In Grapes, on motion of Gen. Lund Roger's No. 3 was added to the list for trial. President Tuttle spoke very favorably of this variety. The quality of the fruit was good, vine hardy and the fruit early. It should be planted where it can have a free circulation of air.

After some further miscellaneous discussion, the Society adjourned until the next annual meeting.

MEETING FOR DISCUSSION AT MILWAUKEE.

A meeting for discussion was held at Spencer's College, Milwaukee, on the evening of September 8. The attendance was quite large, and the exercises were of much interest.

President Stickney opened the meeting with a brief address. He stated that it was with reluctance that he appeared before them; but he, in common with the other members of the society, felt the need of comfort and consolation in their severe losses; hundred of trees and plants had been destroyed by the extreme cold; but we all know the remedy, viz.: to plant two trees for every one that died; we were no worse off than other sections of the country; he had just returned from the east, where he saw orchards that had been destroyed by the canker-worm. He witnessed there, as well as here, great negligence in the care of the trees, and thought that much of the injury was chargeable to this, and that much of it could be prevented by better cultivation and proper selection of varieties. He thought that the failure of our large trees should stimulate the raising of small fruits.

Mr. A. G. Tuttle thought the failure of our trees was largely due to the carelessness of fruit-growers, and to the planting of varieties we know nothing about; he saw no reason to despond; failure in one season proves nothing; it takes several years to test trees. He looked with much confidence to the Russian apples for hardier varieties; of these he had a hundred varieties; his orchard was not a money-paying orchard; it was rather a burlesque on what such an orchard should be, yet he was not disheartened.

James Brainerd, of Oshkosh, gave an encouraging account of his success in raising small fruits.

E. H. Benton thought that our fruit-growers were working against natural laws in raising apples, and would like to have the subject fully discussed. Experience had demonstrated that our winters killed fruit-trees, without regard to variety, on hard and unprotected ground; he thought mulching would be very beneficial, and if properly mulched our trees would not winter-kill.

In answer to a question, Mr. Tuttle thought that deep planting was by far the best; some roots run directly down, while others spread out on every side, but the collar of a tree always remained stationary.

Mr. Benton was in favor of setting the tree so as to have the roots as near the surface as possible, and have them well covered. Mr. G. J. Kellogg had found, by actual experience, that deep setting would not preserve the trees.

Prof. Daniells, of the State University, said many arguments could be brought on both sides in favor of deep and shallow setting. In many things the fruit-grower comes in conflict with nature, but yet we were making progress; the society had done a great deal for the advancement of fruit-culture.

Mr. J. C. Plumb endorsed the views of Mr. Benton; he would have the roots near the surface, but they must be preserved at any expense; mulching in this climate is necessary. The orchard should not be used as a pasture; compacting the soil must be avoided. The reason why our trees did not bear better the present season was lack of vitality; the trees had not recovered yet from the severity of the winter.

Mr. Tuttle regarded seeding down the orchard as injurious. Various instances were cited to show that the benefits of deep or shallow planting depended on the soil, location. &c.

The thanks of the society were returned to Mr. Spencer for the use of the hall, and the meeting adjourned.

MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS.

APPLE-GROWING IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN.

BY ROBERT CHAPPELL.

[Read before the Brown County Horticultural Society.]

In considering this subject heretofore, it has been our custom to present the merits of well-known, eastern varieties, taking it for granted that among them, a few at least, could be found well fitted for the peculiarities of our soil and climate. Now I wish to present for consideration two questions: Have we not taken too much for granted? and if so, what are we going to do about it?

To my mind "the logic of events" has already answered the first question. Tens of thousands of the most noted varieties of eastern apples have been planted in Northern Wisconsin during the last twenty years, and where are they now? Complete or partial

failure has been the rule, and apparent success even, a very rare exception. So general is the admission of this fact that many have abandoned the idea of any further planting, or are contenting themselves with varieties of the Siberian Crab, which, except for special purposes, are of little value, and in fact are hardly worthy to be called apples at all. We have no right to say that these failures are all due to neglect or improper methods. It is true, that in many instances, the young plantations have not had a fair chance; but in a majority of cases these experiments have been made by people born and reared among the orchards of New England, New York and Ohio, who have given their young trees the same kind of culture, and as good as is customary in those states. And these people have not rested with one trial. When their first trials failed, they possessed their souls" with what patience they could, got other varieties which they hoped might better answer the purpose, and subjected them to somewhat different treatment, but generally with

