58 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



afticrnoon session, 



Thursday, June 17, 1886. 



The meeting was not called to order until half after two 

 o'clock. The first thing on the programme was a discussion 

 on, " What Experiments are A'^aluable in Horticulture ? " Mr. 

 Tuttle led the discussion in place of Mr. Hatch, who was 

 not present. 



Mr. Tuttle — I merely expect to open this discussion. I 

 thought that if a person should go over the whole course of 

 experiments in horticulture that we have here in Wisconsin, 

 that we should not tell a very bright story. It has been an 

 experiment from the start. W e were in a country where it was 

 necessary to experiment. In the commencement we were 

 totally in the dark, but as we have gone forward, I think 

 we now talk with some degree of intelligence on the sub- 

 ject of fruit growing in Wisconsin and the northwest, 

 as far as experiments in horticulture in small fruits is 

 concerned, my experience is very limited. I have done 

 something in grapes, and experimented with new varieties, 

 and had considerable loss, and I think now, that as a gen- 

 eral thing the profit is in the hands of the originator, or 

 propagator of these new varieties. The show we saw yes- 

 terday, of new strawberries, exceeds anything I ever 

 dreamed of. If forty years .ago we had dreamed of any 

 such advancement as that we see to- day, compared with 

 what there was forty years ago, we would not have believed 

 that there could have been that advance in that class of 

 fruit. My experience has been principally with the apple, 

 and I had full faith that we could grow apples in Wiscon- 

 sin, and I watched for them in the varieties that had been 

 growing for a great many years. And those old standard 

 varieties, until a year ago last winter, were successful. I 

 never lost a Fameuse, I never lost an Utter, I never lost 

 many of these old varieties; but now there is a complete 

 and total failure. I am surprised in going through this 

 region of the state, and that region where I am, which has 

 been considered a good apple region. My home orchard has 



