Report of the Committek : 



From the limited time allotted to the Committee, it has been impossible to 

 examine the different specimens of fruit presented, with that care and attention 

 necessary to arrive in every instance, perhaps, to a correct conclusion. 



In awarding premiums they have endeavored to deal justly, but in some in- 

 stances the samples presented have held so strong claims to equal merit, that the 

 Committee have been unable to decide between competitors with perfect satis- 

 faction to themselves. 



Although the quantity of fruit brought forward was not great, yet its superior 

 size, uniform fairness, and excellent qualities, were such as would have done credit 

 to older and more advanced fruit-growing States; and, taken as a whole, made a 

 display of which. our State, in the infancy of its horticulture, may well be proud. 



The growing of fruit in Wisconsin can no longer be regarded as problematical; 

 it has now become a fixed fact, and it can only be a source of deep regret that 

 this branch of agriculture should have thus long received so little attention. The 

 difficulty, however, that has heretofore existed in importing fruit trees from a 

 distance, at a comparatively heavy expense, may perhaps be urged as a strong 

 reason why so few of the early settlers, even at this day, are enjoying to any 

 extent one of the greatest luxuries of civilized life. But at present the extensive 

 propagation of fruit trees in nurseries that have already been opened in different 

 localities in this State, obviate this formidable difficulty to such an extent, that 

 the Committee feel called upon, not only to recommend, but earnestly to urge 

 upon every farmer, who has thus far been negligent, to set about it at once, and 

 see that his grounds are beautified, and himself enriched, by an orchard. 



Nor is it to the farmer alone that the cultivation of fruit should be exclusively 

 committed. Every person being the owner of a habitation, may improve its 

 appearance and value, and increase his comforts, by the raising of a single tree. 

 If ground and means be limited, plant out the less in number, and let that few 

 be of the choicest kinds. 



No investment of capital gives a surer, or more pleasing return, than that 

 expended in planting and' promoting the growth of trees. Buildings, fences, 

 implements and fixtures of every other kind, from the moment they are com- 

 pleted, are subject to certain and constant waste and decay, involving a continued 

 outlay for improvement and repair. But not thus with the tree; when once its 

 habitation is fixed in a genial soil and climate, with a little judicious aid bestowed, 

 rather as pastime than labor, it continues increasing in size, beauty, and value, 

 during the ordinary life of man, and passes down to the succeeding generation 

 a living monument of the foresight and enliglitened taste of a thrifty and bene- 

 volent predecessor. 



