370 CBltff^ii ami Open JI'.vpos7tre. 



from hundreds of varieties now on trial, the best from all parts the Union. Our 

 motto is onward; our practice at each reverse, to double the effort for the next trial ; 

 and as time develops our best seedlings, or others that are worthy, Avill mass the 

 best and strike out on their_seedlings, to grow yet still better, and so on, till our race 

 is run. 



Fruit not a Faill're in Wisconsin. — The Western Farmer says : " The 

 natural fear that the Horticultural Exhibition at the Wisconsin State Fair would be a 

 meagre one was proven unfounded. In extent and quality the show compared very 

 well with that made in any former year. As a rule, the apples were not equal in size 

 and general appearance to those shown in other years, but there were many excep- 

 tions. The show of grapes were very fine. Flowers, ornamental plants, etc., were 

 shown in large numbers. The arrangement was good and the general effect produced 

 very satisfactory." 



The show of fruit at the meeting of the American Pomological Society at Boston 

 is in confirmation of the above, that there had been no such failure of the fruit crop 

 in Wisconsin, this season, as reports naturally led to suppose. We are told that the 

 collection at the Boston meeting was gatliered principally from two counties only. 

 The fact is, nine-tenths of the talk about the fruit crop west of the Mississippi being 

 nearly a total failure is mere bosh. Apples at this time (Nov. 5) in the Des Moines 

 market, from Iowa orchards, are from ^1.25 to $1.50 per bushel only. Do these 

 prices indicate anything like a total failure of the crop ? 



Peach Culture in Delaware. — We believe it is generally conceded that 

 Delaware is the best peach-growing region in the Union. Her soil and climate appear 

 peculiarly adapted to the production of the peach in its greatest perfection. A com- 

 mittee from New Jersey visited Delaware last season to investigate peach-growing in 

 that State. Among other matters in their report, the following points are put down 

 as essential to successful peach culture : 1. To prepare thoroughly, clear and enrich 

 the soil for planting. 2. To give plenty of room, or plant twenty-five or thirty feet 

 apart. 3. Not to shorten in the branches. 4. To do a great deal of work among the 

 trees — plowing, harrowing, cultivating, allowing no grass or weeds. 5. To hunt the 

 borers once a year in autumn. 6. No raising corn or potatoes except the first three 

 years in the orchard, and then only provided fertilizers are applied. 7. After the third 

 year to plant nothing, but cultivate thoroughly. 



Blight and Open Exposure. — J. S. Sticknoy, president Wisconsin Horticul- 

 tural Society, in his last annual address, said : " Observation for the past three years 

 has driven me, much against my will, to believe that both pears and apples are much 

 safer from blight where fully exposed to the winds than when sheltered by trees or 

 buildings, and for pear trees would suggest that they be planted on the highest good 

 soil at command, and exposed to all the winds that blow." If any protection is 

 necessary, he says it should be to protect the trunks of the trees on the side exposed 

 to the sun, which scalds the bark, and the thawing in winter causes the trees to crack 

 open. This can be prevented by shading with a board or hemlock bark. 