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a similar result. All the known good varieties have in this way been tested again and again. How long is it necessary to persevere in this waste of patience, time and money before the question may be considered settled? Is not a period of twenty-five years enough? Some of our horticulturists are encouraging hopeful expectations of new varieties from Russia, it appears to me without sufficient reason. We must remember that the southern portion of Russia, which is the fruitful portion, although a trifle further north than the place where we stand, is not necessarily colder than here, or as cold. It is in fact between the same parallels of latitude as France, Switzerland, Austria and Northern Italy, the home of many varieties of fruit which will not endure our climate at all. The most noted of our Russian apples are Red Astrachan, Duchess of Oldenburg, Alexander and Tetofsky. The first two have lately lost their distinctive character of "iron-clad." They were certainly originated in Southern Russia. The Alexander is a superb fruit in appearance only-its place is the kitchen. Tetofsky is now on trial here, and whether it succeeds or not, is not a first-rate fruit. The only Canada apple which holds a prominent place among us. is the Fameuse or Snow apple; and this is the only apple of all the superior varieties that have been tested here in which I have any confidence. But one apple will not answer our purpose even if it could be safely depended on.

Now the apple is pre-eminently the fruit of temperate climates. Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Northern and Central New York, and Canada produce in abundance the best apples in the world; all of which places have a climate as rigorous as our own; and the idea that we cannot have good orchards and good apples is incredible. We have tried a great variety of trees, from a great variety of places and nurseries. We have given them every variety of culture, good, bad and indifferent. We have planted upon clay, upon sand, upon loams, upon gravel, upon the hills, upon the plains and in the valleys. We have planted in the spring and in the fall. We have planted deep and shallow. We have set them perpendicular and at an angle, leaning to the south. We have cut off the tap roots, and have also left them on. We have pruned in the spring, summer and winter; root pruned, top pruned and left unpruned. We have sworn at different times by low heads and high heads. We have treated them with manure and without it. We have plowed our

orchards and left them in grass. We have protected their trunks from the freezing and thawing of early spring, and we have left them to face it out in their own way. We have washed them with soap-suds and solutions of sal-soda and potash. We have. painted them with whitewash and with unsavory compounds that shall be nameless. We have plugged them with sulphur and camphor and calomel and other potent drugs. We have tried top-grafting, crowngrafting and root-grafting. We have tried standards, small dwarfs, medium dwarfs, and dwarfs upon their own roots. We have done everything, I believe, but one, and the result has been wonderfully uniform; failure, disappointment, and disgust. The one thing that we have not tried in any systematic way, is the production of new varieties, that shall be in one sense natural to the northwest.

It may be stated as a rule, with but few exceptions, that plants and fruits succeed best in the places of their origin. A notable instance of this is found in the Rheum Palmatum or Turkish Rhubarb, which when brought to France and most carefully cultivated, has proved worthless. In applying this rule to the apple, we must not take it in its largest sense, for it is not a native fruit, although it here reaches its greatest perfection. What is meant is, that any good variety of apple will, as a rule, succeed best in the locality where it originates. Thus Swaar, Spitzenburg and Newtown Pippin originated in Eastern, and the Northern Spy in Western New York, the Baldwin, Benoni, and Roxbury Russet in Massachusetts, the Belleflower in Pennsylvania or New Jersey, and Peck's Pleasant and the Seeknofurther in Connecticut. The list of apples famous in the localities where they originated and that do not succeed as well in any other, might be largely extended. All the above-named famous apples have been tried in this region, and found wanting.

Now, if it is true that we are in the natural climatic range of the apple; that there is no obvious unfitness in our soil; that the good varieties brought from a distance have in most cases failed; and that fruits are best and hardiest in localities where they originate, can we not see pretty plainly what course we ought to pursue? Is it not plain that the horticulturists of the northwest ought to attempt the production of new varieties, better fitted for the conditions of the country? Children of the soil, that shall be at home in the peculiarities of our climate?

There are two methods of producing new varieties of fruit, though