92 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



ison, have been held under marked disadvantages. They 

 have occurred at the time of meeting of the State Agricul- 

 tural convention. Many of our members divided their at- 

 tentions between the two and the consequence was a fluc- 

 tuating, uncertain attendance and a total lack of outside 

 interest in our proceedings. The law fixing the date of our 

 annual meeting has been changed by the present legislature, 

 and we are now at liberty to hold it at such time and place 

 as the society may select. If the winter meeting could be 

 held early in December, we could then have a much finer 

 and more complete fruit exhibit than under our present ar- 

 rangement. It would then be possible to issue our annual 

 report shortly after the opening of the calendar year. The 

 summer meeting held last June at Janesville, was a grati- 

 fying success. The feature most worthy of note was the ex- 

 hibition of F. W, Loudon's seedling strawberries. Some 

 remarkable berries of this class were exhibited — remark- 

 able for beauty, size and productiveness. It is not the 

 province of this society to give undue notoriety to any new 

 variety of fruit, but it is part of its duty to describe what it 

 sees in the line of horticultural experiments. The work 

 which Mr. Loudon is doing with strawberries is the work 

 which must be done to give us larger and better berries. 

 His labors are fairly entitled to the hearty appreciation of 

 all lovers of horticulture. 



experimental work. 



At its last annual meeting the society appointed a com- 

 mittee to confer with the professors in the agricultural de- 

 partment of the state university, and the board of regents 

 with reference to beginning some experimental work in 

 horticulture upon the university farm. Professors Henry 

 and Armsby expressed entire willingness to aid in this work, 

 but united in saying that the location of the farm was such 

 that little or no fruit could be raised and secured because of 

 lawless trespassers. 



It was finally decided that a trial would be made of the 

 effects of three kinds of fertilizers on three varieties of 



