Joint Convention. 205 



in our annual reports. Our experience has been worth thousands 

 of dollars to Iowa and Minnesota. 



It took us ten years to prove the Baldwin, Rhode Island 

 Greening and most other of our old eastern favorites to be 

 worthless in Wisconsin, and ten more years to show that Ben 

 Davis and Stark are not equal to the test of our soil and climate. 

 After the first twenty years we commenced looking up our hardy 

 native varieties, and another ten years to prove them. We have 

 in all these years found the Russian and Siberian species emi- 

 nently hardy and fruitful. And now, with large additions to 

 the former by importations, and a wonderful improvement in the 

 latter by hybridization, we have in these three classes of the 

 apple family a very hopeful outlook for the future of our po- 

 mology. "We have passed the gf'ee7i stage of experimental fruit 

 growing, and in the study of native conditions of soil and cli- 

 mate, and of the law of adaptation, we have touched bottom, 

 and can now build on solid rock — with Iron Clads — Russians 

 and Siberians for our superstructure. 



With this brief glance at our horticulture in general, let us 

 see what its real status is: By the statistical reports of the farm 

 products of our state as collected by the township assessors, and 

 tabulated by our secretary of state, we learn that the number of 

 bearing trees in our state in 1S78 was 1,840,572; in 1879 was 

 1,901,424, gain, 60,852; in 1880 was 2,140,629, gain, 139,205; in 

 1881 was 2,189,596, gain, 38,967. 



The number of bushels of apples in 1879 was 718,687; in 

 1880 was 3,743,374, gain, 3,024,667. 



