuttle said the usual way was to propagate by suckers, and that it did not seem to injure the fruit; it could be raised in other ways, but this was the easiest.

Mr. Stickney said the opinion that it could not be grafted was a mistake; it could be done, if care was taken not to injure the bark. In Iowa and Minnesota the variety is regarded with great favor. The Winnebago plum is of much better flavor to eat, but is objectionable, because it is so liable to injury from the curculio.

Mr. Hatch had tried both the DeSoto and the Hinckley, and found the first equally safe against the attacks of the little Turk, and it had an additional advantage in being earlier. Unless the location was favorable and the season early, the Hinckley would not always ripen, and he regarded it as a disadvantage that it ripened so late. People did not care for fruit so much out of season, hence there would not be much demand for it. He thought the better way to propagate, was by root-cuttings three or four inches in length, then the stock, both root and branch was all perfectly hardy. The De Soto was evidently a wild plum; there were many varieties of the wild plum in their section, of different colors and shapes, both free and cling-stones; some of them of excellent quality. Had tried the Wild Goose Plum but did not like it.

J-H

Mr. Phillips, preferred the De Soto to the Hinckley, because the fruit ripened earlier and the trees came into bearing sooner.

President Tuttle considered it an advantage to have 'the fruit mature so late, other varieties were out of the way, and it would always bring better prices than when in competition with them. He had had the same experience with other fruit; crabs especially, keeping them till the season was passed, he had realized much. better prices.

Mr. Stickney called attention to the Harrison Peach; the fruit was of good quality and uniform in size; it bore well in Minnesota, and he thought it would be well to cultivate it here.

Mr. Plumb did not think the time of ripening was an objection, the late market would be the better for it, but when the trees were older the fruit would ripen earlier.

A paper on "The Siberian Apple-Its use in the Pomology of the Northwest," was read by Mr. J. C. Plumb.

Messrs. A. N. Seymour, G. V. Ott, and N. F. Lund, were appointed a committee to examine and report on the display of apples on the tables.

On motion of Mr. Plumb, Mr. A. R. Whitney, a delegate from the Northern Illinois Horticultural Society, was made an honorary member.

LOCATION OF SOCIETY MEETINGS.-The Lemonwier Horticultural Society again extended, through their delegate, C. S. Whitter, an invitation to the State society to meet with them.

Mr. Stickney was anxious to have a friendly and social feeling exist between the State and local societies; had no doubt but it would be pleasant and instructive to meet with them, yet he did not think it advisable to hold our annual meetings at any other place than Madison. Here we can meet the members of the legislature and confer with the State Agricultural Society, both of which were essential to the interests of the society. He thought it might be well to have a June meeting, as at Oshkosh a number of years since, but would favor giving more attention to the discussions and less to the show, as being more beneficial.

Mr. Kellogg presented an invitation from the Janesville Society to meet with them. He had been in favor of going to Tomah, but thought in view of the business that had come before us it was well that we had not. Was in favor of improving the opportunity of meeting in joint convention with the Agricultural Society.

Mr. Smith thought we ought to have two meetings a year; one in June and the other in connection with the agricultural convention.

General Lund was satisfied that it was the duty of the society to hold meetings in different parts of the State, where it would do the most good, but was opposed to changing the place of the annual meeting. He felt that we ought to have two or more meetings a

a year.

The subject was referred to the committee appointed to confer with the Agricultural Society in relation to a joint convention. Adjourned till 2 p. m,

WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, 2 P. M.

At the opening of the session J. C. Plumb, chairman of the committee to superintend the collection and exhibition of Wisconsin fruit at the Pomological Society Meeting in Chicago, read their report. Which was accepted and adopted.

On motion of Mr. Stickney, the thanks of the society were tendered to this committee and to those who had contributed to the show of fruit, for their liberality, and the creditable manner in which they had performed their duty.

The following committees were appointed by the president:

On nomenclature-J. C. Plumb, Wm. Finlayson, B. B. Olds', and John Barr. On revision of the premium list-Geo. J. Kellogg, J. S. Stickney, and Geo. P. Peffer.

ELECTION OF OFFICERS.-The society now proceeded to the election of officers for the ensuing year. It being the preference of the members to dispense with a nominating committee, an informal ballot was taken for each of the officers, and the results were so nearly unanimous, that the ballots were declared formal, electing the following:

President-A. G. Tuttle, Baraboo.

