all the fruits yet tested, that have proved suited to our climate, very few, if any, have come from that quarter, while a very large proportion of those originating in extremely cold countries have proved hardy with us, and nearly all that passed through the winter of 1855-56 still prove hardy and worthy of cultivation. It is true that the number of those that then and since have proved iron-clads may be few; fewer perhaps than any of us are willing to admit, but few though they are, they have been, and still are the basis upon which the orchardist must build his hopes of ultimate success. Were we to adopt the lists recommended by the different writers in our agricultural papers, there is hardly any variety to be rejected as tender. In a list, lately published in the Western Rural, of thirteen varieties of apples as adapted to the prairie regions of the west, not more than three of the thirteen can be said to be sufficiently hardy for the prairie regions of Wisconsin.

Our trouble has been, and still is, that we plant too many sorts. It is far better to recommend for general planting only a few well tried and extremely hardy varieties, than a multitude of kinds to be swept away by our occasional hard winters. Every kind recommended which proves tender, weakens the faith of the planter, and retards our horticultural progress. Let us throw away a host of tender and half-hardy sorts, and substitute for them seedlings like the Pewaukee, and others now growing, and long tested in different parts of the state, also a selection from the 200 new Russian apples introduced by the department of agriculture at Washington. If we do this, we shall hear no more of that periodical grumbling after every severe winter, and our confidence in our ability to raise fruit will not be so often shaken.

For nearly a quarter of a century my attention has been directed to the interest of fruit-growing as developed in this state, and at no time have I lost faith in our ability to grow that great staple among the fruits, the apple, more than sufficient for home consumption. I am not one of those who believe in the necessity of supplying their place with crabs. Let the crab apples occupy their appropriate place. In Wisconsin, or in Minnesota they never should take the place of the common apple. Let us test every new seedling of promise; let us search Russia from Odessa to Novgorod, from the Baltic Sea to the Ural Mountains for hardy varieties before we abandon the idea of successfully growing the common apple. If there

is any portion of our state where the apple or other fruits cannot be grown, it is unfit for the abode of civilized man. I would as soon think of taking a pre-emption upon some peak of the Rocky Mountains, above the region of perpetual snow, as to make a home in such a spot.

Grapes and small-fruit can be grown almost everywhere. It is true that some soils and locations are better adapted for their growth than others. For a long time the Clinton was thought to be the only grape adapted to our climate. Success in this branch of fruit-growing has long ago dissipated that very erroneous idea, and we have come to learn that our warm summers, dry atmosphere and congenial soil furnish requisite conditions for perfection in grape culture, seldom found in any of the northern states.

I do not propose to go into details as to how and what to plant; if after all that has been written and said, any are still ignorant, let them go to some successful fruit-grower in their vicinity and learn of him. The advice of any good, practical orchardist, of long experience, is worth more than that of all the traveling tree-dealers, and, possibly, tree-growers in christendom. The first great requisite in the selection of our fruit is hardiness; the second is productiveness; the third is quality. These combined, form perfection. Not a few of our fruits may be classed in this list, and it should be the great aim and study of the horticulturist to increase their number.

I would say to any who have lost faith in fruit-culture, don't go about whining because you have had a few trees killed by the severe cold or by the blight; examine and see if they were of the hardiest varieties, and if your manner of culture had not something to do with their loss. Forest trees were not exempt from injury. In many parts of the state the per cent. of loss was as great among the forest trees as among those of the orchard; and yet no one will pretend that we cannot grow oaks, hickories and maples.

The time was when theories might be tolerated; a quarter of a century ought to be time enough for the establishment of some facts relative to fruit-growing. The experience of a host of successful orchardists has proved the utter worthlessness of many of the old popular varieties of fruit, and the value of such as have stood the test of all the severe winters. We have been taught also, that

new fruits should be received with caution, and planted sparingly; that years of trial upon a variety of soils and in different localities, are absolutely necessary to prove the adaptation of any fruit to our climate; and that money invested in tender fruit is worse than thrown away.

The winter of 1872-73, was a repetition of that of 1855-56, its effects being very similar. The experience we gained then should not be lost upon us now. Then as now, some fancied that trees standing in grass land suffered less than those in the cultivated ground, and accordingly left their trees in grass until they nearly ruined their orchards. No one can grow fruit with profit from trees long in sod; the quantity will be diminished and the quality inferior. They will do better when the atmosphere is charged with abundant moisture, but then the practice long continued, will prove disastrous. It is far better to lose occasionally a tree from over cultivation than make scrubs of them, thereby lessening the quantity and injuring the quality of the fruit. Trees like humans had better die than live ingloriously and without benefit to the world.

