Ten Years in Horticulture. 189 



In the beginning I will say that I was a firm unbeliever in 

 apple growing in Northwestern Wisconsin up to the year 1871, 

 that is, so as to be profitable, and I sometimes wish I had remained 

 firm in that belief. Still, as I always was a lover of fruit and 

 had a desire to raise it, and when I attended our state fair in the 

 fall of 1871 and looked over the large collection of beautiful ap- 

 ples and other fruit, and found that it was raised not only in the 

 lake shore region and southern parts of the state, but also in the 

 central, western and northern portions, as the fruit from Baraboo 

 and Trempealeau bore testimony, being as far north as I lived, I 

 confess I began to change my mind; and when I saw the hand- 

 some trees exhibited by Uncle Wilcox that were grown near me, 

 I resolved to set some trees in my garden at least. Of course my 

 enjoyment at the fair was limited compared with what it now is, 

 as I was not acquainted with a single fruit grower or nurseryman. 

 But I asked some questions and listened to answers, when others 

 not so bashful as I was, were asking for information. I looked 

 over the growers to satisfy myself about the style of a man that 

 was needed for a fruit grower. I confess I was somewhat dis- 

 couraged, as I could never expect to attain the size of Peffer, nor 

 possess the flow of language of Kellogg, nor secure a location 

 that would grow such Fameuse apples as Tuttle had there, or 

 grow such grapes a3 Reid ; so I went home never expecting to be 

 an exhibitor at even a county fair. But that fall after my return 

 I went into the country on business, and my attention was called 

 to some very thrifty and smooth apple trees on the top of the ridge 

 where my orchard now is. The thought at once suggested itself 

 that here would be a good place to grow fruit, especially apples. 

 So while the fever for fruit-growing was high, and visions of 

 beautiful apples had possession of my brain, and constituted most 

 of my dreams at night, without stopping to count the cost suffi- 

 ciently, or considering that I did not know a Fameuse apple tree 

 from a Soulard Crab, or that I knew less than the ordinary school 

 boy about suitable varieties for this climate, I immediately bought 

 a piece of wild land adjoining where the aforesaid trees were 

 growing, and supposing all I needed to do was to clear and break 

 the land, and set out such trees as agents had to sell me, I went 