Vice-President-J. M. Smith, Green Bay.

Recording Secretary-F. W. Case, Madison.

Corresponding Secretary-J. C. Plumb, Milton.

Treasurer-Geo. A. Mason, Madison.

Superintendent at Fair-Geo. J. Kellogg, Janesville.

Additional Members of Executive Committee-H. M. Thompson, St. Francis; M.

Anderson, Cross Plains; E. Wilcox, Trempealeau.

A paper was read by J. M. Smith of Green Bay, on "Small Fruits-the Improvements needed in Culture and Varieties."

SMALL FRUIT CULTURE.-In the remarks following the reading of this paper, Mr. Plumb said, the plan advocated by Mr. Smith, was to give very high culture, and thus to crowd the plants to the extreme of productiveness, and yet he wanted them to be hardy enough to do without protection. This system of cultivation was calculated to produce tenderness. The better way, as it seemed to him, was to raise fruit on land of medium quality, and give what extra culture was needed at the time when the fruit was maturing.

Mr. Smith said he had tried for a number of years to secure hardiness in raspberry plants. He believed in and practiced severe pruning; it tended to increase the vigor of the plant and also its productiveness. He gave an instance where, by his direction, a neighbor's vines were so severely cut back, that the owner thought there was not much left to bear fruit. One strong plant, had fared so hard, so many of the shoots being cut out, and those left pruned back very short, that the owner thought it was spoilt, but when the fruiting season came, it was covered with a mass of berries, and they gathered from it, six quarts at one picking. His son had, the past season, succeeded in getting an immense crop of berries by bending the plants down and giving protection. His own plants, not treated in this way, had not done as well. Mr. Smith favored high culture because it was profitable; he wanted a crop that will bear crowding, because he received better pay for the labor expended. He had tried to cultivate blackberries, but found, that like the wild Indian, they would not bear civilizing. They grew so abundantly in the country about there, that it did not pay to cultivate them.

Mr. E. Wilcox presented the report for the ninth district.

DOUBLE WORKED STOCK.-In connection with this, he gave an account of his efforts to secure stock, hardy enough in both top and root to withstand the arctic climate of his portion of the State. He wanted something much hardier than iron-clads; and is still of the opinion that if obtained at all, it must be by double-working on crab-stock, thus getting roots and trunk that will stand the test. His experiments had not been as successful as he would like, but he was sure success was in that direction. He had great faith in deep

setting, as in this way, the stock grafted on the crab-root would itself take root and add to its hardiness.

President Tuttle thought that in unfavorable locations the system adopted by Mr. Wilcox might do well. He believed in deep setting, where the soil would admit of it; would set four inches lower than in the nursery. There are two elements of success in apple-culture, which should be kept in mind; one is the character of the soil, and the other, the location. He is confidant that we have soil which is as well adapted to the orchard, as an State in the Union; and there are many locations where we can raise even the less hardy varieties with good success. We have locations where the mercury does not fall more than twenty degrees below zero; in 1864, on his place, it fell to thirty degrees below; the winter of 1874-5, the lowest was twenty-six degrees below. He thought Mr. Wilcox should be encouraged in his efforts to secure trees hardy enough to be reliable in places where it is now difficult to make even the Iron-clads live.

Mr. Wilcox said his experience had proved the necessity of this system of culture. In 1873, out of sixty-five thousand trees in his nursery, all died but ten thousand, and what saved these, was, they stood on their own roots. He found it much better to follow this mode of propagation, even if he did lose twenty per cent., than to lose the whole, the other way. He had found some difficulty in working on crab stock, as some varieties would not unite well, but there were many kinds that would.

A paper entitled, "For the good of the Order," was read by A. C. Tuttle, of Baraboo.

PRUNING.—The subject of pruning being suggested by this paper, President Tuttle was called upon to give his opinion as to the best time to prune. He said he had tried different times in the year; had pruned in June and in the summer, but much preferred to do it the latter part of March. It should not be done until the hard freezes were over, as they would injure the tree, especially where large limbs were cut off, and if left much later the sap would flow, causing the wood to turn black, and eventually decay; when the pruning was done the last of March or the first of April, the wound seared over before the sap commenced to flow and the wood being hard and sound, healed readily. He did not believe in the