From an examination of the condition of the orchards after the hard winter of 1872-73, through a territory extending from Lake Michigan into northern Iowa, I found as I went west the injury increased; varieties that passed the winter uninjured near the lake were badly injured in the interior, and those slightly injured in the interior of our state were badly injured or destroyed in northern Iowa. This would seem to indicate that the greater humidity of the atmosphere near the lake serves to counteract, in a measure, the injurious effects of severe freezing. It is certain that varieties of fruit can be grown near the lake, that cannot be raised in the interior, and that too, where there is no essential difference in the degree of cold.

A very large proportion of the trees killed during the cold winter of 1872-73, were killed in the root, from being planted too shallow, or not being properly protected by mulching. I am aware that shallow planting is generally recommended, but is not this one of the practices better adapted to the east, where there is little depth of soil, than in the deep, dry soil of the west? It is a fact that trees naturally root deeper here than at the east. Nature in this provides against the severe cold of winter and the drouths of summer. Let us follow her teachings. I would not recommend planting

trees as you would set a post, but set them sufficiently deep to give a good earth protection against the frosts of winter and drouths of

summer.

There is nothing now grown upon our farms that pays better, properly cared for, than the growing of fruit. Every good, healthy and productive tree, well into bearing, will yield as much net profit as an acre of good land, and fifty such trees can be grown upon an acre. There is a vast difference in the productiveness and consequent profit of different varieties. I have some trees in my orchard that have occupied the ground for twenty years, and have never produced a bushel of fruit, the trees still in good, thrifty condition; others standing near them have given me more than a hundred dollars worth, each. We want trees that are hardy and productive, and those that produce fruit of good quality. For trees of this kind no tree-planter will be in danger of paying too much; while those that prove tender and unproductive will be found dear at any price.

In our anxiety to encourage and extend the cultivation of fruits, let us not forget the flowers. Our broad prairies and beautiful groves were gorgeous with wild flowers before they became the abode of the white man. These have been crushed out by the tread of civilized feet; let us supply their place by cultivated ones in variety and profusion. The care and cultivation of flowers is woman's appropriate work. Are there any who forego the pleasure of their cultivation for fear of soiling their delicate fingers by contact with the soil? Those soft, white hands are far too expensive a luxury when obtained and preserved at the sacrifice of physical strength, health and rational enjoyment. Is there a young man, with soft hands and softer head, who fancies that manual labor is degrading, and that he is too delicately constituted for good, honest toil, let him go, select some spot on this broad earth, plant it with fruits and flowers, and trees, for ornament and shade, make a home, a very Eden in loveliness, and he will not have lived in vain.

HORTICULTURAL PROGRESS AND PROSPECTS.

BY J. C. PLUMB, MILTON.

Having passed the thirtieth anniversary of my initiation into the practical labors of the nursery, I have thought it well to retrospect the past, look over the present condition, and give my impression of the future of the horticulture of the northwest. Reviews of practical life may not always be pleasant, but they are useful and have an important bearing upon the present and future. We measure the present by the past, and from both views form our expectations of the future.

In the spring of 1844, I assisted an elder brother in removing and selling some four-year-old-trees from his first nursery on the old homestead near Lake Mills, Jefferson county, and the following summer spent may pleasant hours in learning the art of trimming and budding, as then generally practiced. The next spring I was given the entire charge of a block of several thousand young trees, and a one-half interest in them, conditioned upon my caring for the whole during the ordinary spare hours and days of a farmer boy's life. This kind and thoughtful act of my respected father was the means of creating an interest in practical horticulture, which has never abated or grown weary, and every year since has added to this care and interest in practical tree-growing. Those first trees grown and sold in Jefferson county are many of them flourishing now, and can be pointed out in various places in the county.

The advent and progress of fruit-growing in that county, from that day to this, has its checkered history, with its share of discouragements in destruction of trees and fruit, but through the persevering efforts of its local nurserymen, and its hopeful, enterprising farmers, it is probably the banner county in the state in this enterprise, in favorable seasons producing largely beyond its own consumption. Tree-planting is on the increase yearly, and planters are yearly growing more careful in the selection of varieties adapted to its wants. The first nursery planting in that county of which