30 "Wisconsin State Hoirricui/ruriAL Society. 



necessary to success. His experience has been forcing him, though 



unwillingly, to adopt the conclusion that fruit raising should be 



left almost wholly in the hands of professional cultivators. Currants 



usually have been a sure crop. Last year they failed, and the 



present season the crop will be very light; what was left by the 



frost will be taken by the worms. So it is all around, with plums, 



pears, apples, etc.; they require such care and attention to grow 



them successfully that the general farmer cannot give it. He has 



no time to give the proper 'cultivation, to destroy the numerous 



insect enemies to whose attacks they are constantly exposed. The 



difficulties in fruit culture seem to be on the increase, especially 



the insect foes. They have become so numerous and persistent as 



to make it necessary to scatter poison with both hands to repel 



their attacks. 



President Smith stated that with him the currant crop had not 

 failed once in twenty years; it was as certain as the summer was to 

 follow the winter. At first, worms appeared on the bushes, but he 

 bought a hen and brood of chickens and kept them in the yard with 

 the currants, and had not been troubled with them since, while his 

 next door neighbor's bushes, with only a fence between, had been 

 often completely stripped of leaves and fruit by them. He had 

 found poultry a sure remedy for insects on the currant bushes. 

 The yard in/which his currants grew was given entirely to the hens, 

 and they dug around and under the bushes, keeping out the grass 

 and weeds, and devouring all the worms, bugs and insects in the 

 active or chrysalis state. Had not been troubled with the hens 

 destroying the currants; they were fed regularly and had plenty of 

 green stuff to eat. 



Mr. Tuttle said, no matter what crop we grow, we have got to 

 give it proper care and attention from the time the seed is put into 

 the ground until it is harvested. Farmers expect this, and know 

 they will fail if it is not done; but with fruit, many of them seem to 

 think that all that is necessary is to set out the trees and plants; 

 this done, there is little need of anything else except to pick the 

 fruit, and should this fail to grow, they are discouraged and think 

 it is useless £o try to raise it. On the contrary, where we give it 

 the proper care and secure the requisite conditions, it is as sure as 

 any other crop; much more so than wheat. He had failed a dozen 

 times in raising wheat where he had once on his apples. There 



