Joint Convention. 207 



annual statistics of every important industry, as well as of its 

 entire commerce that is inter-state. I believe this not only prac- 

 tical, but one of the best educators of the people. I believe a 

 fair estimate of the money value of the apple trees alone of our 

 state will place it at least equal to that of the milch cows, or of 

 the whole dairy interest of our state. 



But the jjreat and most truthful lesson of these statistics is the 

 fact, 1st, that the limestone series of our state are producing the 

 greater part of our apple?, thus establishing their value for gen- 

 eral orcharding; 2d, that nearly one-half of the area of AViscon- 

 sin is producing no appreciable amount of apples. Are these 

 conditions permanent? Certainly the natural conditions will 

 not materially change by time, nor by any but very costly meas- 

 ures, and the absence of home-grown fruit will be more and 

 more felt as the northern half of our state becomes settled and 

 populated with its million of apple eaters, as it surely will be at 

 no distant day. "Where is this supply to come from? You say 

 Michigan; perhaps so, but if so, we will have to pay larger 

 prices, or take up with second class fruit, for Michigan is already 

 sending her best fruit to the east and south to a higher market; 

 besides we should count the cost of importing the immense sup- 

 ply we must have. Suppose we take two-thirds of the product 

 of Jefferson county for 1880; with its aggregate population of 

 32,155, we have less than six bushels per capita. Wo have no 

 means of knowing their export of apples, but ic is safe to say 

 that they imported of green and dried apples, even that year of 

 plenty, as much as they exported, (^uery: Did any county of 

 our state export more fruit in ISSO than they imported? Ex- 

 ports were mostly of green, while imports were both green and 

 dr}'. In other words, if all the apples grown in that county in 

 1880 was only enough to furnish liberal supply for the entire 

 year — which we assume to be the case — then we needed for the 

 entire state for that year nearly eight million bushels of apples, 

 or about four times the quantity we grew that year of plenty. 

 To carry this statement of the case further, when our state has 

 a population of three million, as it will within the next forty 

 years, the required supply of apples will reach tlyce times our 

 present production on the basis of 1880. 



