118 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



Ben Davis trees bore full crops, and though not first class apples, 

 owing to their excellent keeping qualities, they are coming into 

 favor. I saw one Flemish Beauty pear tree in my town on which 

 I counted over ninety as fine pears as I ever saw exhibited. The 

 man never bought and set but that one pear tree. It bore over 

 forty pears in 1879 and over ninety in 1880, for which he received 

 premiums both years at the county fair. This is one case where 

 pears have cost less than five dollars each. We have in this dis- 

 trict much bluff and rough land, that, when varieties hardy enough 

 are found, will raise large quantities of fruit. 1 saw Fameuse 

 trees last fall in this county that looked very thrift} 7 , and the man 

 who planted them said they had borne fair crops for eighteen years. 

 I visited Mr. Jordan's orchard in Minnesota last summer, and 

 could plainly see the effects of the previous winter, both on 

 Duchess and Wealthy trees, while Haas and some tenderer varie- 

 ties seemed to be less hurt. I will not give you any report of 

 the present winter here, only to say that trees made a fine growth 

 last summer and went into winter in splendid shape. Ground wet 

 and wood well ripened, but it has been cold, yes, very cold, the 

 thermometer marking forty to forty-two below zero in the valleys, 

 and thirty-four to thirty-six on the hills. We can tell much bet- 

 ter about the effect, next winter or fall. The aggregate thermom- 

 eter for the month so far is 276 degrees below ; the coldest on 

 record, as given by Bro. Kellogg in 1875, being 223 degrees be- 

 low, making this the coldest January for thirty years nearly. 

 A man who had a nice crop of apples last fall told me yesterday 

 that he would be willing to bet that not one apple tree in thirty 

 thousand in Wisconsin will survive the present winter. Of 

 course I don't believe him, because I don't want to believe that 

 story. If this winter had been mild, a large number of apple 

 trees would have been set in 1881, but as it now looks the num- 

 ber will be limited. Duchess, Wealthy and Fameuse stand at the 

 head of standards. No. 20, Transcendent and Orange at the head 

 of crabs. The North western Horticultural Society, organized at 

 La Crosse in 1879, held a meeting in December, 1880, at La 

 Crosse, our worthy president being present and giving them a 

 talk on strawberries. Quite a growing interest was manifested 



