150 Wisconsin State Horticultural Society. 



them, have not been attended to before, is probably the result of 

 oversight. I will say, however, that our society is earnestly en- 

 deavoring to extend and improve its work ; that it is looking in 

 all directions for light and aid in solving some of the difficult and 

 important problems before the fruit raisers of the Northwest, and 

 that in the consideration of them, all state or territorial lines fade 

 away. We have already received great help from the participa- 

 tion of some of your members in our meetings and from the 

 papers they have contributed for our transactions, and hope for 

 more in the future. 



At our State Fair and State Horticultural Exhibitions during 

 the past year, members of your society have carried off some of 

 our highest premiums on apples; arid though limited more than 

 you are in the number of varieties, we shall be ready, at any 

 time you may receive our products for competition, to challenge 

 comparison upon your tables on the merits of all the varieties 

 we raise. 



la regard to the proposed fruit manual, our need is doubtless 

 greater than yours. It seems that a majority of the settlers in 

 our new districts neither know what to buy in the way of trees 

 and plants, or how to take care of them, and they are being im- 

 posed upon by the rogues of the tree trade to a degree that would 

 seem almost incredible, resulting in great discouragement of 

 efforts to raise fruits, and much injury to legitioaate business in 

 the trade ; and the presumption is doubtless warranted, that, in 

 some parts of your state, there is need of some better means than 

 "we have at present of reaching the masses of the people with 

 information upon the essentials of fruit culture. 



The subject that is perhaps engaging our most earnest atten- 

 tion at this time is the production of improved varieties of seed- 

 ling apples — particularly long keepers. If there is a science in 

 this, we want to know it. If there are any methods by which, 

 with given stocks and careful crosses, we can reach any certain 

 results, we want to find it out. If there is any probability that 

 we can obtain a new apple that will be as handsome, as large, as 

 hardy and as good as the Wealthy, and at the same time as long 

 a keeper as the Willow Twig, we want to encourage hundreds 



